Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 22, the 265th day of 2021. There are 100 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 3:20 p.m. EDT.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 22, 2014, the United States and five Arab nations launched airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, sending waves of planes and Tomahawk cruise missiles against an array of targets.

On this date:

In 1761, Britain's King George III and his wife, Charlotte, were crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of January 1, 1863.

In 1927, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight in Chicago.

In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

In 1950, Omar N. Bradley was promoted to the rank of five-star general, joining an elite group that included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall and Henry H. "Hap" Arnold.

In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed.

In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.

In 1993, 47 people were killed when an Amtrak passenger train fell off a bridge and crashed into Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama. (A tugboat pilot lost in fog pushed a barge into the railroad bridge, knocking the tracks 38 inches out of line just minutes before the train arrived.)

In 1995, an AWACS plane carrying U.S. and Canadian military personnel crashed on takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, killing all 24 people aboard.

In 2017, Sen. John McCain declared his opposition to the GOP's last-ditch effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare," the second time in three months McCain had emerged as the destroyer of his party's signature promise to voters.

Ten years ago: American diplomats led a walkout at the U.N. General Assembly as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) fiercely attacked the United States and major West European nations as "arrogant powers" ruled by greed and eager for military adventurism. Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Germany on his first state visit to his homeland.

Five years ago: Prosecutors charged a white Oklahoma police officer with first-degree manslaughter less than a week after she killed an unarmed Black man on a city street, saying in court documents the officer "reacted unreasonably." (Betty Shelby was acquitted in May 2017 of manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher.) It was disclosed that computer hackers had swiped personal information from at least 500 million Yahoo accounts in what was believed to have been the biggest digital break-in at an email provider.

One year ago: U.S. deaths from the coronavirus topped 200,000, by far the highest confirmed death toll from the virus in the world at that point, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. The U.N. General Assembly convened for its first-ever virtual meeting, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged nations to tackle the coronavirus and the "economic calamity" it had unleashed, as well as the risk of a new Cold War between the United States and China. A Louisiana state trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, died after a single-vehicle crash that took place hours after he learned he would be fired for his role in the 2019 in-custody death of a Black man, Ronald Greene, following a high-speed chase. Overriding the mayor's veto, Seattle's City Council voted to reduce the police budget and reallocate some money to community programs. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month's treatment for poisoning. (Navalny would be arrested and jailed upon his return to Russia.)

Today's Birthdays: Dancer/choreographer/singer Toni Basil is 78. Actor Paul Le Mat is 76. Musician King Sunny Ade is 75. Capt. Mark Phillips is 73. Rock singer David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Whitesnake) is 70. Actor Shari Belafonte is 67. Singer Debby Boone is 65. Country singer June Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 65. Singer Nick Cave is 64. Rock singer Johnette Napolitano is 64. Actor Lynn Herring is 64. Classical crossover singer Andrea Bocelli is 63. Singer-musician Joan Jett is 63. Actor Scott Baio is 61. Actor Catherine Oxenberg is 60. Actor Bonnie Hunt is 60. Actor Rob Stone is 59. Actor Dan Bucatinsky (TV: "24: Legacy") is 56. Musician Matt Sharp is 52. Rock musician Dave Hernandez is 51. Rapper Mystikal is 51. R&B singer Big Rube (Society of Soul) is 50. Actor James Hillier (TV: "The Crown") is 48. Actor Mireille Enos is 46. Actor Daniella Alonso is 43. Actor Michael Graziadei is 42. Actor Ashley Eckstein is 40. Actor Katie Lowes is 39. Rock musician Will Farquarson (Bastille) is 38. Actor Tatiana Maslany is 36. Actor Ukweli Roach (TV: "Blindspot") is 35. Actor Tom Felton is 34. Actor Teyonah Parris is 34. Actor Juliette Goglia is 26. Actor Dalya Knapp is 11.