Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Wednesday, September 21

This Day In History

  • 1784   America’s first daily paper, "The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser", was published in Philadelphia.
  • 1792   The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.
  • 1897   The New York Sun ran an editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: ''Is there a Santa Claus?''
  • 1931   Britain went off the gold standard.
  • 1937   ''The Hobbit,'' by J.R.R. Tolkien, was published.
  • 1948   Milton Berle made his debut as permanent host of ''The Texaco Star Theater'' on NBC.
  • 1949   the People's Republic of China was proclaimed by its Communist leaders.
  • 1964   Malta gained independence from Britain.
  • 1970   ''NFL Monday Night Football'' debuted on ABC.
  • 1973   The Senate confirmed Henry Kissinger to be secretary of state.
  • 1977   President Jimmy Carter's budget director, Bert Lance, resigned after weeks of controversy over past business and banking practices.
  • 1982   National Football League players began a 57-day strike.
  • 1983   In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Interior Secretary James G. Watt described a special advisory panel as consisting of ''a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple.'' Watt later apologized and resigned.
  • 1989   Hurricane Hugo, packing winds of up to 135 mph, crashed into Charleston, S.C.
  • 1996   John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette on Cumberland Island, Ga.
  • 1996   The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.
  • 1998   President Bill Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony was publicly broadcast; in it, Clinton tussled with prosecutors over ''the truth of my relationship'' with Monica Lewinsky.
  • 1998   Olympic gold medal track star Florence Griffith Joyner was found dead at her California home at age 38.
  • 1999   A powerful earthquake struck Taiwan, killing at least 2,400 people.
  • 2001   Congress approved $15 billion to help an airline industry reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
  • 2002   Angelo Buono Jr., the Hillside Strangler whose killings of young women terrorized Los Angeles in the 1970s, died in prison at age 67.
  • 2003   NASA's aging Galileo spacecraft deliberately plunged into Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, bringing a fiery conclusion to a 14-year exploration of the solar system's largest planet and its moons.
Happy Birthday To
  • 1788   Margaret Taylor (Smith) (First Lady: wife of 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor; died in 1852)
  • 1866   H. G. (Herbert George) Wells (writer)
  • 1912   Chuck Jones (cartoonist: The Road Runner, Pepe Le Pew, Wiley Coyote; died Feb 22, 2002)
  • 1931   Larry Hagman (actor: I Dream of Jeannie, Dallas)
  • 1947   Stephen King (author)
  • 1950   Bill Murray (Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: Saturday Night Live [3/12/77]; actor: Stripes, Ghostbusters series, Groundhog Day, Mad Dog and Glory, What About Bob?, Scrooged)

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