Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On Sept. 8, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford granted a “full, free, and absolute pardon” to former President Richard Nixon covering his entire term in office.
On this date:
1565: A Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, Fla.
1664: The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York.
1761: Britain’s King George III married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-strelitz a few hours after meeting her for the first time.
1892: An early version of “The Pledge of Allegiance,” written by Francis Bellamy, appeared in “The Youth’s Companion.” It went: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
1900: Galveston, Texas, was struck by a hurricane that killed an estimated 8,000 people.
1935: Sen. Huey P. Long, a Louisiana Democrat, was shot and mortally wounded inside the Louisiana State Capitol; he died two days later. The assailant was identified as Dr. Carl Weiss, who was gunned down by Long’s bodyguards.
1941: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad by German forces began during World War II.
1943: During World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower announced Italy’s surrender; Nazi Germany denounced Italy’s decision as a cowardly act.
1964: Public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, reopened after being closed for five years by officials attempting to prevent court-ordered racial desegregation.
1986: “The Oprah Winfrey Show” began the first of 25 seasons in national syndication.
2005: Congress hastened to provide an additional $51.8 billion for relief and recovery from Hurricane Katrina; President George W. Bush pledged to make it “easy and simple as possible” for uncounted, uprooted storm victims to collect food stamps and other government benefits.
2014: Ray Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video was released showing the running back striking his thenfiancee, Janay Palmer, in an elevator. A neutral arbitrator vacated the suspension two months later, but Rice never played in the NFL again. S. Truett Cathy, the billionaire founder of the Chick- fil- A restaurant chain, died in suburban Atlanta at age 93.
Ten years ago: BP took some of the blame for the Gulf oil disaster in an internal report, acknowledging among other things that it had misinterpreted a key pressure test of the well, but also assigned responsibility to its partners on the doomed rig.
Five years ago: After resisting apologizing for using a personal email account run on a private server to conduct government business as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton shifted course, telling ABC News, “That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility.”
One year ago: Former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford joined the Republican race against President Donald Trump, saying that there needed to be “a conversation about what it means to be a Republican.” Sanford ended his bid two months later.