Friday, September 18th
The 261st day of 2009.
There are 104 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
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On Sept. 18, 1947, the National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect. (Go to article.)
On Sept. 18, 1905, Greta Garbo, the Swedish-born American film icon, was born. Following her death on April 15, 1990, her obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On September 18, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Southern Democratic influence and the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1759 The French surrendered Quebec to the British.
1793 President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.
1810 Chile declared its independence from Spain.
1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slaveowners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to other states.
1851 The first edition of The New York Times was published.
1905 Actress Greta Garbo was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1927 The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) debuted with a network of 16 radio stations.
1961 United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia.
1970 Rock musician Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose at age 27.
1975 Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1997 Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse agreed to merge to create the world's biggest accounting firm.
1997 Media mogul Ted Turner pledged $1 billion to the United Nations.
1998 The House Judiciary Committee voted to release a videotape of President Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony.
1999 Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs became the first player in major league baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a season twice.
2003 Hurricane Isabel plowed into North Carolina's Outer Banks with 100-mph winds and pushed its way up the Eastern Seaboard; the storm claimed 40 lives.
2004 Pop singer Britney Spears married dancer Kevin Federline. (The couple divorced in 2007.)
Current Birthdays
James Gandolfini turns 48 years old today.
AP Photo/Peter Kramer Actor James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos") turns 48 years old today.
76 Robert Bennett
U.S. senator, R-Utah
76 Robert Blake
Actor ("Baretta")
76 Jimmie Rodgers
Singer
70 Fred Willard
Actor
69 Frankie Avalon
Singer
60 Kerry Livgren
Rock musician (Kansas)
59 Anna Deavere Smith
Actress
57 Rick Pitino
College basketball coach
50 Ryne Sandberg
Baseball Hall of Famer
50 Mark Romanek
Director
48 Mark Olson
Country musician (The Jayhawks)
47 Joanne Catherall
Singer (Human League)
45 Holly Robinson Peete
Actress
42 Ricky Bell
R&B singer (Bell Biv Devoe; New Edition)
39 Aisha Tyler
Actress ("Ghost Whisperer")
38 Jada Pinkett Smith
Actress
36 James Marsden
Actor
35 Emily Rutherfurd
Actress
35 Travis Schuldt
Actor ("Scrubs")
35 Xzibit
Rapper, actor ("Pimp My Ride")
34 Jason Sudeikis
Comedian, actor ("Saturday Night Live")
33 Sophina Brown
Actress ("Numb3rs")
30 Alison Lohman
Actress
16 Brandon Porter
Actor ("Party of Five")
16 Taylor Porter
Actor ("Party of Five")
13 C.J. Sanders
Actor ("Ray")
Historic Birthdays
Greta Garbo
9/18/1905 - 4/15/1990
Swedish-born American film star of silent and talking movies
(Go to obit.)
75 Samuel Johnson
9/18/1709 - 12/13/1784
English critic, biographer, essayist and poet
65 Joseph Story
9/18/1779 - 9/10/1845
American associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court (1811-45)
48 Jean-Bernard Foucault
9/18/1819 - 2/11/1868
French physicist and inventor of the "Foucault pendulum"
87 Sir John Kerr
9/18/1869 - 4/21/1957
English embryologist and pioneer in naval camouflage
83 John Diefenbaker
9/18/1895 - 8/16/1979
Canadian attorney, statesman and prime minister
88 Agnes de Mille
9/18/1905 - 10/7/1993
American dancer and choreographer
83 Edwin McMillan
9/18/1907 - 9/7/1991
American Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist (1951)
83 Raymond Geiger
9/18/1910 - 4/1/1994
American editor of the Farmers' Almanac
78 Rossano Brazzi
9/18/1916 - 12/24/1994
Italian attorney, actor and director
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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