TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Sept. 9, 1971

Prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1776

The second Continental Congress made the term “United States” official, replacing “United Colonies.”

1850

California became the 31st state of the union.

1942

During World War II, a Japanese plane launched from a submarine off the Oregon coast dropped a pair of incendiary bombs in a failed attempt at igniting a massive forest fire; it was the first aerial bombing of the U.S. mainland by a foreign power.

1943

Allied forces landed at Salerno and Taranto during World War II.

1956

Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

1960

In the first regular-season American Football League game, the Denver Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots, 13-10.

1986

Frank Reed, director of a private school in Lebanon, was taken hostage; he was released 44 months later.

1991

Boxer Mike Tyson was indicted in Indianapolis on a charge of raping Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant.

1997

Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland’s future. Actor Burgess Meredith died in Malibu, California, at age 89.

2005

Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the principal target of harsh criticism of the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, was relieved of his onsite command.