Today’s highlight in history
On Sept. 23, 1952, Sen. Richard M. Nixon (R-Calif.) salvaged his vice-presidential nomination by appearing on television from Los Angeles to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising in what became known as the “Checkers” speech.
On this date
In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British.
In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.
In 1846, Neptune was identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
In 1926, Gene Tunney scored a 10-round decision over Jack Dempsey to win the world heavyweight boxing title in Philadelphia.
In 1955, a jury in Sumner, Miss., acquitted two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of murdering black teenager Emmett Till. (The two men later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.)
In 1957, nine black students who’d entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.
In 1962, “The Jetsons,” an animated cartoon series about a Space Age family, premiered as the ABC television network’s first program in color.
Ten years ago: Cuba published a photo of a standing, smiling Fidel Castro looking heavier but still gaunt as the 81-year-old communist leader met with Angola’s president. Five years ago: The Libyan militia suspected in the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans said it had disbanded on orders of the country’s president. One year ago: Sen. Ted Cruz announced on Facebook he would vote for Donald Trump, a dramatic aboutface months after the fiery Texas conservative called the Republican nominee a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.”