Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 6, the 249th day of 2018. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 6, 1997, a public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

On this date:

In 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. (McKinley died eight days later; Czolgosz was executed on Oct. 29.)

In 1909, American explorer Robert Peary sent a telegram from Indian Harbor, Labrador, announcing that he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.

In 1943, 79 people were killed when a New York-bound Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed and crashed in Philadelphia.

In 1944, during World War II, the British government relaxed blackout restrictions and suspended compulsory training for the Home Guard.

In 1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three U.S.-bound jetliners. (Two were later blown up on the ground in Jordan, along with a London-bound plane hijacked on Sept. 9; the fourth plane was destroyed on the ground in Egypt. No hostages were harmed.)

In 1972, the Summer Olympics resumed in Munich, West Germany, a day after the deadly hostage crisis that claimed the lives of eleven Israelis and five Arab abductors.

In 1975, 18-year-old tennis star Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia, in New York for the U.S. Open, requested political asylum in the United States.

In 1985, all 31 people aboard a Midwest Express Airlines DC-9 were killed when the Atlanta-bound jetliner crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee's Mitchell Field.

In 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record by playing his two-thousand-131st consecutive game.

In 1997, weeping masses gathered in Calcutta, India, to pay homage to Mother Teresa, who had died the day before at age 87.

In 2002, meeting outside Washington, D.C. for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of September 11.

In 2006, President George W. Bush acknowledged for the first time that the CIA was running secret prisons overseas and said tough interrogation had forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

Ten years ago: In the wake of Russia's military standoff with Georgia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that now was not the right time for the U.S. to move forward on a once-celebrated deal for civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia. (President George W. Bush canceled the deal two days later.) More than 100 people died in a rockslide that crashed into a shantytown just outside Cairo, Egypt. Actress Anita Page died in Los Angeles at age 98.

Five years ago: NASA's newest robotic lunar explorer, LADEE, rocketed into space in an unprecedented moonshot from Virginia that dazzled sky watchers along the East Coast.

One year ago: Hurricane Irma, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, pounded Puerto Rico with heavy rain and powerful winds; authorities said more than 900,000 people were without power. A California parole panel recommended parole for Leslie Van Houten, who at 19 was the youngest of Charles Manson's murderous followers in 1969. (California Gov. Jerry Brown later blocked her release.) Pope Francis was welcomed by jubilant crowds along the road from the airport into Bogota, Colombia, where he encouraged Colombians to reconcile after five decades of armed rebellion. Two French companies among the world's biggest makers of luxury goods -- including the owners of brands like Dior and Gucci -- agreed to stop working with fashion models who are unhealthily thin.

Today's Birthdays: Comedian JoAnne Worley is 83. Country singer David Allan Coe is 79. Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 75. Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 74. Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 71. Rock musician Mick Mashbir is 70. Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 66. Actor James Martin Kelly is 64. Country musician Joe Smyth (Sawyer Brown) is 61. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 60. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow is 60. Rock musician Perry Bamonte is 58. Actor Steven Eckholdt is 57. Rock musician Scott Travis (Judas Priest) is 57. Pop musician Pal Waaktaar (a-ha) is 57. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 56. Rock musician Kevin Miller is 56. ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 56. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 55. Actress Betsy Russell is 55. Actress Rosie Perez is 54. Rhythm and blues singer Macy Gray is 51. Country songwriter Lee Thomas Miller (Songs: "The Impossible" ''You're Gonna Miss This") is 50. Singer CeCe Peniston is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Darryl Anthony (Az Yet) is 49. Actress Daniele Gaither is 48. Actor Dylan Bruno is 46. Actor Idris Elba is 46. Actress Justina Machado is 46. Actress Anika Noni Rose is 46. Rock singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 44. Actor Justin Whalin is 44. Actress Naomie Harris is 42. Rapper Noreaga is 41. Actress Natalia Cigliuti is 40. Rapper Foxy Brown is 40. Actor Howard Charles is 35. Actress/singer Deborah Joy Winans is 35. Actress Lauren Lapkus is 33. Rock singer Max George (The Wanted) is 30.

Thought for Today: "The happiness of most people we know is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things." -- Ernest Dimnet, French priest, lecturer and author (1866-1954).