Today in History: Aug. 23

People view weapons near a portrait of King George III in the "Peace, Liberty, and Independence": 225 Years After the Treaty of Paris exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008.  The new exhibit tracks the course of the second-longest conflict in U.S. history the American Revolutionary War and the ways art helped rally support for independence from the British and promote the values of the emerging republic. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In 1775, Britain’s King George III proclaimed the American colonies to be in a state of “open and avowed rebellion.” Pictured is a portrait of King George III in the “Peace, Liberty, and Independence”: 225 Years After the Treaty of Paris exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In 1913, Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story, was unveiled in the harbor of the Danish capital. The Little Mermaid as seen in Copenhagen, Denmark. (AP Photo/Tariq Mikkel Khan)
In 1913, Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story, was unveiled in the harbor of the Danish capital. (AP Photo/Tariq Mikkel Khan)
Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco, second from right foreground, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, second from left foreground, stand in handcuffs with unidentified escorts in Massachusetts around 1927. Sacco and Vanzetti, arrested in 1920, were accused of killing a  paymaster and guard in Braintree, and stealing about $16,000.  Many believed they were convicted because of their anarchistic beliefs. Their scheduled execution was protested by ordinary and prominent men and women. The city of Boston will use a bronze sculpture of Sacco and Vanzetti to say the two men, executed 70 years ago, did not get a fair trial, said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 1997. On the anniversary of the executions, Saturday, Aug. 23, 1997, Menino will commission the sculpture which is to be in place by the year 2000, but it has not been decided where. (AP Photo/File)
On August 23, 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.) Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco, second from right foreground, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, second from left foreground, stand in handcuffs with unidentified escorts in Massachusetts around 1927. Sacco and Vanzetti, arrested in 1920, were accused of killing a paymaster and guard in Braintree, and stealing about $16,000. Many believed they were convicted because of their anarchistic beliefs.  (AP Photo/File)
Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, seated, signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact in Moscow, August 23, 1939, a few days before the outbreak of World War II. Standing behind him are General Secretary of the Communist Party Josef Stalin, second from right, and German Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, third from right. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo/German War Department)
In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in Moscow.  (AP Photo/German War Department)
In 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." A police-released photograph of three of the four hostages in the 1973 Stockholm bank robbery - one of the criminals, Clark Olofsson, is seen standing to the right. (AP Photo/PA archive)
In 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.” (AP Photo/PA archive)
The new President-elect of Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel, 34-year-old Militia Commander of the Right-Wing Christians in Beirut, on Aug. 23, 1982, arriving at the Feyadie Military School. He was summoned after an election for a new President had been completed in two ballots. (AP Photo/Rifai)
In 1982, Lebanon’s parliament elected Christian militia leader Bashir Gemayel president. (However, Gemayel was assassinated some three weeks later.)  (AP Photo/Rifai)
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, Ill. President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, is seen here in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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People view weapons near a portrait of King George III in the "Peace, Liberty, and Independence": 225 Years After the Treaty of Paris exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008.  The new exhibit tracks the course of the second-longest conflict in U.S. history the American Revolutionary War and the ways art helped rally support for independence from the British and promote the values of the emerging republic. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In 1913, Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story, was unveiled in the harbor of the Danish capital. The Little Mermaid as seen in Copenhagen, Denmark. (AP Photo/Tariq Mikkel Khan)
Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco, second from right foreground, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, second from left foreground, stand in handcuffs with unidentified escorts in Massachusetts around 1927. Sacco and Vanzetti, arrested in 1920, were accused of killing a  paymaster and guard in Braintree, and stealing about $16,000.  Many believed they were convicted because of their anarchistic beliefs. Their scheduled execution was protested by ordinary and prominent men and women. The city of Boston will use a bronze sculpture of Sacco and Vanzetti to say the two men, executed 70 years ago, did not get a fair trial, said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 1997. On the anniversary of the executions, Saturday, Aug. 23, 1997, Menino will commission the sculpture which is to be in place by the year 2000, but it has not been decided where. (AP Photo/File)
Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, seated, signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact in Moscow, August 23, 1939, a few days before the outbreak of World War II. Standing behind him are General Secretary of the Communist Party Josef Stalin, second from right, and German Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, third from right. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo/German War Department)
In 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." A police-released photograph of three of the four hostages in the 1973 Stockholm bank robbery - one of the criminals, Clark Olofsson, is seen standing to the right. (AP Photo/PA archive)
The new President-elect of Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel, 34-year-old Militia Commander of the Right-Wing Christians in Beirut, on Aug. 23, 1982, arriving at the Feyadie Military School. He was summoned after an election for a new President had been completed in two ballots. (AP Photo/Rifai)

Today is Friday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2019. There are 130 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On August 23, 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.)

On this date:

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

In 1913, Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story, was unveiled in the harbor of the Danish capital.

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

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

In 1960, Broadway librettist Oscar Hammerstein (HAM’-ur-STYN’) II, 65, died in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

In 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.”

In 1979, Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov (GUD’-u-nawf) 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.)

In 1999, The Dow Jones industrial average soared 199.15 to a then-record of 11,299.76.

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, Ill.

In 2003, Former priest John Geoghan (GAY’-gun), 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 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.

Ten years ago: Reality TV contestant Ryan Jenkins, suspected of killing his wife, former model Jasmine Fiore (fee-OR’-ee), was found hanging in a motel in Hope, British Columbia, Canada, an apparent suicide. Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play to finish Philadelphia’s wild 9-7 victory over the New York Mets. Stefania Fernandez, Miss Venezuela, won the 2009 Miss Universe pageant in the Bahamas; she succeeded fellow Venezuelan Dayana Mendoza, the previous year’s winner.

Five years ago: Israel bombed an apartment tower in downtown Gaza City, collapsing the 12-story building in an unprecedented strike. Hundreds of Russian aid trucks returned home from eastern Ukraine, a day after a bitterly disputed crossing.

One year ago: Mark David Chapman, the killer of former Beatle John Lennon, was denied parole for a 10th time. The long-running rift between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions exploded into a public smackdown, with Trump accusing Sessions of failing to take control of the Justice Department and Sessions responding that he “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” The United States and China imposed tariff increases on an additional $16 billion of each other’s goods.

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