Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2022. There are 130 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 23, 1973, a bank robbery-turned-hostage-taking began in Stockholm, Sweden; the four hostages ended up empathizing with their captors, a psychological condition now referred to as "Stockholm Syndrome."

On this date:

In 1305, Scottish rebel leader Sir William Wallace was executed by the English for treason.

In 1775, Britain's King George III proclaimed the American colonies to be in a state of "open and avowed rebellion."

In 1914, Japan declared war against Germany in World War I.

In 1927, amid worldwide protests, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. (On the 50th anniversary of their executions, then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted.)

In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in Moscow.

In 2000, A Gulf Air Airbus crashed into the Persian Gulf near Bahrain, killing all 143 people aboard.

In 2003, former priest John Geoghan, the convicted child molester whose prosecution sparked the sex abuse scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, died after another inmate attacked him in a Massachusetts prison.

In 2004, President George W. Bush criticized a political commercial accusing Democratic nominee John Kerry of inflating his own Vietnam War record, and said broadcast attacks by outside groups had no place in the race for the White House.

In 2008, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama introduced his choice of running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, before a crowd outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.

In 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake centered near Mineral, Virginia, the strongest on the East Coast since 1944, caused cracks in the Washington Monument and damaged Washington National Cathedral.

In 2013, a military jury convicted Maj. Nidal Hasan in the deadly 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that claimed 13 lives; the Army psychiatrist was later sentenced to death. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier who'd massacred 16 Afghan civilians, was sentenced at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to life in prison with no chance of parole.

In 2020, a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times as officers tried to arrest Blake on an outstanding warrant; the shooting left Blake partially paralyzed and triggered several nights of violent protests. (Blake, who was shot as he was about to get into an SUV with a pocketknife that had fallen from his pants, later said he'd been prepared to surrender after putting the knife in the vehicle. Officer Rusten Sheskey was not charged.)

Ten years ago: First lady Michelle Obama consoled relatives of worshippers gunned down at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee. Lance Armstrong chose not to pursue arbitration in the drug case brought against him by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, setting the stage for his Tour de France titles to be stripped and his name to be all but wiped from the record books of the sport he once ruled.

Five years ago: City workers in Charlottesville, Virginia, draped giant black covers over two statues of Confederate generals to symbolize the city's mourning for a woman killed while protesting a white nationalist rally. A federal judge again blocked a set of voter ID requirements in Texas, rejecting a weakened version that had been backed by the Trump administration. (An appeals court later allowed the law to stay in effect; it allowed voters without any acceptable photo ID to cast a ballot as long as they sign an affidavit.)

One year ago: The U.S. military was able to increase its evacuation flights out of Afghanistan; some 17,000 people were flown to safety in more than 40 flights over a period of 36 hours. The leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to more than five months in jail for burning a Black Lives Matter banner that was torn down from a historic Black church in downtown Washington and bringing two high-capacity firearm magazines into the nation's capital two days before the Jan. 6 riot. U.S. regulators gave full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine; more than 200 million Pfizer doses had been administered in the U.S. under emergency provisions since December 2020. The Pentagon announced that it would press ahead with plans to force members of the military to get vaccinated.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Vera Miles is 92. Actor Barbara Eden is 91. Political satirist Mark Russell is 90. Pro Football Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen is 88. Actor Richard Sanders is 82. Ballet dancer Patricia McBride is 80. Former Surgeon General Antonia Novello is 78. Country singer Rex Allen Jr. is 75. Actor David Robb is 75. Singer Linda Thompson is 75. Actor Shelley Long is 73. Actor-singer Rick Springfield is 73. Country singer-musician Woody Paul (Riders in the Sky) is 73. Queen Noor of Jordan is 71. Actor-producer Mark Hudson is 71. Actor Skipp Sudduth is 66. Rock musician Dean DeLeo (Army of Anyone; Stone Temple Pilots) is 61. Actor Jay Mohr is 52. Actor Ray Park is 48. Actor Scott Caan is 46. Country singer Shelly Fairchild is 45. Figure skater Nicole Bobek is 45. Rock singer Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) is 44. Actor Joanne Froggatt is 42. Actor Jaime Lee Kirchner is 41. Actor Annie Ilonzeh is 39. Dance musician Sky Blu is 36. Actor Kimberly Matula is 34. Basketball player Jeremy Lin is 34.