TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Thursday, Sept. 20, the 263rd day of 2018. There are 102 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 20, 1962, James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Democratic Gov. Ross R. Barnett. (Meredith was later admitted.)

On this date:

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western passage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed enroute, but one of his ships eventually circled the world.)

In 1911, the British liner RMS Olympic collided with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wight; although seriously damaged, the Olympic was able to return to Southampton under its own power.

In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. was seriously wounded during a book signing at a New York City department store when he was stabbed in the chest by Izola Curry. (Curry was later found mentally incompetent; she died at a Queens, New York, nursing home in 2015 at age 98.)

In 1963, President Kennedy proposed a joint U-S-Soviet expedition to the moon.

In 1967, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.

In 1976, Playboy magazine released an interview in which Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter admitted he'd “looked on a lot of women with lust.”

In 1984, a suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy annex in north Beirut, killing at least 14 people, including two Americans and 12 Lebanese. The family sitcoms “The Cosby Show” and “Who's the Boss?” premiered on NBC and ABC, respectively.

In 1995, in a move that stunned Wall Street, A-T-and-T Corporation announced it was splitting into three companies.

In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to warrant charges against President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton. Former Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov died at age 65.

Ten years ago: The Bush administration asked Congress for the power to buy $700 billion in toxic assets clogging the financial system and threatening the economy as negotiations began on the largest bailout since the Great Depression.

Five years ago: Charting a collision course with the White House, the Republicancontrolled House approved, 230-189, legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown while also defunding President Barack Obama's 3-year-old health care law. (The Democratic-led Senate rebuffed the House's attempts to roll back the health care law; the partial government shutdown began October 1 with the start of the fiscal new year).

One year ago: Hurricane Maria, the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years, struck the island, wiping out as much as 75 percent of the power distribution lines and causing an island-wide blackout.

Thought for Today: “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” — George Washington Carver, American botanist (18641943).