Today in History

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 29, the 273rd day of 2016. There are 93 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 29, 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with the strength of several hundred men.

On this date:

In 1829, London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

In 1907, the foundation stone was laid for the Washington National Cathedral.

In 1910, the National Urban League had its beginnings in New York as The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship HMS Nelson off Malta.

In 1955, a one-act version of the Arthur Miller play "A View From the Bridge" opened in New York. (Miller later turned it into a two-act play.)

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, creating the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)

In 1986, the Soviet Union released Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist confined on spying charges.

In 1990, the Washington National Cathedral, begun in 1907, was formally completed with President George H.W. Bush overseeing the laying of the final stone atop the southwest pinnacle of the cathedral's St. Paul Tower.

In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation's 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

Ten years ago: U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he'd sent to former House pages. A Gol Airlines flight crashed in the Brazilian jungle after clipping a private jet, killing all 154 people aboard (the private jet landed safely). Rhode Island nightclub owner Michael Derderian was sentenced to four years in prison and his brother, Jeffrey, to probation under a plea agreement, angering relatives of the 100 people who had died in a 2003 fire at The Station.

Five years ago: Germany kept alive hopes that the 17-nation euro currency could survive the debt crisis as lawmakers in Europe's largest economy voted overwhelmingly in favor of expanding the powers of the eurozone's bailout fund. Phillip Matthew Hannan, the former New Orleans archbishop who eulogized President John F. Kennedy and who served more than three decades as the popular leader of his Roman Catholic archdiocese, died on the 47th anniversary of his ordination.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, hosting a U.N. gathering of world leaders, pledged all possible tools military, intelligence and economic to defeat the Islamic State group, but acknowledged the extremist group had taken root in Syria and Iraq, was resilient and was continuing to expand. Former National Security Agency worker Edward Snowden, who'd leaked classified documents about government surveillance, joined the social networking service Twitter. NCAA banned the SMU men's basketball team from the postseason and suspended coach Larry Brown for nine games, saying he had lied to investigators and ignored a case of academic fraud by a player.

Today's Birthdays: Conductor Richard Bonynge is 86. Writer-director Robert Benton is 84. Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 81. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is 74. Actor Ian McShane is 74. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 74. Nobel Peace laureate Lech Walesa is 73. Television-film composer Mike Post is 72. Actress Patricia Hodge is 70. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 68. Rock singer-musician Mark Farner is 68. Rock singer-musician Mike Pinera is 68. Country singer Alvin Crow is 66. Actor Drake Hogestyn is 63. Broadcast journalist Gwen Ifill is 61. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 60. Singer Suzzy Roche (The Roches) is 60. Comedian-actor Andrew "Dice" Clay is 59. Rock singer John Payne (Asia) is 58. Actor Roger Bart is 54. Singer-musician Les Claypool is 53. Actress Jill Whelan is 50. Actor Luke Goss is 48. Rock musician Brad Smith (Blind Melon) is 48. Actress Erika Eleniak is 47. Rhythm-and-blues singer Devante Swing (Jodeci) is 47. Country singer Brad Cotter (TV: "Nashville Star") is 46. Actress Emily Lloyd is 46. Actress Natasha Gregson Wagner is 46. Actress Rachel Cronin is 45. Country musician Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive) is 43. Actor Alexis Cruz is 42. Actor Zachary Levi is 36. Country singer Katie McNeill (3 of Hearts) is 34. Rock musician Josh Farro is 29. Actor Doug Brochu is 26. Singer Phillip Phillips is 26. Actress Clara Mamet is 22.

Thought for Today: "Wars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies." -- W.L. George, English writer (1882-1926).