Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 22, the 265th day of 2022. There are 100 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 3:20 p.m. EDT.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of January 1, 1863.

On this date:

In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.

In 1911, pitcher Cy Young, 44, gained his 511th and final career victory as he hurled a 1-0 shutout for the Boston Rustlers against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field.

In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed.

In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.

In 1985, rock and country music artists participated in "Farm Aid," a concert staged in Champaign, Illinois, to help the nation's farmers.

In 1993, 47 people were killed when an Amtrak passenger train fell off a bridge and crashed into Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama. (A tugboat pilot lost in fog had pushed a barge into the railroad bridge, knocking the tracks 38 inches out of line just minutes before the train arrived.)

In 1994, the situation comedy "Friends" debuted on NBC-TV.

In 1995, an AWACS plane carrying U.S. and Canadian military personnel crashed on takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, killing all 24 people aboard.

In 2014, the United States and five Arab nations launched airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, sending waves of planes and Tomahawk cruise missiles against an array of targets.

In 2020, U.S. deaths from the coronavirus topped 200,000, by far the highest confirmed death toll from the virus in the world at that point, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama campaigned before a crowd of 18,000 in Wisconsin, the home state of GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan. In the aftermath of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, residents of the Libyan city of Benghazi protested at the compounds of several militias, vowing to rid themselves of armed factions and Islamic extremists.

Five years ago: As the scale of the damage from Hurricane Maria started to become clearer, Puerto Rican officials said they could not contact more than half of the communities in the U.S. territory, where all power had been knocked out to the island's 3.4 million people. President Donald Trump said NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem. The federal government told election officials in 21 states that hackers had targeted their systems before the 2016 presidential election. Sen. John McCain declared his opposition to the GOP's last-ditch effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare," the second time in three months McCain had emerged as the destroyer of his party's signature promise to voters.

One year ago: At a virtual "vaccine summit" on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, President Joe Biden said the United States was doubling, to 1 billion doses, its purchases of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world. Bargainers from both parties said bipartisan congressional talks on overhauling policing practices had ended without agreement; the effort had begun after killings of unarmed Black people by officers sparked protests across the U.S.

Today's Birthdays: Dancer/choreographer/singer Toni Basil is 79. Actor Paul Le Mat is 77. Musician King Sunny Ade (ah-DAY') is 76. Capt. Mark Phillips is 74. Rock singer David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Whitesnake) is 71. Actor Shari Belafonte is 68. Singer Debby Boone is 66. Country singer June Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 66. Singer Nick Cave is 65. Rock singer Johnette Napolitano is 65. Actor Lynn Herring is 65. Classical crossover singer Andrea Bocelli is 64. Singer-musician Joan Jett is 64. Actor Scott Baio is 62. Actor Catherine Oxenberg is 61. Actor Bonnie Hunt is 61. Actor Rob Stone is 60. Actor Dan Bucatinsky (TV: "24: Legacy") is 57. Musician Matt Sharp is 53. Rock musician Dave Hernandez is 52. Rapper Mystikal is 52. R&B singer Big Rube (Society of Soul) is 51. Actor James Hillier (TV: "The Crown") is 49. Actor Mireille Enos is 47. Actor Daniella Alonso is 44. Actor Michael Graziadei is 43. Actor Ashley Eckstein is 41. Actor Katie Lowes is 40. Rock musician Will Farquarson (Bastille) is 39. Actor Tatiana Maslany is 37. Actor Ukweli Roach (TV: "Blindspot") is 36. Actor Tom Felton is 35. Actor Teyonah Parris is 35. Actor Juliette Goglia is 27. Actor Dalya Knapp is 12.