TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – SEPT 20
480BC – Themistocles and his Greek fleet win one of history’s first decisive naval victories over Xerxes’ Persian force off Salamis.
451 – Roman General Flavius Aetius defeats Attila the Hun at The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (Chalons-sur-Marne), halting Hun invasion of Roman Gaul
622 – Islamic Prophet Muhammed/Abu Bakr arrives in Jathrib (Medina)
1378 – The election of Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals creates a great schism in the Catholic church.
1519 – Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sets off on the 1st successful circumnavigation of the globe (Magellan killed on route)
1784 – Packet and Daily, the first daily publication in America, appears on the streets.
1830 – The National Negro Convention convenes in Philadelphia with the purpose of abolishing slavery.
1870 – US military ends its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and allows gay men and women to serve openly.
1881 – Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States, succeeding James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated.
1884 – The Equal Rights Party was formed in San Francisco, CA.
1904 – Wilbur Wright Makes the First Circular Flight
1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, started a daily radio newscast. It was one of the first in the U.S.
1926 – Following the severe hurricanes that hit Florida and Miami in particular President Coolidge has asked the nations people to help and give donations to the American Red Cross.
1933 – The Pittsburgh Steelers make their first appearance in the National Football League
1952 – Scientists confirm that DNA holds hereditary data.
1962 – Black student James Meredith is barred from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by the segregationist Governor Ross R. Barnett.
1967 – Israeli Tank gunners sank three Egyptian patrol boats carrying armed soldiers travelling down the blocked Suez Canal
1977 – The first of the “boat people” arrived in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new U.S. resettlement program.
1973 – In a pro tennis bout dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes,” Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in Texas.
1982 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the U.S., France, and Italy were going to send peacekeeping troops back to Beirut.
1984 – Suicide car bomber attacks US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 22.
1995 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit. This allowed the states to decide their own speed limits.
2000 – Independent Counsel Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to charge President Clinton and his wife, Hillary.
2001 – President George W. Bush addressed the nation and a joint session of Congress about terrorism. He also named Tom Ridge as head of the new Office of Homeland Security.
2008 – A truck loaded with explosives detonates by Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 45 and injuring 226.
2011 – US military ends its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and allows gay men and women to serve openly.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
