TODAY IN HISTORY

SUNDAY SEP 26, 2021 1789

Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.

1777

British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

1914

The Federal Trade Commission was established.

1933

The James Hilton novel “Lost Horizon” was first published in London by Macmillan & Co. Ltd. and in New York by William Morrow & Co.

1957

The musical “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.

1960

The first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.

1964

The situation comedy “Gilligan’s Island” premiered on CBS-TV.

1986

William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

1990

The Motion Picture Association of America announced it had created a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.

1991

Four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2.

1996

President Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies.

2003

President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a two-day summit at Camp David.

2005

Army Pfc. Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury in Fort Hood, Texas, on six of seven counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.