Sunday, August 14, 2011

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUGUST 14
1980:Electrician Lech Walesa leads a group of workers to seize the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, demanding higher pay and the right to form unions outside Communist control. Walesa will become the leader of the pivotal workers' organization Solidarity and eventually president of post-Communist Poland.

1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law, providing financial security for the elderly and unemployed in one of the most successful programs to come out of the New Deal.

1945: President Harry S. Truman announces Japan's unconditional surrender — celebrated as V-J Day — effectively ending World War II. Because of the time difference, it's Aug. 15 in Japan. The formal Japanese surrender will occur on Sept. 2 aboard the battleship USS Missouri.

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