Today in History: Sept. 26
Today is Tuesday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2017. There are 96 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On September 26, 1892, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.
On this date:
In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.
In 1789, Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.
In 1892, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.
In 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established.
In 1937, the radio drama “The Shadow,” starring Orson Welles, premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
In 1945, Hungarian-born composer Bela Bartok, 64, died in New York City.
In 1957, the musical play “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.
In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.
In 1981, the twin-engine Boeing 767 made its official debut in Everett, Washington.
In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.
In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.)
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies. Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, was formally sentenced to death in San Jose, California.
In 2014, 43 students from a rural teachers college in Guerrero state in Mexico who had commandeered buses to attend a rally in Mexico City were detained by police in the city of Iguala and turned over to a crime gang; their fate remains unknown.
Ten years ago: A judge in Los Angeles declared a mistrial in Phil Spector’s murder trial after the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting the music producer of killing actress Lana Clarkson. (Spector was convicted in a 2009 retrial.) Myanmar began a violent crackdown on protests, beating and dragging away dozens of monks.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney both campaigned in the battleground state of Ohio. Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi, making his debut on the global stage at the United Nations, said he would not rest until the civil war in Syria was brought to an end.
One year ago: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton participated in their first debate of the presidential campaign at Hofstra University in New York; Clinton emphatically denounced Trump for keeping his personal tax returns and business dealings secret from voters while Trump repeatedly cast Clinton as a “typical politician.” Colombia’s government and its largest rebel movement signed a historic peace accord in an emotional ceremony aimed at ending a half-century of combat.