Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 6, the 249th day of 2023. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Sept. 6, 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.)

On this date:

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 1949, Howard Unruh, a resident of Camden, New Jersey, shot and killed 13 of his neighbors.

In 1972, the Summer Olympics resumed in Munich, West Germany, a day after the deadly hostage crisis that left eleven Israelis, five Arab abductors and a West German police officer dead.

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 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

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

In 2001, in a dramatic shift, the Bush administration abandoned the Clinton-era effort to break up Microsoft.

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 Sept. 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.

In 2007, opera star Luciano Pavarotti died in Modena, Italy, at the age of 71.

In 2013, NASA's robotic lunar explorer, LADEE, rocketed into space.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic to that point, pounded Puerto Rico with heavy rain and powerful winds; authorities said more than 900,000 people were without power.

In 2018, actor Burt Reynolds, one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1970s in films including "Deliverance" and "Smokey and the Bandit," died at age 82.

In 2021, actor Michael K. Williams, best known for his role on "The Wire," was found dead in his New York apartment at age 54.

In 2022, Liz Truss began her tenure as U.K. prime minister. She would resign just 49 days later.

Today's Birthdays: Comedian JoAnne Worley is 87. Country singer David Allan Coe is 84. Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 80. Actor Swoosie Kurtz is 79. Comedian-actor Jane Curtin is 76. Rock musician Mick Mashbir is 75. Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 71. Actor James Martin Kelly is 69. Country musician Joe Smyth (Sawyer Brown) is 66. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 65. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow is 65. Rock musician Perry Bamonte is 63. Actor Steven Eckholdt is 62. Rock musician Scott Travis (Judas Priest) is 62. Pop musician Pal Waaktaar (a-ha) is 62. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 61. Television journalist Elizabeth Vargas is 61. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 60. Actor Betsy Russell is 60. Actor Rosie Perez is 59. R&B singer Macy Gray is 56. Country songwriter Lee Thomas Miller (Songs: "The Impossible" "You're Gonna Miss This") is 55. Singer CeCe Peniston is 54. Actor Daniele Gaither is 53. Actor Dylan Bruno is 51. Actor Idris Elba is 51. Actor Justina Machado is 51. Actor Anika Noni Rose is 51. Rock singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 49. Actor Justin Whalin is 49. Actor Naomie Harris is 47. Rapper Noreaga is 46. Actor Natalia Cigliuti is 45. Rapper Foxy Brown is 45. Actor Howard Charles is 40. Actor/singer Deborah Joy Winans is 40. Actor Lauren Lapkus is 38. Rock singer Max George (The Wanted) is 35.