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“Say good night, Dick.” “Good night, Dick.” DAN ROWAN AND DICK MARTIN, STARS OF “ROWAN & MARTIN’S LAUGH-IN,” WHICH DEBUTED AS A SPECIAL ON NBC ON THIS DATE IN 1967 Today’s highlight in history On Sept. 9, 1976, JVC unveiled its new VHS videocassette recorder during a presentation in Tokyo. On this date In 1776, the second Continental Congress made the term “United States” official, replacing “United Colonies.” In 1893, Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther, in the White House; it was the first (and, to date, only) time a president’s child was born in the executive mansion.
In 1956, Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction, a measure primarily concerned with protecting voting rights and which also established a Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives. In 1976, Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong died in Beijing at age 82.
In 1997, Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland’s future.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush’s homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, said in Sunday talk-show appearances that fugitive al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was “virtually impotent” beyond his ability to hide away and spread anti-American propaganda.
Five years ago: Shannon Eastin became the first woman to officiate an NFL regular-season game, serving as a line judge in the St. Louis Rams-Detroit Lions game. (Detroit beat St. Louis 27-23.)
One year ago: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, speaking at an LGBT fundraiser in New York City, described half of Republican Donald Trump’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables,” a characterization she ended up expressing regret over.