Today is the 238th day of 2012 and the 67th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1916, Congress created the National Park Service.

In 1944, Allied troops liberated Paris after four years of German occupation.

In 1967, American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell was shot dead by a former aide in Arlington, Va.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884), detective; Van Johnson (1916-2008), actor; Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), conductor/composer; Monty Hall (1921- ), TV personality; Althea Gibson (1927-2003), tennis player; Sean Connery (1930- ), actor; Regis Philbin (1931- ), TV personality; Tom Skerritt (1933- ), actor; Anne Archer (1947- ), actress; Elvis Costello (1954- ), musician; Tim Burton (1958- ), film director; Rachael Ray (1968- ), TV personality; Blake Lively (1987- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2003, tennis champion Pete Sampras announced his retirement.

TODAY'S FACT: The National Park Service now oversees more than 84 million acres of land and 27,000 historic structures.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead." -- Aldous Huxley

TODAY'S NUMBER: 25 -- age at which Leonard Bernstein made his professional conducting debut.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 24) and full moon (Aug. 31).

Today is the 237th day of 2012 and the 66th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted in southern Italy, destroying the cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum.

In 1814, British forces set fire to the White House.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York for the murder of John Lennon.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced a new definition for "planet," which demoted Pluto to its current status as a "dwarf planet."

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), writer; Paulo Coelho (1947- ), author; Mike Shanahan (1952- ), football coach; Mike Huckabee (1955- ), politician/TV personality; Cal Ripken Jr. (1960- ), baseball player; Craig Kilborn (1962- ), TV personality; Marlee Matlin (1965- ), actress; Reggie Miller (1965- ), basketball player; Dave Chappelle (1973- ), actor/comedian; Rupert Grint (1988- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the sport for gambling on Major League Baseball games.

TODAY'S FACT: The White House was first painted white in 1798, when a lime-based whitewash was applied. The earliest-known written mention of the "White House" is from 1812. President Theodore Roosevelt made the name official in 1901.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The flattery of posterity is not worth much more than contemporary flattery, which is worth nothing." -- Jorge Luis Borges

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5 -- dwarf planets in our solar system currently recognized by the International Astronomical Union: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Aug. 24).

Today is the 236th day of 2012 and the 65th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, England's King George III described the American colonies as being in a state of "open and avowed rebellion."

In 1927, Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Charlestown, Mass., despite worldwide protests of their innocence.

In 1939, Germany's Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin signed a nonaggression pact.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950), writer; Gene Kelly (1912-1996), actor/dancer; Vera Miles (1929- ), actress; Barbara Eden (1934- ), actress; Shelley Long (1949- ), actress; Rick Springfield (1949- ), singer/musician; Kobe Bryant (1978- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1969, Taiwan won its first Little League World Series. The nation went on to win nine more titles in the next 12 years.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1977, 50 years after the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation stating that their trial had been "permeated by prejudice against foreigners and hostility toward unorthodox political views," and that "any stigma and disgrace shall be forever removed from their names."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It takes life to love Life." -- Edgar Lee Masters

TODAY'S NUMBER: 22 -- listings with the surname Hitler in the New York City phone book prior to World War II. None were listed there when the war ended.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).