Updated August 21, 2014, 5:33 am
On Aug. 21, 1959, President Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.
On Aug. 21, 1904, Count Basie, who was one of the leading big-band leaders of American jazz was born. Following his death on April 26, 1984, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
| 1831 | Nat Turner launched a short-lived, violent slave rebellion in Virginia. |
|---|---|
| 1858 | The first of seven debates between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas took place in Ottawa, Ill. |
| 1878 | The American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y. |
| 1904 | Jazz musician and bandleader William "Count" Basie was born in Red Bank, N.J. |
| 1940 | Exiled Russian Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds inflicted by an assassin. |
| 1959 | President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. |
| 1961 | Country singer Patsy Cline recorded the Willie Nelson song "Crazy" in Nashville for Decca Records. |
| 1983 | Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport. |
| 1987 | Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine ever court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB. |
| 1991 | A hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin. |
| 1992 | An 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest him for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns. |
| 2002 | A jury in San Diego convicted David Westerfield of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. (He was later sentenced to death.) |
| 2006 | British prosecutors announced that 11 people had been charged in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners bound for the United States. |
| 2009 | Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gays and lesbians from serving as ministers. |
Historic Birthdays
Count Basie
8/21/1904 - 4/26/1984
American pianist and composer.Go to obituary »
| 57 |
Philip II 8/21/1165 - 7/14/1223 French Capetian king |
|---|---|
| 55 |
St. Francis De Sales 8/21/1567 - 12/28/1622 French Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva |
| 79 |
Jean-Baptiste Greuze 8/21/1725 - 3/21/1805 French painter |
| 74 |
August Bournonville 8/21/1805 - 11/30/1879 Danish director of the Danish Royal Ballet |
| 71 |
Frank Andrew Munsey 8/21/1854 - 12/22/1925 American newspaper and magazine publisher |
| 25 |
Aubrey Beardsley 8/21/1872 - 3/16/1898 English illustrator; leader in the Aestheticism movement |
| 52 |
Roark Bradford 8/21/1896 - 11/13/1948 American novelist and short-story writer |
| 20 |
Albert Ball 8/21/1896 - 5/7/1917 English World War I fighter pilot |
| 88 |
Friz Freleng 8/21/1906 - 5/26/1995 American movie animator |