On this day in ...... 1988 (10 years ago today), President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which, as Reagan explained in his signing statement announcing restitution for what he himself called "'a mistake,'" a payment of $20,000 "to each of the 60,000 surviving Japanese-Americans of the 120,000 who were relocated or detained" by the United States during World War II. (photo credit)
... 1809, in South America, "[a] group of the leading citizens" of Quito seized power of the region, which had been controlled by a French-born ruler placed by his brother, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, on the Spanish throne. Known as criollos, these rebels of Spanish descent did not have popular support to sustain their uprising, and within a year a military junta took control. Today Quito is the capital of Ecuador.
