Today in History

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 20, the 263rd day of 2017. There are 102 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On September 20, 1967, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.

On this date:

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western passage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed enroute, but one of his ships eventually circled the world.)

In 1870, Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.

In 1884, the National Equal Rights Party was formed during a convention of suffragists in San Francisco; the convention nominated Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood for president.

In 1911, the British liner RMS Olympic collided with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wight; although seriously damaged, the Olympic was able to return to Southampton under its own power.

In 1947, former New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia died at age 64.

In 1957, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, 91, died. The police drama "M Squad," starring Lee Marvin, premiered on NBC-TV.

In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. was seriously wounded during a book signing at a New York City department store when he was stabbed in the chest by Izola Curry. (Curry was later found mentally incompetent; she died at a Queens, New York, nursing home in 2015 at age 98.)

In 1962, James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Democratic Gov. Ross R. Barnett. (Meredith was later admitted.)

In 1973, in their so-called "battle of the sexes," tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome. Singer-songwriter Jim Croce, 30, died in a plane crash near Natchitoches, Louisiana.

In 1984, a suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy annex in north Beirut, killing at least 14 people, including two Americans and 12 Lebanese. The family sitcoms "The Cosby Show" and "Who's the Boss?" premiered on NBC and ABC, respectively.

In 1999, Lawrence Russell Brewer became the second white supremacist to be convicted in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas. (Brewer was executed on September 21, 2011.) Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, died at a German hospital after a battle with leukemia; she was 67.

In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to warrant charges against President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton. Former Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov died at age 65.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush declined to criticize Blackwater USA, a security company in Iraq accused in a shooting that resulted in civilian deaths, saying investigators needed to determine whether the guards violated rules governing their operations. Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black teenagers, five of whom were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate (the charges were later reduced). Floyd Landis lost his doping case when two of three arbitrators upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France champion had used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular comeback victory. (Landis forfeited his Tour title and was subject to a two-year ban, retroactive to January 30, 2007.)

Five years ago: On a day when thousands of angry Pakistanis tried to make their way to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, the embassy aired an ad on Pakistani TV showing President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denouncing an anti-Islamic video produced in the United States. Space shuttle Endeavour, riding atop a Boeing 747, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California en route to its eventual retirement home, the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

One year ago: In their final speeches at the annual gathering of world leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon railed against leaders who kept "feeding the war machine" in Syria, while U.S. President Barack Obama said there was no military solution to the five-year conflict. A black police officer fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott, a black man, at a Charlotte, North Carolina, apartment complex, prompting days of civil unrest (Charlotte-Mecklenburg police later said that the shooting was justified). Movie director and screenwriter Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") died in Los Angeles at age 71.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Sophia Loren is 83. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Taylor is 82. Rock musician Chuck Panozzo is 69. Actor Tony Denison is 68. Hockey Hall of Famer Guy LaFleur is 66. Actress Debbi Morgan is 66. Jazz musician Peter White is 63. Actress Betsy Brantley is 62. Actor Gary Cole is 61. TV news correspondent Deborah Roberts is 57. Country-rock musician Joseph Shreve (Flynnville Train) is 56. Rock musician Randy Bradbury (Pennywise) is 53. Actress Kristen Johnston is 50. Rock singers Gunnar and Matthew Nelson are 50. Rock musician Ben Shepherd is 49. Actress Enuka Okuma is 45. Actress-model Moon Bloodgood is 42. Actor Jon Bernthal is 41. Singer The Dream is 40. Actor Charlie Weber is 39. Rock musician Rick Woolstenhulme (Lifehouse) is 38. Actress Crystle Stewart is 36. Rapper Yung Joc is 35. Actor Aldis Hodge is 31. Actor Malachi Kirby is 28.

Thought for Today: "History must stay open, it is all humanity." -- William Carlos Williams, American author and poet (1883-1963).