Today in History

Today is Sunday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2014. There are 94 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 28, 1787, the Congress of the Confederation voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.

On this date:

In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.

In 1542, Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.

In 1841, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow completed his poem "Excelsior."

In 1850, flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.

In 1914, the First Battle of the Aisne during World War I ended inconclusively.

In 1924, three U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, having completed the first round-the-world trip by air in 175 days.

In 1939, during World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty calling for the partitioning of Poland, which the two countries had invaded.

In 1958, voters in the African country of Guinea overwhelmingly favored independence from France.

In 1964, comedian Harpo Marx, 75, died in Los Angeles.

In 1974, first lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, following discovery of a cancerous lump in her breast.

In 1989, deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.

In 1994, an Estonian ferry capsized and sank in the Baltic Sea with the loss of 852 lives.

Ten years ago: An earthquake measuring magnitude 6.0 rocked central California. Kidnappers in Iraq released two female Italian aid workers, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, and five other hostages. Award-winning fashion designer Geoffrey Beene died in New York at age 77.

Five years ago: Iran tested its longest-range missiles and warned they could reach any place that threatened the country, including Israel, parts of Europe and U.S. military bases in the Mideast. Former Panamanian President Guillermo Endara, 73, who'd led his country to democracy after the U.S. invasion that toppled Gen. Manuel Noriega, died in Panama City.

One year ago: Locked in a deepening struggle with President Barack Obama, House Republicans demanded a one-year delay in major parts of the nation's new health care law and permanent repeal of a tax on medical devices as the price for preventing a partial government shutdown threatened for Oct. 1. (Senate Democrats rejected the plan and the White House said that "any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown.") The Global Citizen Festival, highlighting world poverty, took place in New York's Central Park.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Brigitte Bardot is 80. Singer Ben E. King is 76. Actor Joel Higgins is 71. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 68. Singer Helen Shapiro is 68. Movie writer-director-actor John Sayles is 64. Rock musician George Lynch is 60. Zydeco singer-musician C.J. Chenier is 57. Actor Steve Hytner is 55. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 50. Country singer Matt King is 48. Actress Mira Sorvino is 47. TV personality Moon Zappa is 47. Actress-model Carre Otis is 46. Actress Naomi Watts is 46. Country singer Karen Fairchild (Little Big Town) is 45. Country musician Chuck Crawford is 41. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 39. Rapper Young Jeezy is 37. World Golf Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak is 37. Actor Peter Cambor is 36. Writer-producer-director-actor Bam Margera is 35. Actress Melissa Claire Egan is 33. Actress Jerrika Hinton is 33. Rock musician Daniel Platzman (Imagine Dragons) is 28. Actress Hilary Duff is 27. Actor Keir Gilchrist is 22.

Thought for Today: "To fight oppression, and to work as best we can for a sane organization of society, we do not have to abandon the state of mind of freedom. If we do that we are letting the same thuggery in by the back door that we are fighting off in front of the house." -- John Dos Passos, American author (born 1896, died this date in 1970).

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.