Today in History: Sept. 15

Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14;  and Cynthia Wesley, 14; from left, are shown in these 1963 photos. A former Ku Klux Klansman, Thomas Blanton Jr., 62,  was convicted of murder Tuesday, May 1, 2001, for the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing that killed the four girls on Sept. 15, 1963.  (AP Photo)
In 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.) Here, Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14; from left, are shown in these 1963 photos. A former Ku Klux Klansman, Thomas Blanton Jr., 62, was convicted of murder Tuesday, May 1, 2001, for the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing that killed the four girls on Sept. 15, 1963. (AP Photo)
Three of the seven defendents, including G. Gordon Liddy, center, charged in connection with the break-in and alleged bugging of Democratic headquarters arrive at U.S. District Court for the start of their trial on Jan. 8, 1973. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo)
In 1972, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted seven men in connection with the Watergate break-in. Three of the seven defendents, including G. Gordon Liddy, center, charged in connection with the break-in and alleged bugging of Democratic headquarters arrive at U.S. District Court for the start of their trial on Jan. 8, 1973. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo)
In 1981, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve the Supreme Court nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor. FILE – In this April 11, 2012, file photo, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor speaks during a forum to celebrate the 30th anniversary of O’Connor’s appointment to the Supreme Court, at the Newseum in Washington. The Supreme Court is expelling a workout class founded by its first female justice, O’Connor. The class of Washington-area residents was allowed to work out at the basketball court one floor above where the justices hear cases. But O’Connor left the bench a decade ago and the gym is in a part of the building that’s closed to the public. (AP Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
In 2008, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 504.48, or 4.42 percent, to 10,917.51 while oil closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months amid upheaval in the financial industry as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. was sold to Bank of America. FILE- In this Sept. 16, 2008, file photo traders work in the product options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange in New York. Home prices had sunk, and foreclosure notices began arriving. Layoffs began to spike. Tremors intensified as Lehman Brothers, a titan of Wall Street, slid into bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. Stock markets shuddered and then collapsed in a cascading panic that government officials struggled to stop. The financial crisis touched off the worst recession since the 1930s Great Depression. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
In 2001, President George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops to get ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult assault against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attack. Beleaguered Afghans streamed out of Kabul, fearing a U.S. military strike against Taliban rulers harboring Osama bin Laden. FILE – In this Sept. 14, 2001 file photo President George W. Bush, center, with, from left, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, then-New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and former New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Van Essen look toward the fallen buildings during a tour of the World Trade Center in New York. Giuliani was lauded for driving down crime and for his leadership after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but he has since transformed from moderate Republican mayor of an overwhelmingly Democratic city to right-wing hero, but with an inflammatory rhetoric that muddles the complicated legacy of ‘America’s Mayor’. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, FILE)
In 1985, Nike began selling its “Air Jordan 1” sneaker. FILE – In this Sept. 29, 2009 file photo, the famous Nike Michael Jordan image graces the front of the Niketown store in downtown Portland, Ore. Basketball legend Michael Jordan is not leaving the Nike Inc. board of directors and his namesake brand, the Air Jordan sneaker, remains with the sports shoe and apparel company. Jordan has never sat on the Nike board of directors, said Mitch Germann, a spokesman for Jordan Brand, which Nike owns. The false claim, which originated on an online satire site, began circulating widely after Nike’s launch of a new ad campaign featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)
In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States as he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. FILE – In this June 3, 1961, file photo, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and President John F. Kennedy talk in the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in a suburb of Vienna. The meeting was part of a series of talks during their summit meetings in Vienna. Monday, May 29, 2017 marks the 100-year anniversary of Kennedy’s birth. (AP Photo)
(1/7)
Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; Addie Mae Collins, 14;  and Cynthia Wesley, 14; from left, are shown in these 1963 photos. A former Ku Klux Klansman, Thomas Blanton Jr., 62,  was convicted of murder Tuesday, May 1, 2001, for the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing that killed the four girls on Sept. 15, 1963.  (AP Photo)
Three of the seven defendents, including G. Gordon Liddy, center, charged in connection with the break-in and alleged bugging of Democratic headquarters arrive at U.S. District Court for the start of their trial on Jan. 8, 1973. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo)

Today is Sunday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2019.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 15, 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)

On this date:

In 1776, British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

In 1887, the city of Philadelphia launched a three-day celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Constitution of the United States.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship.

In 1940, during the World War II Battle of Britain, the tide turned as the Royal Air Force inflicted heavy losses upon the Luftwaffe.

In 1950, during the Korean conflict, United Nations forces landed at Incheon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul (sohl).

In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States as he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

In 1961, the United States began Operation Nougat, a series of underground nuclear explosions in the Nevada Test Site, two weeks after the Soviet Union resumed testing its nuclear weapons.

In 1972, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted seven men in connection with the Watergate break-in.

In 1981, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve the Supreme Court nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor.

In 1985, Nike began selling its “Air Jordan 1” sneaker.

In 2001, President George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops to get ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult assault against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attack. Beleaguered Afghans streamed out of Kabul, fearing a U.S. military strike against Taliban rulers harboring Osama bin Laden.

In 2008, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 504.48, or 4.42 percent, to 10,917.51 while oil closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months amid upheaval in the financial industry as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. was sold to Bank of America.

Ten years ago: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the worst recession since the 1930s was “very likely over,” although he cautioned that pain – especially for nearly 15 million unemployed Americans – would persist. An unrepentant Muntadhar al-Zeidi (MOON’-tuh-dahr ahl-zay-EE’-dee), the Iraqi reporter who’d thrown his shoes at President George W. Bush in December 2008, was freed from prison.

Five years ago: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Paris for an international meeting of diplomats, said he wouldn’t shut the door on the possibility of working with Iran against a common enemy in the Islamic State militant group, but that the two nations would not coordinate on military action. Hurricane Odile blazed a trail of destruction through Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula that leveled everything from ramshackle homes to luxury hotels and big-box stores. Two Vietnam War soldiers received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony, nearly 50 years after they’d thrown themselves into harm’s way to protect their brothers in combat. (Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins survived his injuries; Army Spc. Donald P. Sloat did not.)

One year ago: Emergency workers in North Carolina went door-to-door, urging people to flee the rising floodwaters from Hurricane Florence; the storm had come to a virtual standstill over land while dumping heavy rain, raising fears of disastrous flooding. A U.S. Border patrol supervisor, Juan David Ortiz, was arrested in Laredo, Texas, in the deaths of four women and an assault on a fifth woman who managed to escape. A 26-year-old Massachusetts man, Arthur Medici, was bitten by a shark in the water off a Cape Cod beach and died later at a hospital, becoming the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up