On this date in

79 Mount Vesuvius erupted burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing an estimated 20,000 persons.

1814 British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol and the White House.

1932 Amelia Earhart flew from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 19 hours, becoming the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States.

1981 Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of John Lennon.

1989 Pete Rose was banished from baseball for gambling.

1992 Hurricane Andrew, the second most destructive hurricane in U.S. history and the last Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States, struck Florida. In all, 65 deaths in were attributed to the storm.