HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY
Today’s highlight:
On Sept. 12, 1942, during World War II, a German U-boat off West Africa torpedoed the RMS Laconia, which was carrying Italian prisoners of war, British soldiers and civilians; it’s estimated more than 1,600 people died while some 1,100 survived after the ship sank.
On this date:
1914: During World War I, the First Battle of the Marne ended in an Allied victory against Germany.
1958: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.
Thought for today “We must be willing to pay a price for freedom, for no price that is ever asked for it is half the cost of doing without it.” H.L. Mencken American author and journalist (1880-1956)
1959: The Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 space probe, which made a crash landing on the moon. The TV Western series “Bonanza” premiered on NBC.
1960: Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy addressed questions about his
Roman Catholic faith, telling the Greater Houston Ministerial
Association, “I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.” 1987: Reports surfaced that Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden had borrowed, without attribution, passages of a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock for one of his own campaign speeches. 1992: The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off, carrying with it Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space; Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space; and Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese national to fly on a U.S. spaceship. Actor Anthony Perkins died in Hollywood at age 60.
1994: A stolen, single-engine Cessna crashed into the South Lawn of the White House, coming to rest against the executive mansion; the pilot, Frank Corder, was killed.
2012: The U.S. dispatched an elite group of Marines to Tripoli, Libya, after the mob attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. President Barack
Obama strongly condemned the violence, and vowed to bring the killers to justice; Republican challenger Mitt Romney accused the administration of showing weakness in the face of tumultuous events in the Middle East.
Ten years ago: A Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people. Federal investigators said the Metrolink engineer, Robert Sanchez, who was among those who died in the accident, had been textmessaging on his cellphone and ran a red light shortly before the crash.
Five years ago: The U.S. space agency NASA announced that Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, had crossed a new frontier, becoming the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.
One year ago: Crews worked to repair the lone highway connecting the Florida Keys, where 25 percent of the homes were feared to have been destroyed by Hurricane Irma; more than 9 million Floridians, or nearly half the state’s population, were still without power in the late-summer heat. Seattle Mayor
Ed Murray announced that he was resigning amid sex abuse allegations.