August 23rd

Today's Highlight in History:
On August 23rd, 1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. (Sacco and Vanzetti were vindicated in 1977 by Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis.)

On this date:
In 1754, France's King Louis the 16th was born at Versailles.

In 1838, one of the first colleges for women, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, graduated its first students.

In 1914, Japan declared war on Germany in World War One.

In 1926, silent film star Rudolph Valentino died in New York at age 31.

In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty.

In 1944, Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael, paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies.

In 1960, Broadway librettist Oscar Hammerstein II died in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

In 1972, the Republican national convention, meeting in Miami Beach, Florida, nominated Vice President Spiro T. Agnew for a second term.

In 1979, Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defected while the Bolshoi Ballet was on tour in New York.

In 1982, Lebanon's parliament elected Christian militia leader Bashir Gemayel president. (However, Gemayel was assassinated some three weeks later.)

Ten years ago: Iraqi state television showed President Saddam Hussein meeting with a group of about 20 Western detainees, telling the group -- whom he described as "guests" -- that they were being held "to prevent the scourge of war."

Five years ago: During a memorial service at Fort Myer, Virginia, President Clinton eulogized three US diplomats killed in a road accident near Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and vowed to carry on the struggle for peace in the Balkans. "Life" magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt died on Martha's Vineyard at age 96.

One year ago: The Dow Jones industrial average soared 199.15 to a new record of 11,209.84. Fifty years after the German government moved to the capital of Bonn, Berlin reclaimed its role as a center of power in Germany with the arrival of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"Friendship is honey -- but don't eat it all."

-- Moroccan proverb.