Today 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.
In 1761, Britain's King George III and his wife, Charlotte, were crowned in Westminster Abbey.
In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.
In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.
In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.
In 1964, the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," starring Zero Mostel, opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances. The secret agent series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, premiered on NBC-TV.
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 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 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.
In 1999, actor George C. Scott died in Westlake Village, Calif., at age 71.
In 2014, the United States and five Arab nations launched airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, sending waves of planes and Tomahawk cruise missiles against an array of targets.
Ten years ago: Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after an intimate gay encounter in his dormitory room was captured by a webcam and streamed online by his roommate without his knowledge. (Dharun Ravi (dah-ROON' RAH'-vee) was convicted of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and other counts and served less than a month in jail.) South African Ernie Els was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame; Doug Ford and twotime major winner Jock Hutchison from Scotland were elected through the Veteran's Category. "American Idol" announced that Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler would join Randy Jackson as judges the next season. Pop singer Eddie Fisher, 82, died in Berkeley, California.
Five years ago: Pope Francis arrived from Cuba on the first visit of his life to the United States; President Barack Obama, his wife and daughters personally welcomed the pontiff at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle for a three-day visit before heading to Washington. Volkswagen AG acknowledged putting emissions-cheating software in millions of vehicles worldwide. Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, 90, died in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
One year ago: "Game of Thrones" won the best drama series Emmy Award for its final season, tying its record of 12 years in a single year for the third time, while Phoebe WallerBridge's "Fleabag" was comedy's big winner, winning best comedy series and best actress for its star and creator. The bigscreen encore of the TV series "Downton Abbey" pulled off a box-office upset in its opening weekend, taking in $31 million to top Brad Pitt's "Ad Astra" and Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo: Last Blood." On his first NFL Sunday without a team, Antonio Brown went on a Twitter rant, announcing that he was done for good with the league that had exiled him following allegations of sexual misconduct.