Today is Friday, Sept. 17, the 260th day of 2021. 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 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 1954, the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding was first published by Faber & Faber of London.
In 1971, citing health reasons, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, 85, retired. (Black, who was succeeded by Lewis F. Powell Jr., died eight days after making his announcement.)
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.”
Today’s Birthdays: Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, is 88. Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter is 82. Singer LaMonte McLemore (The Fifth Dimension) is 86. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson is 76. Singer BeBe Winans is 59. TV personality/businessman Robert Herjavec (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 58. NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson is 46.NHL forward Alex Ovechkin is 36.
