TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, Sept. 9.
Today’s highlight:
On Sept. 9, 1850, California became the 31st state of the union.
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 1919, some 1,100 members of Boston’s 1,500-man police force went on strike. (The strike was broken by Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge with replacement officers.)
In 1932, the steamboat Observation exploded in New York’s East River, killing 72 people.
In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared.
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 1960, in the first regular-season American Football League game, the Denver Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots, 13-10.
In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives.
In 1991, boxer Mike Tyson was indicted in Indianapolis on a charge of raping Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant. (Tyson was convicted and ended up serving three years of a sixyear prison sentence.)
In 2005, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the principal target of harsh criticism of the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, was relieved of his onsite command.
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, serving as sovereign for 23,226 days (about 63 years and 7 months), according to Buckingham Palace, surpassing Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother. New York became the first U.S. city to require salt warnings on chain-restaurant menus.
Ten years ago: New Yorkers and Washingtonians shrugged off talk of a new terror threat as intelligence officials scrambled to nail down information on a possible al-qaida strike timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Five years ago: Defying the White House, Congress sent President Barack Obama legislation giving the families of victims of the September 11 attacks the right to sue Saudi Arabia. (Obama vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode his veto.) 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 for which she ended up expressing regret. Shaquille O’neal and Allen Iverson were among those inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.