August 21, 1959 – President Dwight Eisenhower signs a proclamation admitting Hawaii as the 50th State of the Union.
August 23, 1927 – Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed in Massachusetts for the killing of two people during a factory payroll robbery. Prior to the executions, there are protests claiming unfair treatment of the pair because they had radical political leanings and were Italian.
August 24, 79 AD – Vesuvius, an active volcano in southern Italy, erupts and destroys the city of Pompeii and also the cities of Stabiae, Oplontis, and Herculaneum.
August 24 and 25, 1814 – During the War of 1812, Washington, D.C. is invaded by British forces who burn the Capitol, the White House, and other public buildings.