August 10 Birthday
On August 10, 1846, President Polk signed the legislation establishing the Smithsonian Institution. The institution was funded by a bequest of $500,000 from James Smithson, a British scientist who had never visited the United States. Smithson's bequest was for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Why he left his fortune to a country he had never seen remains a mystery. The Smithsonian now comprises twenty-one museums, the National Zoo, and nine research centers. It holds 155 million objects. Admission to all Smithsonian museums is free. Herbert Hoover, born this day in 1874, was the first president born west of the Mississippi. He was an orphan at nine, a self-made millionaire by twenty-three, and a humanitarian who fed Europe during and after World War I. He was elected president in 1928 and inherited an economy on the verge of collapse. The Great Depression began seven months into his presidency. He believed in voluntarism and opposed federal relief. Shantytowns of homeless people were called "Hoovervilles.". People born on August 10 fall under the zodiac sign of Leo. The birthstone is Peridot and the birth flower is Gladiolus. Historical events on August 10 include 1846: Smithsonian Institution established by Congress, 1792: Tuileries Palace stormed — French monarchy effectively overthrown, 1977: David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") arrested in Yonkers. Famous people born on August 10 include Herbert Hoover (1874), Norma Shearer (1902), Antonio Banderas (1960).