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Today's Date

September 10, 2010

Today In History

September 10

In 1608, John Smith was elected council president of the Jamestown colony in what is now Virginia.

In 1813, United States naval officer Oliver Hazard Perry led a fleet of nine ships to victory over six British warships during the War of 1812. It was the first defeat of a British naval squadron by the U.S.

In 1913, the first paved coast-to-coast highway in America -- the Lincoln Highway -- opened.

In 1935, politician Huey Long died at the age of 42.

In 1935, "Popeye" was heard for the first time on NBC Radio.

In 1940, Britain's Buckingham Palace was hit by a German bomb.

In 1953, Swanson sold the first TV dinner.

In 1955, "Gunsmoke" debuted on CBS Television. The show starred James Arness as Marshall Matt Dillon.

In 1961, actor Leo Carrillo died at the age of 81. He is best known for his role as Pancho on the television show "The Cisco Kid."

In 1961, New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle hit his 400th home run.

In 1962, Rod Laver won the Grand Slam of tennis.

In 1963, twenty-three African-American students entered public schools in Tuskegee, Mobile and Birmingham, Alabama. One week earlier, Alabama Governor George Wallace surrounded the schools with state troopers in an attempt to block integration.

In 1965, "The Jack Benny Program" aired for the final time on NBC Television.

In 1966, futuristic talk show host, cartoon character, Space Ghost appears for the first time in a series of eight-minute Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

In 1970, the second run of "Dragnet" last aired on NBC.

In 1972, Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers announced his retirement from the National Football League.

In 1974, St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock tied and broke Maury Wills' single-season stolen base record with number 104 and 105. Brock went on to a career total of 938 stolen bases.

In 1975, "Starsky and Hutch" debuted on ABC Television.

In 1979, President Carter granted clemency to four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and for a 1950 attempt on the life of President Truman.

In 1984, the Federal Communications Commission changed the rules allowing broadcasters to own 12 AM and 12 FM stations. The previous ownership limit was seven of each.

In 1987, Michael Jackson's "Bad" tour began in Tokyo, Japan.

In 1988, Guns N' Roses topped the pop music charts with "Sweet Child O'Mine."

In 1990, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" starring Will Smith debuted on NBC.

In 1991, the Senate Judiciary Committee opened their hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1992, Rock and Roll Hall-of-Fame officials announced Van Morrison, the Doors, Etta James, Sly and the Family Stone, Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers as the museum's new inductees.

In 1992, a federal jury in Minneapolis rejected pro football's limited free agency system.

In 1993, "The X-Files" debuted on the Fox network.

In 1993, "Late Night With David Letterman" last aired on NBC.

In 1995, NBC's "ER" won eight Emmy Awards.

In 1996, discount retail giant Wal-Mart made a decision not to sell Sheryl Crow's upcoming new album because one song included a reference about kids buying guns at the store. A-and-M Records called the move "censorship."

In 1997, film director George Schaefer died at the age of 76. He was the man behind 55 of "Hallmark Hall-of-Fame" television dramas.

In 1998, "Seinfeld" made its final network showing on NBC.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton met with members of his staff to apologize, ask for forgiveness and improve as a person in the wake of the scandal involving a former White House intern.

In 1999, some 14 imprisoned Puerto Rican nationalists were allowed to go free after they were granted clemency by President Clinton.

In 1999, thirty years after the Supreme Court implemented busing as a means of achieving racial balance in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system in North Carolina, a federal judge ruled to end the busing practice.

In 2000, the NBC series "The West Wing" and "Will And Grace" won the Emmy Awards for Best Drama and Best Comedy respectively at the 52nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2004, packing winds of 150 miles an hour, Hurricane Ivan thrashed through the island nation of Jamaica, leaving devastation in its path.

In 2005, Belgian Kim Clijsters captured her first Grand Slam title with a straight set win over Frenchwoman Mary Pierce at the U.S. Open women's final in Flushing Meadows, New York.

In 2006, top-ranked tennis player Roger Federer won his third straight U.S. Open in the men's final at Flushing Meadows in New York. Federer beat Andy Roddick in four sets, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to win the title.

In 2006, ABC aired its controversial mini-series "The Path to 9/11." Reportedly based on the final report of the commission assigned to investigate the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the United States, the series portrayed former President Clinton and other administration officials as too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal to deal with suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.


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