TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, SEPT. 13, the 256th day of 2019. There are 109 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 2001, two days after the 9/11 terror attacks, the first jetliners returned to the skies, but several major airports remained closed. President George W. Bush visited injured Pentagon workers and said he would carry the nation’s prayers to New York.
In 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election, and declared New York City the temporary national capital.
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 1860, General of the Armies of the United States John J. Pershing was born in Laclede, Missouri.
In 1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
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 1971, a four-day rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; 32 inmates and 11 hostages diedt.
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 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 2008, rescue crews ventured out in a search for thousands of Texans who had stubbornly stayed behind overnight to face Hurricane Ike.
In 2017, firefighters 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. Former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, New Mexico’s longest-serving senator, died in Albuquerque at the age of 85.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Barbara Bain is 88. Actress Eileen Fulton (TV: “As the World Turns”) is 86. Actress Jacqueline Bisset is 75. Singer Randy Jones (The Village People) is 67. Actresscomedian Geri Jewell is 63. Country singer Bobbie Cryner and rock singermusician Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) are 58. Radio-TV personality Tavis Smiley is 55. Olympic gold medal runner Michael Johnson is 52. Tennis player Goran Ivanisevic is 48. Country singer Aaron Benward (Blue County) is 46. Country musician Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts) is 44. Contemporary Christian musician Hector Cervantes (Casting Crowns) and actor Ben Savage are 39. Rock singer Niall Horan (One Direction) is 26. Actress Lili Reinhart (TV: “Riverdale”) is 23.
— Associated Press