TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, the 268th day of 2020. There are 98 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1789, President George Washington signed a Judiciary Act establishing America’s federal court system and creating the post of attorney general.
In 1869, thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic known as “Black Friday” after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market.
In 1890, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wilford Woodruff, wrote a manifesto renouncing the practice of plural marriage, or polygamy.
In 1960, the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Virginia.
In 1964, the situation comedy “The Munsters” premiered on CBS television.
In 1969, the trial of the Chicago Eight (later seven) began. (Five were later convicted of crossing state lines to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic convention, but the convictions were ultimately overturned.)
In 1976, former hostage Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery in San Francisco carried out by the Symbionese Liberation Army. (Hearst was released after 22 months after receiving clemency from President Jimmy Carter.)
In 1988, members of the eastern Massachusetts Episcopal diocese elected Barbara C. Harris the first female bishop in the church’s history.
In 1996, the United States and 70 other countries became the first to sign a treaty at the United Nations to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. (The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has yet to enter into force because of the refusal so far of eight nations — including the United States — to ratify it.)
In 2001, President George W. Bush ordered a freeze on the assets of 27 people and organizations with suspected links to terrorism, including Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.
In 2007, United Auto Workers walked off the job at General Motors plants in the first nationwide strike during auto contract negotiations since 1976; a tentative pact ended the walkout two days later.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Rhythmand-blues singer Sonny Turner (The Platters) is 81. Singer Barbara Allbut Brown (The Angels) is 80. Singers Phyllis “Jiggs” Allbut Sirico and Gerry Marsden are 78. News anchor Lou Dobbs is 75. Pro and College Football Hall-of-Famer Joe Greene is 74. Actor Kevin Sorbo is 62. Christian/jazz singer Cedric Dent and actor-writer Nia Vardalos are 58. Singer-musician Marty Cintron (No Mercy) is 49. Actor Ian Bohen is 44. Olympic gold medal gymnast Paul Hamm and actor Erik Stocklin are 38. Actor Kyle Sullivan is 32. Actor Ben Platt is 27.