This day in history - August 10

[seamusTX]

1821 - Missouri became the 24th state.

1846 - Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution. The museum was funded by a bequest by an English scientist, James Smithson, who had never set foot in the U.S.

1949 - The Department of Defense was created as a cabinet-level department.

1969 - Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, a wealthy couple of no particular fame or notoriety, were murdered in their home in Los Angeles.

1977 - David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" serial killer, was arrested. He remains in prison.

- Jim