A Blast from the Past

Today is Aug. 29.

Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays was one of the leaders of more than 1,000 rebels who sought redress of their grievances during an uprising that began on this date in 1786. What became known as "Shays Rebellion" included attacks on courts of law and raids on arsenals, and ended with Shays' arrest in Feb. 1787. He was convicted and sentenced to death, but later pardoned and given a small pension for services rendered during the Revolutionary War.

Atahualpa, last of the Inca rulers, was strangled under orders of Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro on this date in 1533. The Inca Empire died with him.

It was on this date in 1973 that Judge John Sirica ordered President Nixon to turn over secret Watergate tapes. Nixon refused, and appealed the order.

Clinton political adviser Dick Morris resigned on this date in 1996 after supermarket tabloids reported he had been seeing a prostitute and letting her listen in on his phone conversations with the president.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.