TODAY IN HISTORY

Today’s highlight:

On Sept. 7, 1977, the Panama Canal treaties, calling for the U.S. to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

On this date:

In 1940, Nazi Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain during World War II with the first air attack on London.

In 1986, Desmond Tutu was installed as the first Black clergyman to lead the Anglican Church in southern Africa.

In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and mortally wounded on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later.

In 2008, troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship.

In 2017, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Mexico struck off the country’s southern coast, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing at least 90 people. (A deadlier quake would strike central Mexico nearly two weeks later.)

Five years ago: President Barack Obama, during a visit to Laos, pledged to help to clear away the 80 million unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on the Southeast Asian country decades earlier.

One year ago: Many big Labor Day gatherings were canceled across the U.S. as health authorities pleaded with people to keep their distance from others so as not to cause another surge in coronavirus cases like the one that followed Memorial Day.

Today’s birthdays:

Singer Gloria Gaynor is 78. Actor Julie Kavner is 71. Rock singer Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) is 70. Actor Corbin Bernsen is 67. Pianist Michael Feinstein is 65. Actor-comedian Leslie Jones (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 54. Singermusician Wes Willis (Rush of Fools) is 35. Actor Evan Rachel Wood is 34. Actor Jonathan Majors is 32. Actor Ian Chen (TV: “Fresh Off the Boat”) is 15.