Today is Tuesday, Aug. 14, the 227th day of 2012. There are 139 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 14, 1962, robbers held up a U.S. mail truck in Plymouth, Mass., making off with more than $1.5 million; the loot has never been recovered.

On this date:

In 1848, the Oregon Territory was created.

In 1908, a race riot erupted in Springfield, Ill., as a white mob began setting black-owned homes and businesses on fire; at least two blacks and five whites were killed in the violence.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.

In 1947, Pakistan became independent of British rule.

In 1948, the Summer Olympics in London ended; they were the first Olympic games held since 1936.

In 1951, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, 88, died in Beverly Hills, Calif.

In 1969, British troops went to Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

In 1973, U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.

In 1992, the White House announced that the Pentagon would begin emergency airlifts of food to Somalia to alleviate mass deaths by starvation. Federal judge John J. Sirica, who had presided over the Watergate trials, died in Washington at age 88.

In 1997, an unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.

Ten years ago: Mexican President Vicente (vih-SEN'-tay) Fox angrily canceled a scheduled meeting with President George W. Bush hours after Texas executed Javier Suarez Medina, a Mexican national, for killing Dallas police officer Lawrence Cadena. Pop artist pioneer Larry Rivers died in Southampton, N.Y., at age 78.

Five years ago: Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan transformed the space shuttle Endeavour and space station into a classroom for her first educational session from orbit, fulfilling the legacy of Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger disaster. Toy company Mattel recalled 18.6 million lead-tainted, Chinese-made toys worldwide, its second such recall in as many weeks.

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