Today in history
On Sept. 13, 1971, a four-day inmates’ rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; the ordeal and final assault claimed the lives of 32 inmates and 11 hostages.
In 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election, and declared New York City the temporary national capital.
In 1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate; she became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
In 1959, Elvis Presley first met his future wife, 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, while stationed in West Germany with the U.S. Army. (They married in 1967, but divorced in 1973.)
In 1962, Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s order for the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, a black student, declaring in a televised address, “We will not drink from the cup of genocide.”
In 1970, the first New York City Marathon was held; winner Gary Muhrcke finished the
26.2-mile run, which took place entirely inside Central Park, in
2:31:38.
In 1989, Fay Vincent was elected commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the late A. Bartlett Giamatti.
In 1990, the combination police-courtroom drama “Law & Order” premiered on NBC.
In 1997, funeral services were held in Calcutta, India, for Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa.
In 2001, two days after the 9/11 terror attacks, the first few jetliners returned to the nation’s skies, but several major airports remained closed and others opened only briefly. President George W. Bush visited injured Pentagon workers and said he would carry the nation’s prayers to New York.
Ten years ago: Rescue crews ventured out to pluck people from their homes in an all-out search for thousands of Texans who had stubbornly stayed behind overnight to face Hurricane Ike. After wild conjecture over who would play Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” writer-performer Tina Fey returned to her old show for an opening sketch featuring her and Fey’s former “Weekend Update” co-host Amy Poehler as Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Five years ago: By truck and helicopter, thousands of people stranded by floodwaters were brought down from the Colorado Rockies.
One year ago: Firefighters who were called to a sweltering nursing home in Hollywood, Florida, where air conditioning had been knocked out by Hurricane Irma found three people dead and evacuated 145 others to hospitals; five others died later in the day. The Cleveland Indians set an American League record with their 21st straight win, a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. (The streak would continue to 22 before the Indians were stopped.) The International Olympic Committee officially awarded the 2024 Summer Olympics to Paris and the 2028 games to Los Angeles.