On this day in 1962, the N.S. Savannah arrived in Savannah,
Georgia, first stop on its maiden voyage to promote peaceful
uses of nuclear power. Some foreign ports refuse it, fearing
catastrophe. The ship was launched on July 21, 1959.

After service from 1962 to 1971, the ship was decommissioned
but remains a significant maritime artifact today.

Christening of the NS Savannah by Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower,
July 21, 1959. New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden,
New Jersey.

On August 21, 1980, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) was incorporated by animal rights advocates Ingrid
Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. Rising from humble beginnings,
PETA would soon become the world’s foremost and most
controversial animal rights organization.

Ingrid Newkirk

Alex Pacheco

The modern United States received its crowning star when
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation
admitting Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state.

The president also issued an order for an American flag
featuring 50 stars arranged in staggered rows: five six-star
rows and four five-star rows. The new flag became official
July 4, 1960.

On August 21, 1897, Ransom Eli Olds of Lansing, Michigan,
founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company, which would later
become Olds Motor Werks and then Oldsmobile.

Born in Geneva, Ohio, in 1864, Olds went to work for his
family’s machine-repair and engine-building business in
1883.

In 1896, Olds completed his first gasoline-powered vehicle,
and the following year he founded Olds Motor Vehicle
Company with financial backing from Samuel L. Smith,
who had made his fortune in lumber.

Ransom Eli Olds (1864 – 1950)

On or about August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped
by the Portuguese, arrived in the British colony of Virginia and 
were then bought by English colonists.

The exact date is not definitively known (a letter from the time
identified the ship’s arrival coming in "the latter part of August"),
but this date has been chosen by many to mark the arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World—beginning two and a half
centuries of slavery in North America.