Today is Friday, August 20, the 232nd day of 2010. There are 133 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped.

In 1910, a series of forest fires swept through parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington, killing at least 85 people and burning some three million acres in what became known as the "Big Blowup."

In 1955, hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.

In 1960, the Mali Federation broke up with the withdrawal of Senegal, which declared autonomy.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"If a thing is absolutely true, how can it not also be a lie? An absolute must contain its opposite." — Charlotte Painter, American writer and educator.