TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2020. There are 99 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Sept. 23, 1952, Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvaged his vice-presidential nomination by appearing on television from Los Angeles to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising in what became known as the “Checkers” speech.
63 B.C. — Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was born.
1806 — The Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.
1939 — Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, died in London at age 83.
1949 — President Harry S. Truman announced there was evidence the Soviet Union had recently conducted a nuclear test explosion. (The test had been carried out on Aug. 29, 1949.)
1955 — A jury in Sumner, Mississippi, acquitted two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of murdering Black teenager Emmett Till. (The two men later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.)
1987 — Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., withdrew from the Democratic presidential race following questions about his use of borrowed quotations and the portrayal of his academic record.
1999 — The Mars Climate Orbiter apparently burned up as it attempted to go into orbit around the Red Planet.
2001 — President George W. Bush returned the American flag to full staff at Camp David, symbolically ending a period of national mourning following the 9/11 attacks.
— Gov. Gray Davis signed a law making California the first state to offer workers paid family leave.
Ten years ago — The US delegation walked out of a UN speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he said some in the world had speculated that the US staged the September 11, 2001 attacks in an attempt to assure Israel’s survival.
Five years ago — In the first canonization on US soil, Pope Francis elevated to sainthood Junipero Serra, an 18th-century missionary who had brought Catholicism to the American West Coast. Earlier in the day, the pontiff met with President Barack Obama at the White House and was greeted by adoring crowds during an outdoor procession.
One year ago — During a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations, President Donald Trump denied telling the president of Ukraine that his country would only get US aid if Ukraine investigated the son of Democratic rival Joe Biden.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Singer Julio Iglesias is 77. Actor/singer Mary Kay Place is 73. Rock star Bruce Springsteen is 71. Rock musician Leon Taylor (The Ventures) is 65. Golfer Larry Mize is 62. Actor Chi McBride is 59. Actor Erik Todd Dellums is 56. Singer Ani DiFranco is 50. Recording executive Jermaine Dupri is 48. Actor Kip Pardue is 44. Actor Anthony Mackie is 42. Pop singer Erik-Michael Estrada (TV: “Making the Band”) is 41. Actor Aubrey Dollar is 40. Actor Brandon Victor Dixon is 39. Actor David Lim is 37. Pop singer Diana Ortiz (Dream) is 35. Actor Cush Jumbo is 35. Actor Skylar Astin is 33. Former tennis player Melanie Oudin is 29.