Today is Wednesday, Sept. 18, the 261st day of 2013. There are 104 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On Sept. 18, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a commission naming Rabbi Jacob Frankel of Rodeph Shalom Congregation in Philadelphia the first Jewish chaplain of the U.S. Army.
On this date:
In 1759, the French formally surrendered Quebec to the British.
In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.
In 1810, Chile made its initial declaration of independence from Spain with the formation of a national junta.
In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which created a force of federal commissioners charged with returning escaped slaves to their owners.
In 1927, the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) made its on-air debut with a basic network of 16 radio stations.
In 1931, an explosion in the Chinese city of Mukden damaged a section of Japanese-owned railway track; Japan, blaming Chinese nationalists, invaded Manchuria the next day.
In 1947, the National Security Act, which created a National Military Establishment, went into effect.
In 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia.
In 1970, rock star Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27.
In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
In 1981, a museum honoring former President Gerald R. Ford was dedicated in Grand Rapids, Mich.
In 1990, the city of Atlanta was named the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics. The organized crime drama “GoodFellas,” directed by Martin Scorsese, had its U.S. premiere in New York.
Ten years ago: Hurricane Isabel plowed into North Carolina’s Outer Banks with 100 mph winds and pushed its way up the Eastern Seaboard; the storm was later blamed for 30 deaths.
Five years ago: President George W. Bush told the country his administration was working feverishly to calm turmoil in the financial markets. The president met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who then asked Congress to give the government power to rescue banks by buying up their bad assets. Stocks on Wall Street shot up more than 400 points on word a plan was in the works.
One year ago: Chicago teachers voted to suspend their strike and return to the classroom after more than a week on picket lines, ending a combative stalemate with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over evaluations and job security.
Associated Press
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
