Today is Monday, Aug. 11, the 224th day of 2008. There are 142 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On Aug. 11, 1949, President Truman nominated Gen. Omar Bradley to become the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On this date

In 1919, Germany’s Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.

In 1934, the first federal prisoners arrived at the island prison Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.

In 1954, a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Vietminh.

In 1962, the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev on a 94-hour flight.

In 1965, rioting and looting that claimed 34 lives broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles.

In 1984, President Reagan joked during a voice test for a paid political radio address that he had “signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

In 1992, the Mall of America, the biggest shopping mall in the U.S., opened in Bloomington, Minn.

In 1993, President Clinton named Army Gen. John Shalikashvili to be the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding the retiring General Colin Powell.

Ten years ago

One of the shooters in the Jonesboro, Ark., schoolyard massacre, Mitchell Johnson, pleaded guilty to murder and battery, and the other, Andrew Golden, was convicted. (The boys, ages 14 and 12, were detained by Arkansas juvenile authorities until they turned 18, then transferred to federal custody. Federal authorities released the two when they turned 21.)

Five years ago

President Bush chose Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Herb Brooks, who coached the U.S. Olympic hockey team to the “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union in 1980, died in a car wreck near Minneapolis at age 66.

One year ago

President Bush welcomed French President Nicolas Sarkozy to his family’s estate in Kennebunkport, Maine. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won an easy and expected victory in a high-profile Iowa Republican straw poll.

Today’s Birthdays

Singer Eric Carmen is 59. Wrestler-actor Hulk Hogan is 55. Actor-host Joe Rogan is 41. Rock guitarist Charlie Sexton is 40.

Thought for Today

“Some people think that doctors and nurses can put scrambled eggs back into the shell.” — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American author (1879-1958)