Thursday, September 24th
The 267th day of 2009.
There are 98 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Sept. 24, 1996, the United States and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. (Go to article.)
On Sept. 24, 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the famed American novelist of the Jazz Age, was born. Following his death on Dec. 21, 1940, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On September 24, 1881, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the status of Native Americans within the American legal system. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1755 John Marshall, the fourth chief justice of the United States, was born in Germantown, Virginia.
1789 Congress passed the First Judiciary Act, which provided for an attorney general and a Supreme Court.
1869 Financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving thousands of investors in financial ruin.
1896 Author F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minn.
1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Denver.
1957 The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field before moving to Los Angeles for the next season.
1960 The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Va.
1968 "60 Minutes" premiered on CBS.
1969 A trial began for the "Chicago Eight," who were accused of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1976 Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery.
1991 Children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, died at age 87.
1991 The album "Nevermind" by Nirvana was released.
1998 Redesigned $20 bills meant to be harder to counterfeit went into circulation.
2007 United Auto Workers walked off the job at GM plants in the first nationwide strike during auto contract negotiations since 1976. (A tentative pact ended the walkout two days later.)
Current Birthdays
Nia Vardalos turns 47 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Actress, screenwriter Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") turns 47 years old today.
85 Sheila MacRae
Actress
70 Sonny Turner
R&B singer (The Platters)
69 Barbara Allbut
Singer (The Angels)
67 Phyliss "Jiggs" Allbut
Singer (The Angels)
67 Gerry Marsden
Singer (Gerry and the Pacemakers)
63 Joe Greene
Football Hall of Famer
61 Gordon Clapp
Actor ("NYPD Blue")
57 Joseph Kennedy II
Former U.S. representative, D-Mass.
51 Kevin Sorbo
Actor
47 Cedric Dent
R&B singer (Take 6)
45 Rafael Palmeiro
Baseball player
40 Marty Mitchell
Country musician
40 Megan Ward
Actress
38 Marty Cintron
Singer-musician (No Mercy)
38 Kevin Millar
Baseball player
36 Eddie George
Football player
27 Paul Hamm
Olympic gymnast
21 Kyle Sullivan
Actor
Historic Birthdays
F. Scott Fitzgerald
9/24/1896 - 12/21/1940
American novelist and short story writer
(Go to obit.)
50 Albrecht Wallenstein
9/24/1583 - 2/25/1634
Bohemian statesman and general in the Thirty Years' War
46 Johan de Witt
9/24/1625 - 8/20/1672
Dutch statesman and political leader of Holland (1653-72)
79 John Marshall
9/24/1755 - 7/6/1835
American congressman, secretary of state and 4th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
66 Mark Hanna
9/24/1837 - 2/15/1904
American industrialist and political kingmaker
81 Sir A. P. Herbert
9/24/1890 - 11/11/1971
English novelist, playwright, poet and politician
88 Stephen Bechtel
9/24/1900 - 3/14/1989
American construction engineer; founded Bechtel Corp.
88 Severo Ochoa
9/24/1905 - 11/1/1993
Spanish Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and molecular biologist (1959)
66 Svetlana Beriosova
9/24/1932 - 11/10/1998
Lithuanian-born prima ballerina
53 Jim Henson
9/24/1936 - 5/16/1990
American puppeteer; creator of the Muppets
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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