August 24
79
Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
1572
70,000 French Protestants, or Huguenots, were killed in the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.
1814
The British set fire to the White House and the Capitol when they invaded Washington, DC during the War of 1812.
1821
Mexico gained its independence from Spain with the Treaty of Cordoba.
1949
The North Atlantic Treaty went into effect.
1968
France became the world’s fifth nuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
1989
Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling.
1991
Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the general secretary of the Communist Party after a failed coup attempt against him.
1992
Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, causing record damage.
Birthdays
Louis XVI
1754–93, king of France (1774–92).
Arnold Toynbee
economist (1852)
Edgar Lee Masters
writer (1868)
Gene Kelly
dancer (1912)
Shelley Long
actress (1949)