TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, Sept. 13, the 257th day of 2020. There are 109 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

• On Sept. 13, 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election, and declared New York City the temporary national capital.

ON THIS DATE:

• In 1803, Commodore John Barry, considered by many the father of the American Navy, died in Philadelphia.

• In 1814, during the War of 1812, British naval forces began bombarding Fort McHenry in Baltimore but were driven back by American defenders in a battle that lasted until the following morning.

• In 1851, American medical pioneer Walter Reed was born in Gloucester County, Va.

• In 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 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.

• In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur died at a Las Vegas hospital six days after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting; he was 25.

• 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.

• In 2009, Kim Clijsters, capping a comeback from two years out of tennis, became the first unseeded woman to win the U.S. Open as she defeated No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki, 7-5, 6-3.