TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, Sept. 22, the 265th day of 2019. There are 100 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of January 1, 1863. On this date: In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.
In 1927, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous “longcount” fight in Chicago.
In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.
In 1950, Omar N. Bradley was promoted to the rank of five-star general, joining an elite group that included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall and Henry H. “Hap” Arnold.
In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.
In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed.
In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.
In 1985, rock and country music artists participated in “FarmAid,” a concert staged in Champaign, Illinois, to help the nation’s farmers.
In 1989, the Irish Republican Army bombed the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, Kent, England, killing 11 band members. Songwriter Irving Berlin died in New York City at age 101.
In 1993, 47 people were killed when an Amtrak passenger train fell off a bridge and crashed into Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama. (A tugboat pilot lost in fog pushed a barge into the railroad bridge, knocking the tracks 38 inches out of line just minutes before the train arrived.)
In 1994, the situation comedy “Friends” debuted on NBCTV.
In 1995, an AWACS plane carrying U.S. and Canadian military personnel crashed on takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, killing all 24 people aboard.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama, visiting New York, brought together Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for their first face-to-face meeting. AlQaida released a 106-minutelong video predicting President Obama’s downfall at the hands of the Muslim world.