THURSDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Thursday, Sept. 14, the 257th day of 2017. There are 108 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On Sept. 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry” (later “The Star-Spangled Banner”) after witnessing the American flag flying over the Maryland fort following a night of British naval bombardment during the War of 1812.

On this date:

In 1829, the Treaty of Adrianople was signed, ending war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1861, the first naval engagement of the Civil War took place as the USS Colorado attacked and sank the Confederate private schooner Judah off Pensacola, Fla.

In 1901, President William McKinley died in Buffalo, N.Y., of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin.

In 1941, Vermont passed a resolution enabling its servicemen to receive wartime bonuses by declaring the U.S. to be in a state of armed conflict, giving rise to headlines that Vermont had “declared war on Germany.”

In 1954, the Soviet Union detonated a 40-kiloton atomic test weapon.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI opened the third session of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, also known as “Vatican II.”

In 1975, Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first U.S.-born saint.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, appealed for a “national crusade” against drug abuse.

Ten years ago: Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility of cutting U.S. troop levels in Iraq to 100,000 by the end of 2008, well beyond the cuts President George W. Bush had approved.

Five years ago: Fury over an anti-Muslim film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad spread across the Muslim world.

One year ago: President Barack Obama said the U.S. was lifting economic sanctions and restoring trade benefits to former pariah state Myanmar.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Zoe Caldwell is 84. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown is 77. Actor Sam Neill is 70. Actor-writer-directorproducer Tyler Perry is 48. Actor Andrew Lincoln is 44. Actor Adam Lamberg is 33.

Thought for Today: “America has been called a melting pot, but it seems better to call it a mosaic, for in it each nation, people or race which has come to its shores has been privileged to keep its individuality, contributing at the same time its share to the unified pattern of a new nation.” — King Baudouin I of Belgium (1930-1993).