TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, SEPT. 22, the 266th day of 2016. There are 100 days left in the year. Autumn arrives at 10:21 a.m. Eastern time.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: 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 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free.

In 1927, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous “long-count” 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 including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, and George C. Marshall.

In 1964, 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. (Moore served 32 years in prison before being paroled in 2007.)

In 1985, music artists participated in “Farm Aid,” a concert to help the nation’s farmers.

In 1991, a London newspaper published an interview with former intelligence agent John Cairncross, who admitted being the “fifth man” in the Soviet Union’s notorious British spy ring.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda is 89. Actress Shari Belafonte is 62. Actor Scott Baio is 56. Rock musician Dave Hernandez is 46. Actress Mireille Enos is 41. Rock musician Will Farquarson (Bastille) is 33. Actress Tatiana Maslany (TV: “Orphan Black”) is 31. Actor Tom Felton is 29.