Today in History

Today is Saturday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2018. There are 107 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 15, 1972, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted seven men in connection with the Watergate break-in.

On this date:

In 1776, British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

In 1789, the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge two weeks after he was found not guilty of treason.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship.

In 1940, during the World War II Battle of Britain, the tide turned as the Royal Air Force inflicted heavy losses upon the Luftwaffe.

In 1942, during World War II, the aircraft carrier USS Wasp was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; the U.S. Navy ended up sinking the badly damaged vessel.

In 1950, during the Korean conflict, United Nations forces landed at Incheon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul.

In 1961, the United States began Operation Nougat, a series of underground nuclear explosions in the Nevada Test Site, two weeks after the Soviet Union resumed testing its nuclear weapons.

In 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)

In 1981, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve the Supreme Court nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor.

In 1982, Iran's former foreign minister, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, was executed after he was convicted of plotting against the government. The first edition of USA Today was published.

In 2001, President George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops to get ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult assault against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attack. Beleaguered Afghans streamed out of Kabul, fearing a U.S. military strike against Taliban rulers harboring Osama bin Laden.

Ten years ago: On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 504.48, or 4.42 percent, to 10,917.51 while oil closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months amid upheaval in the financial industry as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. was sold to Bank of America. Richard Wright, a founding member of Pink Floyd, died at age 65.

Five years ago: Hundreds of people, black and white, many holding hands, filled the Alabama church that was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan 50 years earlier to mark the anniversary of the blast that killed four little black girls and became a landmark moment in the civil rights struggle. Jackie Lomax, 69, a singer-songwriter who'd worked with the Beatles and had a long solo career, died in Wirral, England.

One year ago: North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan into the northern Pacific, its longest-ever such flight. A bomb partially detonated on a London subway car, injuring 51 people, including those hurt fleeing the train. (An 18-year-old Iraqi asylum-seeker, Ahmed Hassan, was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to a minimum of 34 years in prison.) Character actor Harry Dean Stanton died in Los Angeles at the age of 91. Harvard University reversed its decision to name as a visiting fellow Chelsea Manning, the former soldier who'd been convicted of leaking classified information. The Cleveland Indians saw their winning streak end at 22, an American League record, as they lost 4-3 to the Kansas City Royals. NASA's Cassini spacecraft disintegrated in the skies above Saturn after a journey of 20 years; it was the only spacecraft ever to orbit Saturn and sent back images of the planet, its rings and its moons.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Forrest Compton is 93. Comedian Norm Crosby is 91. Actor Henry Darrow is 85. Baseball Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry is 80. Actress Carmen Maura is 73. Opera singer Jessye Norman is 73. Writer-director Ron Shelton is 73. Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 72. Movie director Oliver Stone is 72. Rock musician Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) is 66. Rock musician Mitch Dorge (Crash Test Dummies) is 58. Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino is 57. Actor Danny Nucci is 50. Rap DJ Kay Gee is 49. Actor Josh Charles is 47. Singer Ivette Sosa (Eden's Crush) is 42. Actor Tom Hardy is 41. Actress Marisa Ramirez is 41. Pop-rock musician Zach Filkins (OneRepublic) is 40. Actor Dave Annable is 39. Actress Amy Davidson is 39. Britain's Prince Harry is 34. TV personality Heidi Montag is 32. Actress Kate Mansi is 31.

Thought for Today: "You cannot survive if you do not know the past." -- Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist (1929-2006).