Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 5, the 248th day of 2019. There are 117 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 5, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford escaped an attempt on his life by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, in Sacramento, California.

On this date:

In 1774, the first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.

In 1864, voters in Louisiana approved a new state constitution abolishing slavery.

In 1882, the nation's first Labor Day was celebrated with a parade in New York. (Although Labor Day now takes place on the first Monday of September, this first celebration occurred on a Tuesday.)

In 1939, four days after war had broken out in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation declaring U.S. neutrality in the conflict.

In 1960, at the Rome Olympics, American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland to win the light-heavyweight gold medal; Wilma Rudolph of the United States won the second of her three gold medals with the 200-meter sprint.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed legislation making aircraft hijackings a federal crime.

In 1972, the Palestinian group Black September attacked the Israeli Olympic delegation at the Munich Games; 11 Israelis, five guerrillas and a police officer were killed in the resulting siege.

In 1984, the space shuttle Discovery ended its inaugural flight as it landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1986, four hijackers who had seized a Pan Am jumbo jet on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan, opened fire when the lights inside the plane failed; a total of 20 people were killed before Pakistani commandos stormed the jetliner.

In 1991, the 35th annual Naval Aviation Symposium held by the Tailhook Association opened in Las Vegas. (The gathering was marred by reports that dozens of people, most of them women, were sexually assaulted or otherwise harassed during the meeting.)

In 1997, breaking the royal reticence over the death of Princess Diana, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II delivered a televised address in which she called her former daughter-in-law "a remarkable person." Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India, at age 87; conductor Sir Georg Solti died in France at age 84.

In 2017, President Donald Trump announced that he was phasing out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program protecting young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally, but said he was giving Congress six months to come up with an alternative. (The Supreme Court is expected to decide by June 2020 whether Trump can terminate the program.) Hurricane Irma strengthened to a Category 5 storm as it approached the northeast Caribbean on a path toward the United States.

Ten years ago: Top finance officials from rich and developing countries agreed during a meeting in London to curb hefty bankers' bonuses and maintain stimulus measures such as extra government spending and low interest rates to boost the global economy.

Five years ago: The U.S. and 10 of its key allies, meeting in Wales, agreed that the Islamic State group was a significant threat to NATO countries and that they would take on the militants by squeezing their financial resources and going after them with military might. Ukraine, Russia and Kremlin-backed separatists signed a cease-fire after five months of bloodshed. Former CBS News and CNN correspondent Bruce Morton, 83, died in Washington.

One year ago: The New York Times published an opinion piece from an anonymous senior administration official claiming to be part of an internal "resistance" working to thwart President Donald Trump's "worst inclinations;" Trump responded that if such a "gutless" person exists, "the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to the government at once!" At the second day of his confirmation hearing, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh rejected repeated efforts by Democrats to get him to reveal his views about a president pardoning himself or being forced to testify in a criminal case. Britain charged two men it identified as Russian military intelligence officers with the nerve-agent poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal. Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona was sworn in to fill the Senate seat left open by the death of John McCain.

Today's Birthdays: Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul A. Volcker is 92. Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 90. Actress-singer Carol Lawrence is 87. Actress Lucille Soong is 84. Former NFL All-Pro quarterback and college football Hall of Famer Billy Kilmer is 80. Actor William Devane is 80. Actor George Lazenby is 80. Actress Raquel Welch is 79. Movie director Werner Herzog is 77. Singer Al Stewart is 74. Actor-director Dennis Dugan is 73. College Football Hall of Famer Jerry LeVias is 73. Singer Loudon Wainwright III is 73. Soul/rock musician Mel Collins is 72. "Cathy" cartoonist Cathy Guisewite is 69. Actor Michael Keaton is 68. Country musician Jamie Oldaker (The Tractors) is 68. Actress Debbie Turner-Larson (Marta in "The Sound of Music") is 63. Actress Kristian Alfonso is 56. Rhythm-and-blues singer Terry Ellis is 56. Rock musician Brad Wilk is 51. TV personality Dweezil Zappa is 50. Actress Rose McGowan is 46. Actress Carice Van Houten is 43. Rock musician Kyle O'Quin (Portugal. The Man) is 34. Actor Andrew Ducote is 33. Olympic gold medal figure skater Yuna Kim is 29. Actor Skandar Keynes is 28.

Thought for Today: "If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime." -- Jack Kerouac, American novelist (1922-1969).

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