TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, SEPT. 30, the 273rd day of 2018. There are 92 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1962, James Meredith, a black student, was escorted by federal marshals to the campus of the University of Mississippi, where he enrolled for classes the next day; Meredith’s presence sparked rioting that claimed two lives.
In 1777, the Continental Congress — forced to flee in the face of advancing British forces — moved to York, Pa.
In 1791, Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” premiered in Vienna, Austria.
In 1846, Boston dentist William Morton used ether as an anesthetic for the first time as he extracted an ulcerated tooth from merchant Eben Frost.
In 1938, after co-signing the Munich Agreement allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said, “I believe it is peace for our time.”
In 1947, the World Series was broadcast on television for the first time.
In 1955, actor James Dean, 24, was killed in a two-car collision near Cholame, Calif.
In 1986, the U.S. released accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Soviets released Nicholas Daniloff.
In 1988, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev retired President Andrei A. Gromyko from the Politburo and fired other old-guard leaders in a Kremlin shake-up.
In 2001, under threat of U.S. military strikes, Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban rulers said explicitly for the first time that Osama bin Laden was still in the country and that they knew where his hideout was.
In 2003, the FBI began a full-scale criminal investigation into whether White House officials had illegally leaked the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Angie Dickinson is 87. Singer Johnny Mathis is 83. Actor Len Cariou is 79. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 75. Pop singer Sylvia Peterson (The Chiffons) is 72. Actor Vondie CurtisHall and actress Victoria Tennant are 68. Singer Deborah Allen is 65. Actress Fran Drescher is 61. Country singer Marty Stuart is 60. Actress Debrah Farentino is 59. Actress Crystal Bernard and actor Eric Stoltz are 57. Rock singer Trey Anastasio, actress Monica Bellucci and rock musician Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls) are 54. Actress Amy Landecker and actor Silas Weir Mitchell are 49. Actor Tony Hale is 48. Actress Jenna Elfman is 47. Actress Marion Cotillard and actor Christopher Jackson are 43. Actor Stark Sands is 40. Actor Mike Damus is 39. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu is 37. Actress Lacey Chabert and actor Kieran Culkin are 36.