Today In History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 5, the 248th day of 2018. There are 117 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1882: The nation’s first Labor Day was celebrated with a parade in New York. (Although Labor Day now takes place on the first Monday of September, this first celebration occurred on a Tuesday.)

ON THIS DATE

› 1774: The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.

› 1960: At the Rome Olympics, American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland to win the light-heavyweight gold medal; Wilma Rudolph of the United States won the second of her three gold medals with the 200meter sprint.

› 1961: President John F. Kennedy signed legislation making aircraft hijackings a federal crime.

› 1997: Breaking the royal reticence over the death of Princess Diana, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II delivered a televised address in which she called her former daughter-in-law “a remarkable person.”

› 2002: Afghan President Hamid Karzai survived an assassination attempt in Kandahar, hours after an explosives-packed car tore through a Kabul market.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul A. Volcker is 91. Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 89. Actress-singer Carol Lawrence is 86. Former NFL All-Pro quarterback and college football Hall of Famer Billy Kilmer is 79. Actor William Devane is

79. Actor George Lazenby is 79. Actress Raquel Welch is 78. Movie director Werner Herzog is 76. Singer Al Stewart is 73. Actor-director Dennis Dugan is 72. College Football Hall of Famer Jerry LeVias is 72. Singer Loudon Wainwright III is 72. Soul/rock musician Mel Collins is 71. “Cathy” cartoonist Cathy Guisewite is 68. Actor Michael Keaton is 67. Country musician Jamie Oldaker (The Tractors) is 67. Actress Debbie Turner-Larson (Marta in “The Sound of Music”) is 62. TV personality Dweezil Zappa is 49. Actress Rose McGowan is 45. Actress Carice Van Houten is 42. Rock musician Kyle O’Quin (Portugal. The Man) is 33. Actor Andrew Ducote is

32. Actress Kat Graham is

32. Olympic gold medal figure skater Yuna Kim is

28. Actor Skandar Keynes is 27.