Today in History

Today is Friday, Aug. 9, the 221st day of 2013. There are 144 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation's 38th chief executive as President Richard Nixon's resignation took effect.

On this date:

In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," which described Thoreau's experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.

In 1862, during the Civil War, Confederate forces drove back Union troops in the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Culpeper County, Va.

In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.

In 1942, Britain arrested Indian nationalist Mohandas K. Gandhi; he was released in 1944.

In 1944, 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, Calif., refused to load a munitions ship following an explosion on another ship that killed 320 men, many of them black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.)

In 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.

In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally slain at Tate's Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.

In 1982, a federal judge in Washington ordered John W. Hinckley Jr., who'd been acquitted of shooting President Ronald Reagan and three others by reason of insanity, committed to a mental hospital.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos (kah-VAH'-zohs) to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.

In 1995, Jerry Garcia, lead singer of the Grateful Dead, died in Forest Knolls, Calif., of a heart attack at age 53.

Ten years ago: The Army fired up its first chemical weapons incinerator located near a residential area, outside Anniston, Ala., to destroy two rockets loaded with enough sarin nerve agent to wipe out a city. Dancer-actor Gregory Hines died in Los Angeles at age 57.

Five years ago: Todd Bachman, the father of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman, was stabbed to death by a Chinese man in Beijing in an apparently random attack just hours after the start of the Olympic Games. (The assailant took his own life.) Mariel Zagunis led a U.S. sweep of the women's saber fencing for the first American medals of the Games. Comedian Bernie Mac died in Chicago at age 50.

One year ago: The United States began a landmark project to clean up dioxin left from Agent Orange at the site of a former U.S. air base in Danang in central Vietnam, 50 years after the defoliant was first sprayed by American planes on Vietnam's jungles to destroy enemy cover. At the London Games, Usain Bolt won the 200 meters in 19.32 seconds, making him the only man with two Olympic titles in that event. The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold medal, avenging one of its most painful defeats with a 2-1 victory over Japan. Mel Stuart, 83, an award-winning film documentarian who also directed "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," died in Los Angeles.

Today's Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy is 85. Actress Cynthia Harris is 79. Tennis Hall of Famer Rod Laver is 75. Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 71. Comedian-director David Steinberg is 71. Boxing Hall-of-Famer Ken Norton is 70. Actor Sam Elliott is 69. Singer Barbara Mason is 66. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Bill Campbell is 65. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player John Cappelletti is 61. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Doug Williams is 58. Actress Melanie Griffith is 56. Actress Amanda Bearse is 55. Rapper Kurtis Blow is 54. Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull is 49. TV host Hoda Kotb is 49. Actor Pat Petersen is 47. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is 46. Actress Gillian Anderson is 45. Actor Eric Bana is 45. Producer-director McG (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol) is 45. NHL player-turned-assistant coach Rod Brind'Amour is 43. TV anchor Chris Cuomo is 43. Actor Thomas Lennon is 43. Rock musician Arion Salazar is 43. Rapper Mack 10 is 42. Actress Nikki Schieler Ziering is 42. Latin rock singer Juanes is 41. Actress Liz Vassey is 41. Actor Kevin McKidd is 40. Actress Rhona Mitra is 38. Actor Texas Battle is 37. Actress Jessica Capshaw is 37. Actress Ashley Johnson is 30. Actress Anna Kendrick is 28.

Thought for Today: "The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." -- Edward John Phelps, American lawyer and diplomat (1822-1900).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.