Today is Monday, Sept. 18, the 261st day of 2017. There are 104 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On September 18, 1947, the National Security Act, which created a National Military Establishment and the position of Secretary of Defense, went into effect.
On this date:
In A.D. 14, the Roman Senate officially confirmed Tiberius as the second emperor of the Roman Empire, succeeding the late Augustus.
In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.
In 1810, Chile made its initial declaration of independence from Spain with the forming of a national junta.
In 1927, the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) made its on-air debut with a basic network of 16 radio stations.
In 1931, an explosion in the Chinese city of Mukden damaged a section of Japanese-owned railway track; Japan, blaming Chinese nationalists, invaded Manchuria the next day.
In 1959, during his U.S. tour, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited Wall Street, the Empire State Building and the grave of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Khrushchev called on all countries to disarm.
In 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold (dahg HAWM’-ahr-shoold) was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia.
In 1970, rock star Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27.
In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
In 1981, a museum honoring former President Gerald R. Ford was dedicated in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In 1987, the psychological thriller “Fatal Attraction,” starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, was released by Paramount Pictures.
In 1990, the city of Atlanta was named the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, cheered on by Iraq war veterans and their families on the White House’s South Lawn, urged lawmakers to back his plan to withdraw some troops from Iraq but keep at least 130,000 through the summer of 2008 or longer. O.J. Simpson was charged with seven felonies, including kidnapping, in the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in a Las Vegas casino-hotel room. (Simpson, sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison, is scheduled to be released on parole in October 2017.)
Five years ago: Chicago teachers voted to suspend their strike and return to the classroom after more than a week on picket lines, ending a combative stalemate with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over evaluations and job security. NFL Films President Steve Sabol, 69, died in Moorestown, New Jersey.
One year ago: At the United Nations, the United States, Japan and South Korea roundly condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test and called for tough new measures to further isolate the communist state. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Seattle Seahawks 9-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a game that marked the return of pro football to the nation’s second-largest market for the first time in nearly 22 years. In Gee Chun of South Korea won the Evian Championship with the lowest 72-hole score in major championship history, finishing at 21-under 263 for a four-stroke victory. “Game of Thrones” was honored at the Emmy Awards as top drama for the second consecutive year; “Veep” repeated as best comedy series.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Jimmie Rodgers is 84. Actor Robert Blake is 84. Actor Fred Willard is 84. Actor Eddie Jones is 83. Gospel singer Bobby Jones is 79. Singer Frankie Avalon is 77. Actress Beth Grant is 68. Rock musician Kerry Livgren is 68. Actress Anna Deavere Smith is 67. The U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, is 66. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino is 65. College Football Hall of Famer and retired NFL player Billy Sims is 62. Movie director Mark Romanek is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is 58. Alt-country-rock musician Mark Olson is 56. Singer Joanne Catherall (Human League) is 55. Actress Holly Robinson Peete is 53. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ricky Bell (Bell Biv Devoe and New Edition) is 50. Actress Aisha Tyler is 47. Former racing cyclist Lance Armstrong is 46. Opera singer Anna Netrebko is 46. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith is 46. Actor James Marsden is 44. Actress Emily Rutherfurd is 43. Actor Travis Schuldt is 43. Rapper Xzibit is 43.
Comedian-actor Jason Sudeikis is 42. Actress Sophina Brown is 41. Actor Barrett Foa is 40. Talk show co-host Sara Haines (TV: “The View”) is 40. Actress Alison Lohman is 38. Designer Brandon Maxwell is 33. Actors Brandon and Taylor Porter are 24. Country singer Tae Dye (Maddie and Tae) is 22. Actor C.J. Sanders is 21.
Thought for Today: “Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.” — Samuel Johnson, English author, critic and lexicographer (1709-1784).
