August 12 · This Day in America
On the steps of Iolani Palace in Honolulu, a band plays "Hawaii Ponoʻi," the kingdom's anthem, for the last time as a national song. The Hawaiian flag is lowered. The Stars and Stripes rises in its place. Five years after American businessmen and U.S. Marines forced Queen Liliʻuokalani from her throne, the United States completes the annexation of the islands by joint resolution of Congress. Many Native Hawaiians do not attend; some who do are said to weep, and the deposed queen stays away. The ceremony is brief and the speeches are confident. But it marks the end of an independent Pacific nation with its own monarchy, language, and centuries of self-rule, absorbed into a continental republic that had declared itself founded on the consent of the governed. The 250th holds both the reach and the wound. They happened on the same lawn, the same hour.
Source: guides.loc.gov
Also on this day · 1981
At the Waldorf in New York, IBM unveils the model 5150 — the IBM PC. It starts at $1,565 and, crucially, ships with an open architecture and published specs, so anyone can build for it. That choice turns one machine into an entire industry. IBM expected to sell tens of thousands; it took 100,000 orders by Christmas. The computer left the lab and walked into the house.
Source: www.ibm.com