MOMENTS IN TIME

The History Channel

• On Aug. 20, 1920, the owners of four Ohio League teams - the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians and Dayton Triangles - meet to form a new professional football league. Football star Jim Thorpe was nominated as president of the new league.

• On Aug. 21, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signs 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.

• On Aug. 22, 1962, President Charles De Gaulle of France survives one of several assassination attempts against him thanks to the superior handling performance of the presidential automobile, the Citroen DS 19. During the attack, a hail of 140 bullets shattered the car's rear window and punctured all four of its tires.

• On Aug. 26, 1974, Charles Lindbergh, the first man to accomplish a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, dies in Maui, Hawaii, at the age of 72. To reduce weight on the plane during his famous flight, everything that was not essential was left out: radio, gas gauge, night-flying lights, navigation equipment and parachute.