DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Saturday, Sept. 11, the 254th day of 2021. There are 111 days left in the year.
On this date:
1789: Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
1814: An American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.
1936: Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator.
1941: Groundbreaking took place for the Pentagon. In a speech that drew accusations of anti-semitism, Charles A. Lindbergh told an America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa, that “the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration” were pushing the United States toward war.
1967: The comedy-variety program “The Carol Burnett Show” premiered on CBS.
1973: Chilean President Salvador Allende died during a violent military coup.
1985: Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds cracked career hit number 4,192 off Eric Show of the San Diego Padres, eclipsing the record held by Ty Cobb. (The Reds won the game, 2-0).
2001: Nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-qaida hijackers seized control of four jetliners, sending two of the planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.
2003: Actor John Ritter died six days before his 55th birthday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California – the same hospital where he was born in 1948.
2006: In a prime-time address, President George W. Bush invoked the memory of the victims of the 9/11 attacks as he staunchly defended the war in Iraq, though he acknowledged that Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the attacks.
2008: Presidential candidates John Mccain and Barack Obama put aside politics as they visited ground zero together on the anniversary of 9/11 to honor its victims.
2012: A mob armed with guns and grenades launched a fiery nightlong attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost and a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
2015: A crane collapsed onto the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 111 people ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Movie director Brian De Palma is 81. Actor Lola Falana is 79. Drummer Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead is 78. Guitarist Leo Kottke is 76. Actor Amy Madigan is 71. Guitarist Tommy Shaw of Styx is 68. Sports reporter Lesley Visser is 68. Drummer Jon Moss of Culture Club is 64. Actordirector Roxann Dawson (“Star Trek: Voyager”) is 63. Actor Virginia Madsen (“Sideways,” “American Dreams”) is 60. Actor Kristy Mcnichol is 59. Musician Moby is 56. Singer Harry Connick Jr. is 54. Actor Taraji P. Henson is 51. Actor Laura Wright (“Guiding Light”) is 51. Guitarist Jeremy Popoff of Lit is 50. Singer Brad Fischetti of LFO is 46. Rapper Mr. Black is 44. Guitarist Jon Buckland of Coldplay is 44.