Today is Saturday, Sept. 10, the 253rd day of 2011. There are 112 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On Sept. 10, 1813, an American naval force commanded by Oliver H. Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
On this date:
In 160
8, John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia.
In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.
In 1919, New York City welcomed home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who’d served in the U.S. First Division during World War I.
In 1939, Canada declared war on Nazi Germany as Parliament acted at the behest of Prime Minister Wiliam Lyon Mackenzie King.
In 1945, Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis (he was executed by firing squad in Oct. 1945).
In 1960, Hurricane Donna, a dangerous Category 4 storm eventually blamed for 364 deaths, struck the Florida Keys.
In 1961, a President Airlines DC-6B charter crashed after takeoff from Shannon, Ireland, killing all 83 people aboard. During the Italian Grand Prix, German driver Wolfgang von Trips lost control of his car and crashed into spectators, killing 14 of them as well as himself. (American Phil Hill won the race.)
In 1963, twenty black students entered Alabama public schools following a standoff between federal authorities and Gov. George C. Wallace.
In 1979, four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and a 1950 attempt on the life of President Harry S. Truman were freed from prison after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter.
In 1987, Pope John Paul II arrived in Miami, where he was welcomed by President and Mrs. Reagan as he began a 10-day tour of the United States.
Ten years ago: A Marxist militant suicide bomber blew himself up in a popular Istanbul square, killing himself, two police officers and an Australian woman, Amanda Rigg. Charles Ingram won a million pounds during a taping of the British TV game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” but was later exposed as a cheat who’d gotten help from a coughing accomplice in the studio.
Five years ago: On the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, placed wreaths at ground zero in New York. Daniel Smith, the 20-year-old son of Anna Nicole Smith, died in the Bahamas of a lethal combination of drugs, five months before the death of his mother. Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the U.S. Open final. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts defeated Eli Manning and the New York Giants 26-21 in the first NFL game to feature two brothers starting at quarterback. World Golf Hall of Famer Patty Berg died in Fort Myers, Fla., at age 88.
One year ago: During a White House press conference, President Barack Obama blamed Republicans and election-year politics for thwarting his efforts to do more to spur a listless national economy. Juan Mari Bras, 82, an elder statesman of Puerto Rico’s independence movement, died in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Associated Press
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