Today in history

On Sept. 10, 1608,

John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia.

In 1794

America’s first nondenominational college, Blount College (later the University of Tennessee), was chartered.

In 1813

an American naval force commanded by Oliver Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.

In 1846

Elias Howe got a patent for his sewing machine.

In 1919

New York welcomed home Gen. John Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who had served in the U.S. First Division during World War I.

In 1939

Canada declared war on Nazi Germany.

In 1945

Vidkun Quisling, who served as president of occupied Norway, was sentenced to death for collaborating with the Nazis. (He was executed by firing squad in October 1945).

In 1948

American-born Mildred Gillars, accused of being Nazi wartime radio broadcaster Axis Sally, was indicted in Washington on treason charges. (She was later convicted and served 12 years in prison.)

In 1955

the long-running television Western series “Gunsmoke” premiered on CBS.

In 1963

20 black students entered Alabama public schools after a standoff between federal authorities and Gov. George Wallace.

In 1972,

at the Munich Summer Olympics, the U.S. Olympic basketball team lost to the Soviets, 51-50, in a gold-medal match marked by controversy because officials ordered the final three seconds of the game replayed, enabling the Soviets to win. (The United States protested, to no avail.) Also in

1972 Frank Shorter of the United States won the men’s marathon at the Games.

In 1977

convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant, became the last person to date to be executed by the guillotine in France.

In 1979

four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and a 1950 attempt on the life of President Harry Truman were granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter.

In 1983

John Vorster, prime minister of white-ruled South Africa from 1966 to 1978, died in Cape Town; he was 67.

In 1988

Steffi Graf of West Germany achieved tennis’s first Grand Slam since Margaret Court in 1970 by winning the U.S. Open women’s final.

In 1989

Hungary gave permission for thousands of East German refugees and visitors to immigrate to West Germany.

In 1990

Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with onetime enemy Iraq.

In 1991

the Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1993

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton lashed out at what she called “standpat, negative, naysaying” opponents of health care overhaul in an address to state legislators at George Washington University. Also in 1993 “The X-Files” premiered on Fox Television.

In 1995

a plane carrying members of a skydivers club crashed in Shacklefords, Va.