THURSDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Thursday, Sept. 29, the 273rd day of 2016. There are 93 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On Sept. 29, 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with the strength of several hundred men.

On this date:

In 1829, London’s reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

In 1907, the foundation stone was laid for the Washington National Cathedral.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland.

In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marsh al Pietro Badogl io signed an armistice aboard the British ship HMS Nelson off Malta.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, creating the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)

In 1990, the Washington National Cathedral, begun in 1907, was formally completed.

In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

Ten years ago: U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he’d sent to former House pages.

Five years ago: Germany kept alive hopes that the 17-nation euro currency could survive the debt crisis.

One year ago: President Barack Obama pledged all possible tools military, intelligence and economic to defeat the Islamic State group, but acknowledged the extremist group had taken root in Syria and Iraq, was resilient and was continuing to expand.

Today’s Birthdays: Conductor Richard Bonyn ge is 86. Writer-director Robert Benton is 84. Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 81. Actor Ian McShane is 74. Television-film composer Mike Post is 72. Actress Patricia Hodge is 70. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 60. Comedian-actor Andrew “Dice” Clay is 59.

Thought for Today: “Wars teach us not to love our enemies, but to hate our allies.” — W.L. George, English writer (1882-1926).