TODAY INHISTORY
Today isWednesday, Sept. 16.
TODAY'SHIGHLIGHTSIN HISTORY
OnSept. 16,1974, President GeraldR. Fordannounced a conditional amnesty programforVietnamwar deserters and draft-evaders.
ONTHISDATE
In1966, theMetropolitan Opera officiallyopened its newopera house atNew York’s Lincoln Center for the PerformingArts with the world premiere ofSamuel Barber’s“Antonyand Cleopatra.”
In1982, themassacre of between 1,200and 1,400 Palestinian men, women and children at the hands of Israeli-allied Christian Phalange militiamenbegan inwestBeirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. In1994, a federal jury in Anchorage, Alaska, ordered Exxon Corp. to pay$5 billion in punitivedamages for the 1989ExxonValdez oil spill (theU.SSupreme Court later reduced that amountto $507.5 million). Two astronauts fromthe space shuttle Discovery went on thefirst untethered spacewalk in tenyears.
In 2001, President George W. Bush, speaking on the South Lawnof theWhite House, said therewas“no question”Osamabin Laden and his followerswere the prime suspects in theSept. 11 attacks; Bush pledged the governmentwould“find them, get themrunning and huntthemdown.”
In2005, PresidentGeorge W. Bush ruled out raising taxes topay the massive costs ofGulfCoast reconstruction in thewake of HurricaneKatrina, saying othergovernment spending had to be cut to pay for the recoveryeffort.
In2007, contractors for theU.S. securityfirm
BlackwaterUSAguarding aU.S. StateDepartment convoy in Baghdad opened fire on civilian vehicles, mistakenly believing they were underattack; 14
Iraqis died. O.J. Simpson was arrestedin the alleged armedrobberyof sports memorabilia collectors in LasVegas. (Simpsonwas laterconvictedof kidnapping and armedrobberyand sentencedto nine to 33 years in prison; hewas released in 2017.)
In2009, MaryTravers, 72, part of the folk trioPeter,
Paul and Mary, died in Danbury, Connecticut.
In 2013, AaronAlexis, a formerU.S. Navy reservist, went on a shooting rampage inside theWashingtonNavy Yard, killing 12 people before being shot deadbypolice. In2014, President Barack Obamadeclared that the Ebola epidemic inWest Africa could threaten security around theworld and ordered3,000U.S. troops to the region in emergency aid muscle. Tenyearsago: PopeBenedict XVIbeganacontroversial statevisit toBritain, acknowledgingtheCatholic Churchhadfailed toact decisivelyorquicklyenough todealwithpriestswhoraped andmolestedchildren. Fiveyearsago: Eleven Republicanpresidential candidates debated at the ReaganPresidential Library in SimiValley, California, wrangling overimmigration, gay marriage and foreign affairs.
Oneyearago: More than 49,000members of the UnitedAutoWorkerswent on strike against General Motors, bringingmore than 50factories andparts warehouses to a standstill. (The strike ended after40 dayswhenworkers ratified a newcontract.)