SANDY KOZEL
English musician Elvis Costello (Declan Patrick MacManus)
is 71 years old today.
According to Rolling Stone, Costello "reinvigorated the
literate, lyrical traditions of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.
On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United
States and England, British troops enter Washington, D.C. and
burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on
the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1813.
When the British arrived at the White House, they found that
President James Madison and his first lady Dolley had already
fled to safety in Maryland.
Soldiers reportedly sat down to eat a meal made of leftover food
from the White House scullery using White House dishes and
silver before ransacking the presidential mansion and setting
it ablaze.
Although President Madison and his wife were able to return
to Washington only three days later when British troops had
moved on, they never again lived in the White House.
Madison served the rest of his term residing at the city’s Octagon
House. It was not until 1817 that newly elected president James
Monroe moved back into the reconstructed building.
James Madison (1751 – 1836)
James Monroe (1758 – 1831)
Though he had landed on the beaches of Normandy and been
wounded in battle fighting with the U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant
Marcario GarcÃa was not yet a U.S. citizen when President
Harry S. Truman awarded him the Medal of Honor on August
23, 1945. GarcÃa became the first Mexican national to receive
the American military’s highest honor.
President Truman honoring Macario Garcia.
Kelly was a dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer
known for his performances in An American in Paris (1951),
which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Singin’ in
the Rain (1952).
