On This Day in History
Today is Sunday, Sept. 29th, the 273rd day of 2024 with 93 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include writer Miguel de Cervantes in 1547; artist Caravaggio in 1571; writer Elizabeth Gaskell in 1810; nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi in 1901; actor Greer Garson in 1904; actor/musician Gene Autry in 1907; filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni in 1912; writer Colin Dexter in 1930; actor Anita Ekberg in 1931; musician Jerry Lee Lewis in 1935; actor Madeline Kahn in 1942; actor Ian McShane in 1942 (age 82); astronaut/ex-Sen./NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in 1942 (age 82); Polish leader/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa in 1943 (age 81); musician Mike Post in 1944 (age 80); TV personality Bryant Gumbel in 1948 (age 76); musician Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad/Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band) in 1948 (age 76); Olympic gold medal-winning runner/former MP Sebastian Coe in 1956 (age 68); comedian Andrew Dice Clay in 1957 (age 67); musician Les Claypool (Primus) in 1963 (age 61); actor Ben Miles in 1966 (age 58); musician Brad Smith (Blind Melon) in 1968 (age 56); musician Devanté Swing, born Donald DeGrate Jr., (Jodeci) in 1969 (age 55); actor Chrissy Metz in 1980 (age 44); actor Zachary Levi in 1980 (age 44); musician Dallas Green (City and Colour/Alexisonfire/You+Me) in 1980 (age 44); actor Kelly McCreary in 1981 (age 43); musician Josh Farro (Paramore) in 1987 (age 37); NBA star Kevin Durant in 1988 (age 36); musician Halsey, born Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, in 1994 (age 30); actor Nicholas Galitzine in 1994 (age 30); musician Julien Baker (boygenius) in 1995 (age 29).
On this date in history:
In 1789, the U.S. War Department organized the country's first standing army - 700 soldiers who would serve for three years.
In 1923, Britain began to govern Palestine under a League of Nations mandate.
In 1936, in the U.S. presidential race between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon, the Democratic and Republican parties used radio for the first time. FDR won re-election in a record vote in November.
In 1941, the Babi Yar massacre of nearly 34,000 Jewish men, women and children began on the outskirts of Kiev in Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
In 1965, Communist North Vietnam announced that U.S. pilots taken prisoner would be tried as war criminals .
In 1988, Stacy Marie Allison, a construction worker from Portland, Ore., became the first American woman and the world's seventh to scale Mount Everest.
In 1992, Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced he was returning to the Los Angeles Lakers less than a year after he retired because he had AIDS. A month later, Johnson announced his retirement for a second time.
In 2005, John Roberts Jr. easily won confirmation by the U.S. Senate and was sworn in as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He succeeded the late William Rehnquist.
In 2017, the U.S. State Department pulled all non-emergency staff from its embassy in Havana, Cuba, in connection to mysterious health issues experienced by workers there. Dubbed "Havana syndrome," the mysterious symptoms were reported in multiple countries and there has yet to be an official cause.
In 2020, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden squared off in the first 2020 presidential debate . The candidates frequently talked over and insulted each other, prompting officials to change future debate formats.
In 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in response to heavy rains and flooding in New York City, the Hudson Valley and Long Island that flooded subways and stranded travelers.
A thought for the day: "We are essentially in the business of telling stories. We would like to think that most of our stories are basically human stories with sports as a backdrop." - American sports journalist Bryant Gumbel
