Today is Thursday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2019. There are 96 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Sept. 26, 1789, Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.
On this date:
In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.
In 1892, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.
In 1907,In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.
In 1955, following word that President Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack, the New York Stock Exchange saw its worst price decline since 1929.
In 1964, the situation comedy "Gilligan's Island" premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1977, Sir Freddie Laker began his cut-rate "Skytrain" service from London to New York. (The carrier went out of business in 1982.)
In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.
In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America announced it had created a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.
In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.) New Zealand went from being a colony to a dominion within the British Empire.
In 1996, President Clinton signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their babies.
In 2003, President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin (POO'-tihn) opened a two-day summit at Camp David.