Today in history: Sept. 12
The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off, and more events that happened on this day in history.
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1913: Jesse Owens
In 1913, Olympic legend Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Ala.
1962: John F. Kennedy
In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
1977: Steve Biko
In 1977, South African Black student leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko (BEE’-koh), 30, died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.
1987: Joe Biden
In 1987, reports surfaced that Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden had borrowed, without attribution, passages of a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock (KIHN’-ik) for one of his own campaign speeches. (The Kinnock report, along with other damaging revelations, prompted Biden to drop his White House bid.)
1992: Abimael Guzman
In 1992, police in Peru captured Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman.
1992: Anthony Perkins
In 1992, actor Anthony Perkins died in Hollywood at age 60.
1992: Endeavour
In 1992, the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off, carrying with it Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space; Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space; and Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese national to fly on a U.S. spaceship.
1994: The White House
In 1994, a stolen, single-engine Cessna crashed into the South Lawn of the White House, coming to rest against the executive mansion; the pilot, Frank Corder, was killed.
2001: World Trade Center
In 2001, stunned rescue workers continued to search for bodies in the World Trade Center’s smoking rubble a day after a terrorist attack that shut down the financial capital, badly damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead. President Bush, branding the attacks in New York and Washington "acts of war,″ said "this will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil″ and that "good will prevail.″
2005: John Roberts
In 2005, at the start of his confirmation hearing, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts pledged to judge with humility and “without fear or favor” if approved as the nation’s 17th chief justice.
2008: Train Collision
In 2008, a Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people. (Federal investigators said the Metrolink engineer, Robert Sanchez, who was among those who died, had been text-messaging on his cell phone and ran a red light shortly before the crash.)
2010: Claude Chabrol
Ten years ago: Movie director Claude Chabrol, one of the founders of the French New Wave movement, died in Paris at age 80.
2010: Lady Gaga
Ten years ago: Lady Gaga swept the MTV Video Music Awards with eight wins, wearing a dress made of meat as she accepted the video of the year award for “Bad Romance.”
2010: USA Basketball
Ten years ago: The United States won its first world basketball championship since 1994, beating Turkey 81-64 in Istanbul behind a sensational performance from tournament MVP Kevin Durant, who scored 28 points.
2015: Flavia Pennetta
Five years ago: Flavia Pennetta defeated fellow Italian Roberta Vinci in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-2, to become the oldest first-time women’s major champion in the Open era; the 33-year-old Pennetta then announced her retirement.
2015: Jeremy Corbyn
Five years ago: Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran anti-war campaigner known for his unapologetically socialist views, won a landslide victory to lead Britain’s opposition Labor Party in one of the country’s biggest political shake-ups in decades.
2019: Justin Fairfax
One year ago: Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax filed a $400 million libel lawsuit against CBS after it aired interviews with two women who accused Fairfax of sexual assault more than 15 years earlier. (A judge tossed out the lawsuit five months later.)
2019: The Trump Administration
One year ago: The Trump administration revoked a regulation from the Obama era that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution; the regulation was opposed by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed on property rights. The administration began enforcing radical new restrictions on who qualifies for asylum; the new policy would effectively deny asylum to nearly all immigrants arriving at the southern border who aren’t from Mexico.
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