TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Thursday, Sept. 17, the 261st day of 2020. There are 105 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

On this date:

In 1862, more than 3,600 men were killed in the Civil War Battle of Antietam (an-TEE’-tum) in Maryland.

In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge of the U.S. Army Signal Corps became the first person to die in the crash of a powered aircraft, the Wright Flyer, at Fort Myer, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland during World War II, more than two weeks after Nazi Germany had launched its assault.

In 1944, during World War II, Allied paratroopers launched Operation Market Garden, landing behind German lines in the Netherlands. (After initial success, the Allies were beaten back by the Germans.)

In 1978, after meeting at Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a framework for a peace treaty.

In 1987, the city of Philadelphia, birthplace of the U.S. Constitution, threw a big party to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the historic document; in a speech at Independence Hall, President Ronald Reagan acclaimed the framing of the Constitution as a milestone “that would profoundly and forever alter not just these United States but the world.”

In 1997, Comedian Red Skelton died in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 84.

In 2001, six days after 9/11, stock prices nosedived but stopped short of collapse in an emotional, flag-waving reopening of Wall Street; the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 684.81 at 8,920.70.

Today’s Birthdays: Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, is 87. Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter is 81. Singer LaMonte McLemore (The Fifth Dimension) is 85. Retired U.S. Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni is 77. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson is 75. TV personality/businessman Robert Herjavec (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 57. Actor Kyle Chandler is 55. NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson is 45.

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