Wednesday, September 16th
The 259th day of 2009.
There are 106 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Sept. 16, 1974, President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders. (Go to article.)
On Sept. 16, 1838, James Jerome Hill, who built a railroad empire in the American northwest, was born. Following his death on May 29, 1916, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On September 16, 1882, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the British conquest of Egypt. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1630 The Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.
1638 France's King Louis XIV was born.
1810 Mexico began a successful revolt against Spanish rule.
1893 Hundreds of thousands of settlers took part in a land run in Oklahoma's "Cherokee Strip."
1908 General Motors was formed in Flint, Mich., by William Durant.
1919 The American Legion was incorporated by an act of Congress.
1940 Rep. Samuel T. Rayburn, D-Texas, the longest-serving House speaker in history, was first elected to the post.
1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.
1966 The Metropolitan Opera opened its new home at New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
1972 "The Bob Newhart Show" premiered on CBS.
1982 A massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children by Lebanese Christian militiamen began in west Beirut's Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps.
1987 Two dozen countries signed the Montreal Protocol, a treaty designed to save the Earth's ozone layer by calling on nations to reduce emissions of harmful chemicals.
1988 Tom Browning of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a perfect game in a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
2002 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that Iraq had unconditionally accepted the return of U.N. weapons inspectors.
2004 Hurricane Ivan plowed into the Gulf Coast with 130 mph wind and a major storm surge; Ivan was blamed for at least 115 deaths, 43 in the United States.
2006 The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI "sincerely" regretted offending Muslims with his reference to an obscure medieval text characterizing some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman."
2007 A deadly shooting in Baghdad involving the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
Current Birthdays
Mickey Rourke turns 53 years old today.
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill Actor Mickey Rourke turns 53 years old today.
87 Janis Paige
Actress, singer
85 Lauren Bacall
Actress
84 B.B. King
Blues musician
82 Peter Falk
Actor ("Columbo")
79 Anne Francis
Actress
77 George Chakiris
Actor ("West Side Story")
75 Elgin Baylor
Basketball Hall of Famer
68 Jim McBride
Director
67 Linda Miller
Actress
65 Betty Kelly
R&B singer (Martha & the Vandellas)
61 Ron Blair
Rock musician (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
61 Kenney Jones
Rock musician (Small Faces, The Who)
61 Susan Ruttan
Actress ("L.A. Law")
60 Ed Begley Jr.
Actor
59 David Bellamy
Country singer (The Bellamy Brothers)
58 Phil Lee
Country singer
56 Lenny Clarke
Actor, comedian ("Rescue Me")
56 Kurt Fuller
Actor
56 Earl Klugh
Jazz guitarist
56 Christopher Rich
Actor ("Reba")
55 Mark McEwen
TV personality
55 Frank Reed
Singer (The Chi-Lites)
54 Robin Yount
Baseball Hall of Famer
53 David Copperfield
Magician
51 Terry McBride
Country singer, songwriter
51 Jennifer Tilly
Actress
46 Richard Marx
Singer
45 Molly Shannon
Actress, comedian ("Saturday Night Live")
41 Marc Anthony
Singer
34 Matt Stillwell
Country singer
38 Amy Poehler
Comedian ("Saturday Night Live," "Parks and Recreation")
32 Musiq
R&B singer
28 Alexis Bledel
Actress ("Gilmore Girls")
25 Sabrina Bryan
Actress
24 Madeline Zima
Actress
23 Kyla Pratt
Actress
21 Teddy Geiger
Rock singer
17 Nick Jonas
Rock singer, musician (The Jonas Brothers)
Historic Birthdays
James Jerome Hill
9/16/1838 - 5/29/1916
American railroad builder
(Go to obit.)
83 Squire Whipple
9/16/1804 - 3/15/1888
American civil engineer, inventor and theoretician
73 Albrecht Kossel
9/16/1853 - 7/5/1927
German Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1910)
95 J. C. Penney
9/16/1875 - 2/12/1971
American business leader
83 Clive Bell
9/16/1881 - 9/17/1964
English art critic
67 Karen Horney
9/16/1885 - 12/4/1952
German-born American psychoanalyst
78 Jean Arp
9/16/1887 - 6/7/1966
French sculptor, painter and poet
54 Earl Carroll
9/16/1893 - 6/17/1948
American theatrical producer and director
62 Sir Alexander Korda
9/16/1893 - 1/23/1956
Hungarian-born English film director and producer
70 Laurence Peter
9/16/1919 - 1/12/1990
Canadian author
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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