On This Day: Sunday August 14, 2005 This is the 226th day of the year, with 139 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: Social Security The original Social Security Act established a permanent national old-age pension system through employer and employee contributions. The system was later extended to include dependents, the disabled, and other groups. Responding to the economic impact of the Great Depression, 5,000,000 old people in the early 1930s joined nationwide Townsend clubs, promoted by Francis E. Townsend to support his program demanding a $200 monthly pension for everyone over the age of 60. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered the matter and studied the recommendations of a committee he formed. In 1935, Congress enacted the Social Security Act, providing old-age benefits to be financed by a payroll tax on employers and employees. Holidays Feast day of St. Marcellus of Apamea, St. Fachanan, St. Athanasia of Aegina, St. Eusebius of Rome, and St. Maximilian Kolbe. Pakistan: Independence Day. Events 1457 - The first book ever printed was published by a German astrologer named Faust. 1784 - On Kodiak Island, Grigory Shelikhov, a Russian fur trader, founded Three Saints Bay, the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska. 1848 - The Oregon Territory was established. 1873 - The first issue of "Field and Stream" magazine was published. 1880 - The largest Gothic church in northern Europe, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, was completed after 632 years of rebuilding. 1893 - France became the first country to introduce vehicle registration plates. 1900 - International forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence. 1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter. 1945 - Japan announced its unconditional surrender in World War II. President Harry Truman announced that World War II was over. 1947 - Pakistan became independent of British rule. 1973 - The United States ended the "secret" bombing of Cambodia. 1997 - An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. 2003 - A huge blackout hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power; the power grid crash covered eight U.S. states from Michigan to Massachusetts and part of southeastern Canada, becoming the worst infrastructure collapse that the U.S. has ever suffered. Births 1777 - Hans Christian Oersted, Danish scientist, who discovered electromagnetism. 1886 - Arthur J. Dempster, Canadian-American physicist. 1915 - Max Klein, American painter; invented "paint by numbers." 1941 - David Crosby (David Van Cortland), American musician, songwriter. 1945 - Steve Martin, American Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, comedian, actor, author. Deaths 1951 - William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher.