Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2021. There are 107 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 15, 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.

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 1857, William Howard Taft -- who served as President of the United States and as U.S. chief justice -- was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1890, English mystery writer Agatha Christie was born in Torquay.

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

In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States as he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

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

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

In 1985, Nike began selling its "Air Jordan 1" sneaker.

In 2008, 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.

In 2015, Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia with massive coils of barbed wire and began detaining migrants trying to use the country as a gateway to Western Europe. Harsh new measures left thousands of frustrated asylum-seekers piled up on the Serbian side of the border.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama bestowed the Medal of Honor on Sgt. Dakota Meyer, a young and humble Marine who had defied orders and repeatedly barreled straight into a ferocious "killing zone" in Afghanistan to save 36 lives at extraordinary risk to himself.

Five years ago: A report issued by the Republican-led House intelligence committee condemned Edward Snowden, saying the National Security Agency leaker was not a whistleblower and that the vast majority of the documents he stole were defense secrets that had nothing to do with privacy; Snowden's attorney blasted the report, saying it was an attempt to discredit a "genuine American hero."

One year ago: Months after the police killing of Breonna Taylor thrust her name to the forefront of a national reckoning on race, the city of Louisville agreed to pay the Black woman's family $12 million and reform police practices as part of a settlement. Israel signed diplomatic pacts with two Gulf Arab states - the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain - at a White House ceremony that President Donald Trump said would mark the "dawn of a new Middle East." In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired two rockets into Israel, apparently meant to coincide with the White House ceremony.

Today's Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry is 83. Actor Carmen Maura is 76. Writer-director Ron Shelton is 76. Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 75. Movie director Oliver Stone is 75. Rock musician Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) is 69. Actor Barry Shabaka Henley is 67. Director Pawel Pawlikowski is 64. Rock musician Mitch Dorge (Crash Test Dummies) is 61. Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino is 60. Actor Danny Nucci is 53. Rap DJ Kay Gee is 52. Actor Josh Charles is 50. Actor Tom Hardy is 44. Actor Marisa Ramirez is 44. Pop-rock musician Zach Filkins (OneRepublic) is 43. Actor Dave Annable is 42. Actor Amy Davidson is 42. Britain's Prince Harry is 37. TV personality Heidi Montag is 35. Actor Kate Mansi is 34.