TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

On this day in history:

1741 - Handel finishes composing his Oratorio, Messiah.

1812 - Moscow was set on fire by Russians after Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops invaded.

1898 - The Gideons Bible Association, responsible for placing Bibles in motel and hotel rooms around the world, begins.

1948 - In New York, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the site of the United Nations’ world headquarters.

1960 - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded. The core members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

1975 - Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first US-born saint.

1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco dies after receiving severe injuries in a car crash.

1984 - Joe Kittinger became the first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1998 - Israel announced that they had successfully tested its Arrow-2 missile defense system. The system successfully destroyed a simulated target.

2001 - The announcement is made of the closure of Ansett Airlines, Australia.

2001 - Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console in Japan.

2001 - The FBI released the names of the 19 suspected hijackers that had taken part in the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S.

BIRTHDAYS

Charles Dana Gibson 1867 Margaret Sanger 1879 Jack Hawkins 1910 Clayton Moore 1914

Kay Medford 1920 Hughes Rudd 1921 Constance Baker Motley 1921 Bud Palmer 1923

Jerry Coleman 1924 Allan Bloom 1930

Zoe Caldwell 1933 Harve Presnell 1933

Kate Millett 1934 Walter Koenig 1936 Nicol Williamson 1938 Priscilla Mitchell 1941 Joey Heatherton 1944 Pete Agnew (Nazareth) 1946 Sam Neill 1947

John “Bowser” Bauman 1947 Steve Gaines 1949

Paul Kossoff 1950

Barry Cowsill 1954