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 (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 1937, the likeness of President Abraham Lincoln’s head was dedicated at Mount Rushmore.
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 (men-AH’-kem BAY’-gihn) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a framework for a peace treaty.
In 1980, former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza (suh-MOH’-sah) was assassinated in Paraguay.
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 1994, Heather Whitestone of Alabama was crowned the first deaf Miss America.
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.
