Today in History
Today is Thursday, Sept. 7, the 250th day of 2023. There are 115 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Sept. 7, 1940, Nazi Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain during World War II with the first air attack on London.
On this date:
In 1901, the Peace of Beijing ended the Boxer Rebellion in China.
In 1943, a fire at the Gulf Hotel, a rooming house in Houston, claimed 55 lives.
In 1968, feminists protested outside the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J.
In 1977, the Panama Canal treaties, calling for the U.S. to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.
In 1986, Bishop Desmond Tutu was installed as the first Black clergyman to lead the Anglican Church in southern Africa.
In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and mortally wounded on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later.
In 2005, police and soldiers went house to house in New Orleans to try to coax the last stubborn holdouts into leaving the city shattered by Hurricane Katrina.
In 2007, Osama bin Laden appeared in a video for the first time in three years, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they wanted the war in Iraq to end.
In 2008, troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship.
In 2013, Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics, defeating Istanbul in the final round of secret voting by the International Olympic Committee.
In 2015, Hillary Clinton, interviewed by The Associated Press during a campaign swing through Iowa, said she did not need to apologize for using a private email account and server while at the State Department because “what I did was allowed.”
In 2019, President Donald Trump said he had canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghan leaders, just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, after a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
In 2020, India’s increasing coronavirus caseload made the Asian giant the world’s second-worst-hit country behind the United States.
In 2022, Myles Sanderson, the 32-year-old suspect in stabbings that killed 11 people and injured 18 in Saskatchewan, Canada three days earlier, was arrested and died in a hospital after showing medical distress.
Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musician Sonny Rollins is 93. Singer Gloria Gaynor is 80. Singer Alfa Anderson (Chic) is 77. Actor Susan Blakely is 75. Rock musician Dennis Thompson (MC5) is 75. Actor Julie Kavner is 73. Rock singer Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) is 72. Rock musician Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 70. Actor Corbin Bernsen is 69. Actor Michael Emerson is 69. Pianist Michael Feinstein is 67. Singer/songwriter Diane Warren is 67. Singer Margot Chapman is 66. Actor J. Smith-Cameron is 66. Actor W. Earl Brown is 60. Actor Toby Jones is 57. Actor-comedian Leslie Jones (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 56. Model-actor Angie Everhart is 54. Actor Diane Farr is 54. Actor Monique Gabriela Curnen is 53. Actor Tom Everett Scott is 53. Rock musician Chad Sexton (311) is 53. Actor Shannon Elizabeth is 50. Actor Oliver Hudson is 47. Actor Devon Sawa (SAH’-wuh) is 45. Actor JD Pardo is 44. Actor Benjamin Hollingsworth (TV: “Code Black”) is 39. Actor Alyssa Diaz (TV: “Ray Donovan”; “Zoo”) is 38. Singer-musician Wes Willis (Rush of Fools) is 37. Actor Evan Rachel Wood is 36. Actor Ian Chen (TV: “Fresh Off the Boat”) is 17.