Saturday, September 17

This Day In History

• 1787   The U.S. Constitution was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the constitutional convention in Philadelphia.
  
• 1907   Warren Burger, the 15th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was born in St. Paul, Minn.
  
• 1911   The first transcontinental airplane flight, from New York City to Pasadena, CA, was accomplished on this day. It took C.P. Rogers only 82 hours to fly across the U.S.
  
• 1920   The American Professional Football Association   a precursor of the National Football League   was formed in Canton, Ohio.
  
• 1939   The Soviet Union invaded Poland during World War II.
  
• 1947   James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first U.S. secretary of defense.
  
• 1972   The comedy series ''M.A.S.H.'' premiered on CBS.
  
• 1976   NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise at ceremonies in Palmdale, Calif.
  
• 1980   Former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in Paraguay.
  
• 1986   The Senate confirmed the nomination of William H. Rehnquist to become the 16th chief justice of the United States.
  
• 1992   Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his five-and-a-half-year probe of the Iran-Contra scandal.
  
• 1994   Heather Whitestone of Alabama was crowned Miss America, the first deaf woman to win the title.
  
• 1996   Former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew died in Berlin, Md., at age 77.
  
• 1997   Northern Ireland's main Protestant party joined peace talks, bringing the major players together for first time.
  
• 1999   President Bill Clinton lifted restrictions on trade, travel and banking imposed on North Korea a half-century earlier.
  
• 2001   Wall Street trading resumed for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks   its longest shutdown since the Depression; the Dow lost 684.81 points, its worst-ever one-day point drop. Pro sporting events resumed after a six-day hiatus.
  
• 2003   New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso resigned amid a furor over his $139.5 million pay package.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1907   Warren (Earl) Burger (Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; died June 25, 1995)
  
• 1923   Hank (Hiram) Williams Sr. (musician, songwriter, singer: I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Cold, Cold Heart, Take These Chains from My Heart, Honky Tonkin’, Jambalaya, Kaw-Liga, Your Cheatin’ Heart, Lovesick Blues; 1st country musician whose music crossed over into pop; wrote 125 compositions; died Jan 1, 1953)
  
• 1931   Anne Bancroft (Anna Maria Louisa Italiano) (Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress)
  
• 1939   David H. Souter (attorney: Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)
  
• 1948   John Ritter (Emmy Award winning actor: Three’s Company [1983-1984]; son of Tex Ritter; died Sep 11, 2003)