Today in History

Today in History

Today is Monday, Sept. 26, the 270th day of 2016. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 26, 1789, Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.

On this date:

In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

In 1892, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.

In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established.

In 1937, the radio drama "The Shadow," starring Orson Welles, premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

In 1945, Hungarian-born composer Bela Bartok, 64, died in New York City.

In 1957, the musical play "West Side Story" opened on Broadway.

In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.

In 1981, the twin-engine Boeing 767 made its official debut in Everett, Washington.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.)

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies. Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, was formally sentenced to death in San Jose, California.

In 2014, 43 students from a rural teachers college in Guerrero state in Mexico who had commandeered buses to attend a rally in Mexico City were detained by police in the city of Iguala and turned over to a crime gang; their fate remains unknown.

Ten years ago: A declassified version of a government intelligence report ordered released by President George W. Bush said the war in Iraq had become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that was likely to get worse before it got better. Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow was sentenced by a federal judge in Houston to six years in prison for his role in the fallen energy company's bankruptcy (Fastow was released in Dec. 2011). Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was convicted and later pardoned for being World War II propagandist "Tokyo Rose," died in Chicago at age 90. World Golf Hall of Famer Byron Nelson died in Roanoke, Texas, at age 94.

Five years ago: Ending weeks of political brinkmanship, Congress advanced legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown. President Barack Obama appeared at a town hall meeting in Mountain View, California, hosted by the social networking company LinkedIn; the president plugged his jobs agenda in fielding questions on the employment picture, education, Medicare and Social Security.

One year ago: Visiting Philadelphia on the final leg of his six-day U.S. trip, Pope Francis extolled America's founding ideals of liberty and equality while warning that religious freedom was under threat around the globe. Speaking at a U.N. summit on new development goals, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged billions in aid to the world's poorest countries and said Beijing would forgive debts of those worst-off.

Today's Birthdays: Retired baseball All-Star Bobby Shantz is 91. Actor Philip Bosco is 86. Actor Richard Herd is 84. South African nationalist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is 80. Country singer David Frizzell is 75. Actor Kent McCord is 74. Television host Anne Robinson is 72. Singer Bryan Ferry is 71. Actress Mary Beth Hurt is 70. Singer Olivia Newton-John is 68. Actor James Keane is 64. Rock singer-musician Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos) is 62. Country singer Carlene Carter is 61. Actress Linda Hamilton is 60. Country singer Doug Supernaw is 56. Rhythm-and-blues singer Cindy Herron (En Vogue) is 55. Actress Melissa Sue Anderson is 54. Actor Patrick Bristow is 54. Rock musician Al Pitrelli is 54. Singer Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) is 54. TV personality Jillian Barberie is 50. Contemporary Christian guitarist Jody Davis (Newsboys) is 49. Actor Jim Caviezel is 48. Actress Tricia O'Kelley is 48. Actor Ben Shenkman is 48. Actress Melanie Paxon is 44. Singer Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) is 44. Music producer Dr. Luke is 43. Jazz musician Nicholas Payton is 43. Actor Mark Famiglietti is 37. Singer-actress Christina Milian is 35. Tennis player Serena Williams is 35.

Thought for Today: "The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do." -- Booker T. Washington, American educator and author (1856-1915).