The Record (Troy, NY)

Today in history

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Today is Tuesday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2017. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On September 12, 1942, during World War II, a German U- boat off West Africa torpedoed the RMS Laconia, which was carrying Italian prisoners of war, British soldiers and civilians; it’s estimated more than 1,600 people died while some 1,100 survived after the ship sank. The German crew, joined by other U- boats, began rescue operations. ( On September 16, the rescue effort came to an abrupt halt when the Germans were attacked by a U. S. Army bomber; as a result, Uboat commanders were ordered to no longer rescue civilian survivors of submarine attacks.)

On this date

In 1814, the Battle of North Point took place in Maryland during the War of 1812 as American forces slowed British troops advancing on Baltimore.

In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett secretly married Robert Browning at St. Marylebone Church in London.

In 1914, during World War I, the First Battle of the Marne ended in an Allied victory against Germany.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded the right of self- determinat­ion for the Sudeten ( soo- DAYT’- un) Germans in Czechoslov­akia.

In 1944, the Second Quebec Conference opened with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in attendance.

In 1953, Massachuse­tts Sen. John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier ( boo- vee- AY’) in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1960, Democratic presidenti­al candidate John F. Kennedy addressed questions about his Roman Catholic faith, telling the Greater Houston Ministeria­l Associatio­n, “I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.”

In 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie ( HY’- lee sehl- AH’- see) was deposed by Ethiopia’s military after ruling for 58 years.

In 1977, South African black student leader and antiaparth­eid activist Steve Biko ( BEE’- koh), 30, died while in police custody, triggering an internatio­nal outcry.

In 1986, Joseph Cicippio ( sih- SIHP’- ee- oh), the acting comptrolle­r at the American University in Beirut, was kidnapped ( he was released in December 1991).

In 1987, reports surfaced that Democratic presidenti­al candidate Joseph Biden had borrowed, without attributio­n, passages of a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock ( KIHN’- ik) for one of his own campaign speeches. ( The Kinnock report, along with other damaging revelation­s, prompted Biden to drop his White House bid.)

In 1992, the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off, carrying with it Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space; Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space; and Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese national to fly on a U. S. spaceship. Police in Peru captured Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman. Actor Anthony Perkins died in Hollywood at age 60.

Ten years ago: Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced long- serving Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov with an obscure Cabinet official, Viktor Zubkov. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ( shin- zoh ah- bay) announced his resignatio­n.

Five years ago: The U. S. dispatched an elite group of Marines to Tripoli, Libya, after the mob attack in Benghazi that killed the U. S. ambassador and three other Americans.

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