Today In History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2021. There are 107 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 2001: President George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops to get ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult assault against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attack. Beleaguered Afghans streamed out of Kabul, fearing a U.S. military strike against Taliban rulers harboring Osama bin Laden.

ON THIS DATE

› 1776: British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

› 1789: The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.

› 1935: The Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship.

› 1959: Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States as he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

› 1963: Four Black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)

› 1985: Nike began selling its “Air Jordan 1” sneaker.

› 2008: On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 504.48, or 4.42%, to 10,917.51 while oil closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months amid upheaval in the financial industry as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. was sold to Bank of America.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Baseball Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry is 83. Actor Carmen Maura is 76. Writer-director Ron Shelton is 76. Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 75. Movie director Oliver Stone is

75. Actor Barry Shabaka Henley is 67. Director Pawel Pawlikowski is 64. Rock musician Mitch Dorge (Crash Test Dummies) is 61. Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino is

60. Actor Danny Nucci is 53. Rap DJ Kay Gee is

52. Actor Josh Charles is

50. Actor Tom Hardy is

44. Actor Marisa Ramirez is 44. Pop-rock musician Zach Filkins (OneRepublic) is 43. Actor Dave Annable is 42. Actor Amy Davidson is 42. Britain’s Prince Harry is 37. TV personality Heidi Montag is 35. Actor Kate Mansi is 34.