Today in History: August 25, National Park Service created

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 25, the 237th day of 2026. There are 128 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act, establishing the National Park Service as an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior to maintain the country’s natural and historic wonders and “leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Also on this date:

In 1875, Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, crossing from Dover, England, to Calais (ka-LAY’), France, in under 22 hours.

In 1928, an expedition led by Richard E. Byrd set sail from Hoboken, New Jersey, on its journey to Antarctica.

In 1944, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation during World War II.

In 1948, in the House Un-American Activities Committee’s first televised congressional hearing, Alger Hiss denied charges by Whittaker Chambers that Hiss was a communist involved in espionage. (Hiss was later convicted of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison; he maintained his innocence until his death in 1996.)

In 1981, the U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover, sending back pictures of and data about the ringed planet.

In 2001, R&B singer Aaliyah (ah-LEE’-yah) was killed with eight others in a plane crash in the Bahamas; she was 22.

In 2012, Neil Armstrong, 82, who commanded the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing and was the first man to set foot on the moon in July 1969, died in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, with 130 mph sustained winds; the storm would deliver five days of rain totaling close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour that had ever been recorded in the continental U.S.

In 2020, two people were shot to death and a third was wounded as 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle during a third night of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. (Rittenhouse, who was taken into custody in Illinois the next day, said he was defending himself after the three men attacked him as he tried to protect businesses from protesters; he was acquitted on all charges, including homicide.)

In 2022, regulators approved California’s plans to require all new cars, trucks and SUVs to run on electricity or hydrogen by 2035. (President Donald Trump signed a resolution in June 2025 blocking California’s plan, prompting a court challenge by the state).

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Tom Skerritt is 93. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright is 91. Film director John Badham is 87. Baseball Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers is 80. Rock musician Gene Simmons (Kiss) is 77. Rock singer Rob Halford (Judas Priest) is 75. Musician Elvis Costello is 72. Film director Tim Burton is 68. Country musician Billy Ray Cyrus is 65. Actor Blair Underwood is 62. NFL Hall of Famer Cornelius Bennett is 61. DJ Terminator X (Public Enemy) is 59. Singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) is 59. Television chef Rachael Ray is 58. Country singer Jo Dee Messina is 56. Model Claudia Schiffer is 56. NFL Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison is 54. Actor Alexander Skarsgard is 50. Actor Rachel Bilson is 45. Actor Blake Lively is 39. Actor China Anne McClain is 28.