TODAY INHISTORY
Today is Saturday, Sept. 19.
TODAY’SHIGHLIGHT
OnSept. 19, 1881, the 20th president of the United States, JamesA. Garfield, died 2½ months after being shotbyCharles Guiteau; ChesterAlan Arthurbecame president.
ONTHISDATE
In 1783, Jacques Etienne Montgolfier launched a duck, a sheep and a roosteraboard a hot-airballoon atVersailles in France.
In 1796, President George Washington’s farewell addresswas published.
In it, America’s first chief executive advised,“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivatepeace and harmonywith all.”
In 1934, BrunoHauptmann was arrestedinNewYorkand chargedwith the kidnapmurderof20-month-old Charles A. LindberghJr.
In 1955, PresidentJuan Peron ofArgentinawas oustedaftera revolt by the armyand navy.
In1984, Britain and
China completeda draft agreement on transferring HongKong fromBritish to Chinese rule by 1997.
In 1985, theMexico City area was struckby adevastating earthquake that killed at least9,500people.
In1986, federal health officials announcedthat the experimental drugAZT wouldbemadeavailable to thousands ofAIDSpatients. In 1995, TheNewYorkTimes andTheWashingtonPost published the manifesto of UnabomberTedKaczynski, which proved instrumental in identifying and capturing him.
In1996, IBM announced it would extend health benefits to thepartners of its gay employees.
In 2001, ThePentagon ordered dozens ofadvanced aircraft to thePersian
Gulf region as the hourof military retaliation fordeadly terrorist attacks onSept. 11 drewcloser.
In2004, HuJintaobecame the undisputedleaderof China with the departure of formerPresident Jiang Zemin fromhis topmilitary post.
In2008, struggling to stave offfinancial catastrophe, the Bush administration laid out a radicalbailout plan calling fora takeoverofa half-trillion dollars ormore inworthless mortgages and otherbad debt heldby tottering institutions. Relieved investors sent stocks soaring onWallStreet and around the globe.
Tenyears ago: TheBPoil well at the bottomof the GulfofMexicowas declared “effectivelydead”by retired CoastGuardAdm. Fiveyearsago: Pope Francis, arriving inHavana, hailed detente between Cuba and theUnited States as a model of reconciliation for theworld as he launched a 10-day tourof the former ColdWar foes.
Oneyearago: Under orders fromtheTrump administration, the intelligence community’s inspectorgeneral refused to tellmembers ofa Housepanelwhatwas in a whistleblower’s complaint about a private conversationbetween PresidentDonaldTrump and Ukraine’s president. Trumpbegan responding to published reports about the phone call, tweeting that hewould never“say something inappropriate with a foreign leaderwhile on such a potentially‘heavily populated’call,”and that he would only“dowhat is right anyway.”