Today is Tuesday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2009. There are 107 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On Sept. 15, 1959, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States as he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, where he was greeted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The two leaders then met at the White House; a joint communique afterward described the talks as “friendly and frank.”
On this date
In 1590, Giambattista Castagna was elected pope as Urban VII; he died of malaria 12 days later.
In 1776, British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.
In 1789, the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.
In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge two weeks after he was found not guilty of treason.
In 1812, Napoleon’s forces invaded Moscow and found the city abandoned, two-thirds of it destroyed by fire.
In 1821, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador became independent from Spain.
In 1857, William Howard Taft, the only person to serve as both United States president and chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, was born in Cincinnati.
In 1916, the tank was used for the first time in combat, by the British during World War I.
In 1917, Russia was proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.
In 1928, Scottish bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory. The mold will later be developed into penicillin, a revolutionary antibiotic.
In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.
In 1940, during the Battle of Britain in World War II, the tide turned as the Luftwaffe sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force.
In 1949, “The Lone Ranger” premiered on ABC television with Clayton Moore as the masked hero and Jay Silverheels as Tonto.
In 1950, during the Korean War, United Nations forces landed at Inchon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul.
In 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)
In 1978, Muhammad Ali won the world heavyweight boxing championship for the third time.
In 1982, Iran’s former foreign minister, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, was executed after he was convicted of plotting against the government.
In 1997, the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party entered Northern Ireland’s peace talks for the first time.
In 1999, ten years ago, one month after being charged in the United States with laundering suspected drug payoffs, Mexico’s former top drug prosecutor, Mario Ruiz Massieu, was found dead in his New Jersey apartment, an apparent suicide.
In 1999, gunman Larry Ashbrook opened fire in a Fort Worth, Texas, Baptist church, killing seven people and himself.
In 2004, five years ago, three Americans were found guilty in Kabul of torturing Afghans in a private jail and were sentenced to prison. (Edward Caraballo, a freelance cameraman, was released in May 2006; Brent Bennett was freed in Sept. 2006; Jack Idema, a former Green Beret, was pardoned in June 2007.)
In 2004, NHL owners agreed to lock out the players. (The 2004-05 season was eventually canceled.)
In 2004, Johnny Ramone, guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band The Ramones, died in Los Angeles at age 55.
In 2005, President George W. Bush, addressing the nation from storm-ravaged New Orleans, acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina and urged Congress to approve a massive reconstruction program.
In 2008, one year ago, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 504.48, or 4.42 percent, to 10,917.51 while oil closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months amid upheaval in the financial industry as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. was sold to Bank of America.
In 2008, Richard Wright, a founding member of Pink Floyd, died at age 65.
Today’s Birthdays
Actor-director Jackie Cooper is 87. Actor Forrest Compton is 84. Comedian Norm Crosby is 82. Actor Henry Darrow is 76. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Gaylord Perry is 71. Football Hall-of-Famer Merlin Olsen is 69. Opera singer Jessye Norman is 64. Writer-director Ron Shelton is 64. Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 63. Movie director Oliver Stone is 63. Rock musician Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) is 57. Rock musician Mitch Dorge (Crash Test Dummies) is 49. Football Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino is 48. Actor Danny Nucci is 41. Rap DJ Kay Gee is 40. Actor Josh Charles is 38. Singer Ivette Sosa (Eden’s Crush) is 33. Pop-rock musician Zach Filkins (OneRepublic) is 31. Actor Dave Annable is 30. Actress Amy Davidson is 30. Britain’s Prince Henry of Wales is 25. TV personality Heidi Montag is 23.
Today’s Historic Birthdays
James Fenimore Cooper
9/15/1789 – 9/14/1851
American novelist
William Howard Taft
9/15/1857 – 3/8/1930
27th president of the United States and 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
Bruno Walter
9/15/1876 – 2/17/1962
German conductor
Frank Gannett
9/15/1876 – 12/3/1957
American newspaper publisher
Ettore Bugatti
9/15/1881 – 8/21/1947
Italian builder of racing and luxury automobiles
Robert Benchley
9/15/1889 – 11/21/1945
American drama critic, actor and humorist
Dame Agatha Christie
9/15/1890 – 1/12/1976
English detective novelist and playwright
Jean Renoir
9/15/1894 – 2/12/1979
French-born American film director
Roy Acuff
9/15/1903 – 11/23/1992
American country music singer and songwriter
Irving Jaffee
9/15/1906 – 3/20/1981
American Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater (1932)
Margaret Lockwood
9/15/1916 – 7/15/1990
English actress
John Newton Mitchell
9/15/1913 – 11/9/1988
American attorney general under Nixon (1969-72)
Cannonball Adderley
9/15/1928 – 8/8/1975
American jazz saxophonist and bandleader
Thought for Today
“Somewhere the Sky touches the Earth, and the name of that place is the End.” – African saying.
__________
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091500012.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20090915.html
Cervantes 