TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Sept. 15, 1963

Four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1776

British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

1887

The city of Philadelphia launched a three-day celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Constitution of the United States.

1935

The Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship.

1940

During the World War II Battle of Britain, the tide turned as the Royal Air Force inflicted heavy losses upon the Luftwaffe.

1950

During the Korean conflict, United Nations forces landed at Incheon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul.

1959

Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States as he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

1961

The United States began Operation Nougat, a series of underground nuclear explosions in the Nevada Test Site, two weeks after the Soviet Union resumed testing its nuclear weapons.

1972

A federal grand jury in Washington indicted seven men in connection with the Watergate break-in.

1985

Nike began selling its “Air Jordan 1” sneaker.

2001

President George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops to get ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult assault against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attack. Beleaguered Afghans streamed out of Kabul, fearing a U.S. military strike against Taliban rulers harboring Osama bin Laden.