Wednesday, September 25, 2013

On This Day in History - September 25 Congress Approves the Bill of Rights & School Integration in Arkansas

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history


Sep 25, 1789: Bill of Rights passes Congress

The first Congress of the United States approves 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and sends them to the states for ratification. The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion; the right to fair legal procedure and to bear arms; and that powers not delegated to the federal government were reserved for the states and the people.  

Influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Bill of Rights was also drawn from Virginia's Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason in 1776. Mason, a native Virginian, was a lifelong champion of individual liberties, and in 1787 he attended the Constitutional Convention and criticized the final document for lacking constitutional protection of basic political rights. In the ratification process that followed, Mason and other critics agreed to approve the Constitution in exchange for the assurance that amendments would immediately be adopted.  

In December 1791, Virginia became the 10th of 14 states to approve 10 of the 12 amendments, thus giving the Bill of Rights the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it legal. Of the two amendments not ratified, the first concerned the population system of representation, while the second prohibited laws varying the payment of congressional members from taking effect until an election intervened. The first of these two amendments was never ratified, while the second was finally ratified more than 200 years later, in 1992.





Sep 25, 1957: Central High School integrated

Under escort from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order.  

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in educational facilities was unconstitutional. Five days later, the Little Rock School Board issued a statement saying it would comply with the decision when the Supreme Court outlined the method and time frame in which desegregation should be implemented.  

Arkansas was at the time among the more progressive Southern states in regard to racial issues. The University of Arkansas School of Law was integrated in 1949, and the Little Rock Public Library in 1951. Even before the Supreme Court ordered integration to proceed "with all deliberate speed," the Little Rock School Board in 1955 unanimously adopted a plan of integration to begin in 1957 at the high school level. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed suit, arguing the plan was too gradual, but a federal judge dismissed the suit, saying that the school board was acting in "utmost good faith." Meanwhile, Little Rock's public buses were desegregated. By 1957, seven out of Arkansas' eight state universities were integrated.  

In the spring of 1957, there were 517 black students who lived in the Central High School district. Eighty expressed an interest in attending Central in the fall, and they were interviewed by the Little Rock School Board, which narrowed down the number of candidates to 17. Eight of those students later decided to remain at all-black Horace Mann High School, leaving the "Little Rock Nine" to forge their way into Little Rock's premier high school.  

In August 1957, the newly formed Mother's League of Central High School won a temporary injunction from the county chancellor to block integration of the school, charging that it "could lead to violence." Federal District Judge Ronald Davies nullified the injunction on August 30. On September 2, Governor Orval Faubus—a staunch segregationist—called out the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School and prevent integration, ostensibly to prevent the bloodshed he claimed desegregation would cause. The next day, Judge Davies ordered integrated classes to begin on September 4.  

That morning, 100 armed National Guard troops encircled Central High School. A mob of 400 white civilians gathered and turned ugly when the black students began to arrive, shouting racial epithets and threatening the teenagers with violence. The National Guard troops refused to let the black students pass and used their clubs to control the crowd. One of the nine, 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, was surrounded by the mob, which threatened to lynch her. She was finally led to safety by a sympathetic white woman.  

Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann condemned Faubus' decision to call out the National Guard, but the governor defended his action, reiterating that he did so to prevent violence. The governor also stated that integration would occur in Little Rock when and if a majority of people chose to support it. Faubus' defiance of Judge Davies' court order was the first major test of Brown v. Board of Education and the biggest challenge of the federal government's authority over the states since the Reconstruction Era.  

The standoff continued, and on September 20 Judge Davies ruled that Faubus had used the troops to prevent integration, not to preserve law and order as he claimed. Faubus had no choice but to withdraw the National Guard troops. Authority over the explosive situation was put in the hands of the Little Rock Police Department.  

On September 23, as a mob of 1,000 whites milled around outside Central High School, the nine black students managed to gain access to a side door. However, the mob became unruly when it learned the black students were inside, and the police evacuated them out of fear for their safety. That evening, President Eisenhower issued a special proclamation calling for opponents of the federal court order to "cease and desist." On September 24, Little Rock's mayor sent a telegram to the president asking him to send troops to maintain order and complete the integration process. Eisenhower immediately federalized the Arkansas National Guard and approved the deployment of U.S. troops to Little Rock. That evening, from the White House, the president delivered a nationally televised address in which he explained that he had taken the action to defend the rule of law and prevent "mob rule" and "anarchy." On September 25, the Little Rock Nine entered the school under heavily armed guard.  

Troops remained at Central High School throughout the school year, but still the black students were subjected to verbal and physical assaults from a faction of white students. Melba Patillo, one of the nine, had acid thrown in her eyes, and Elizabeth Eckford was pushed down a flight of stairs. The three male students in the group were subjected to more conventional beatings. Minnijean Brown was suspended after dumping a bowl of chili over the head of a taunting white student. She was later suspended for the rest of the year after continuing to fight back. The other eight students consistently turned the other cheek. On May 27, 1958, Ernest Green, the only senior in the group, became the first black to graduate from Central High School.  

Governor Faubus continued to fight the school board's integration plan, and in September 1958 he ordered Little Rock's three high schools closed rather than permit integration. Many Little Rock students lost a year of education as the legal fight over desegregation continued. In 1959, a federal court struck down Faubus' school-closing law, and in August 1959 Little Rock's white high schools opened a month early with black students in attendance. All grades in Little Rock public schools were finally integrated in 1972.







Sep 25, 1775: Ethan Allen is captured

After aborting a poorly planned and ill-timed attack on the British-controlled city of Montreal, Continental Army Colonel Ethan Allen is captured by the British on this day in 1775. After being identified as an officer of the Continental Amy, Allen was taken prisoner and sent to England to be executed.  

Although Allen ultimately escaped execution because the British government feared reprisals from the American colonies, he was imprisoned in England for more than two years until being returned to the United States on May 6, 1778, as part of a prisoner exchange. Allen then returned to Vermont and was given the rank of major general in the Vermont militia. In 1777, Vermonters had formally declared their independence from Britain and their fellow colonies when they created the Republic of Vermont. Forever loyal to the colony he founded, Allen spent the rest his life petitioning the Continental Congress to grant statehood to Vermont.  

After the war concluded, the independent Vermont could not join the new republic as a state, because New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut all claimed the territory as their own. In response, frustrated Vermonters, including Allen, went so far as to negotiate with the Canadian governor, Frederick Haldimand, about possibly rejoining the British empire.  

Ethan Allen died on his farm along the Winooski River in the still independent Republic of Vermont on February 12, 1789, at the age of 51. Two years after his death, Vermont was officially admitted into the Union and declared the 14th state of the United States.









Sep 25, 1897: William Faulkner is born

William Faulkner is born this day near Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner's father was the business manager of the University of Mississippi, and his mother was a literary woman who encouraged Faulkner and his three brothers to read.  

Faulkner was a good student but lost interest in studies during high school. He dropped out sophomore year and took a series of odd jobs while writing poetry.  

In 1918, his high school girlfriend, Estelle Oldham, married another man, and Faulkner left Mississippi. He joined the British Royal Flying Corps, but World War I ended before he finished his training in Canada, and he returned to Mississippi. A neighbor funded the publication of his first book of poems, The Marble Faun (1924). His first novel, Soldiers' Pay, was published two years later.  

In 1929, Faulkner finally married Estelle, his high school sweetheart, who had divorced her first husband after having two children. The couple bought a ruined mansion near Oxford and began restoring it while Faulkner finished The Sound and the Fury, published in October 1929. The book opens with the interior monologue of a developmentally disabled mute character. His next book, As I Lay Dying (1930), featured 59 different interior monologues. Light in August (1932) and Absalom, Absalom (1936) also challenged traditional forms of fiction.  

Faulkner's difficult novels did not earn him enough money to support his family, so he supplemented his income selling short stories to magazines and working as a Hollywood screenwriter. He wrote two critically acclaimed films, both starring Humphrey Bogart: To Have and Have Not was based on an Ernest Hemingway novel, and The Big Sleep was based on a mystery by Raymond Chandler.  

Faulkner's reputation received a significant boost with the publication of The Portable Faulkner (1946), which included his many stories set in Yoknapatawpha county. Three years later, in 1949, he won the Nobel Prize in literature. His Collected Stories (1950) won the National Book Award. During the rest of his life, he lectured frequently on university campuses. He died of a heart attack at age 65.





Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

303 - On a voyage preaching the gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France.
953 - Ratherius becomes bishop of Luik
955 - Bishop Ratherius of Luik flees
1066 - The Battle of Stamford Bridge marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon era
1212 - Emperor Frederik II ends Golden Degree (Bohemia)
1340 - England & France sign disarmament treaty
1396 - Battle of Nicopolis: Sultan Bajezid I defeats Crusades armies
1492 - Crewman on Pinta sights "land"-a few weeks early
1493 - Columbus sails with 17 ships on 2nd voyage to America
1513 - Vasco Nunez de Balboa is 1st European to see Pacific Ocean
1555 - Freedom of Religion in Augsburg
1560 - Spanish king Philip II names Frederik Schenck of Toutenburg, 1st archbishop of Utrecht
1597 - Amiens surrenders to French King Henri IV
1639 - 1st printing press in America
1639 - Suzuki Shosan, Samurai monk of Zen Buddhism, found awakening
1654 - England & Denmark sign trade agreement
1663 - Austrian Fort Neuhausl surrenders to Turkish invasion army
1690 - Publick Occurrences, 1st US (Boston) newspaper, publish 1st & last ed
1775 - American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen captured
Explorer of the New World Christopher ColumbusExplorer of the New World Christopher Columbus 1777 - English general William Howe conquers Philadelphia
1780 - Benedict Arnold joins the British
1781 - -26] Joan Derks scatters "On the People of Netherlands" pamphlets
1789 - Congress proposes Bill of Rights (10 of 12 will ratify)
1804 - 12th amendment to US constitution, regulating judicial power
1829 - Failed assassination attempt on Simon Bolívar
1836 - HMS Beagle anchors at St Michael
1844 - Canada defeat USA by 23 runs in the 1st cricket international
1846 - US troops under Gen Taylor occupies Monterey Mexico
1857 - Relief of Lucknow by Havelock & Outram begins
1861 - Secretary of US Navy authorizes enlistment of slaves
1862 - Skirmish at Davis' Bridge, Tennessee
1866 - (Leonard W) Jerome Park opens in Bronx for horse racing
1867 - Congress creates 1st all-black university, Howard U in Wash DC
1868 - The Imperial Russian steam frigate Alexander Neuski shipwrecks off Jutland while carrying Grand Duke Alexei of Russia.
Military and Political Leader Simon BolivarMilitary and Political Leader Simon Bolivar 1882 - 1st baseball doubleheader (Providence & Worcester)
1886 - Comedy opera "Dorothy," 1st produced in London
1888 - Royal Court Theatre, London, opens
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Hound of Baskervilles" (BG)
1890 - Congress establishes Yosemite National Park (California)
1890 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Silver Blaze" (BG)
1897 - 1st British bus service opens
1904 - Charles Follis is 1st black to play pro football
1906 - John Galsworthy's "Silver Box," premieres in London
1906 - In the presence of the king and before a great crowd, Leonardo Torres Quevedo successfully demonstrates the invention of the Telekino in the port of Bilbao, guiding a boat from the shore, in what is considered the birth of the Remote control.
1907 - Jean Sibelius' 3rd Symphony, premieres
1908 - Cubs' Ed Reulbach becomes only pitcher to throw doubleheader shutout
1909 - Hudson-Fulton Celebration opens in NY
1911 - French battleship Liberte explodes at Toulon Harbor, 285 killed
1911 - Ground breaking begins in Boston for Fenway Park
1912 - Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is founded in New York, New York.
1915 - -26] Battle at Loos: 8,246 British & 0 German casualties
1915 - The Second Battle of Champagne begins.
US President Woodrow WilsonUS President Woodrow Wilson 1919 - President Woodrow Wilson is paralyzed by a stroke
1920 - 34th US Womens Tennis: M B Mallory beats M Zinderstein (63 61)
1920 - Vern Bradburn of Winnipeg Victorias kicks 9 singles in a game
1922 - Giants beat St Louis, to clinch John McGraw's 8th pennant
1924 - Malcolm Campbell sets world auto speed record at 146.16 MPH
1926 - 9th PGA Championship: Walter Hagen at Salisbury GC Westbury NY
1926 - Canadian government of MacKenzie King forms
1926 - Henry Ford announces 8 hour, 5-day work week
1926 - International slavery convention signed by 20 states
1926 - NHL grants franchises to Chicago Black Hawks & Detroit Red Wings
1926 - Walter Hagen wins PGA golf tournament
1926 - Yankees take a doubleheader from Browns to clinch AL pennant
1929 - Queen-mother Emma opens Antonie van Leeuwenhoek House in Amsterdam
1930 - Austrian government of Vaugoin forms
1930 - Roger Hornsby replaces Joe McCarthy as Cubs manager
Ford Motor Company Founder Henry FordFord Motor Company Founder Henry Ford 1930 - Zoe Akins' "Greeks Had a Word for it," premieres in NYC
1932 - Jimmie Foxx hits his 58th HR in last game of season
1933 - 1st state poorhouse opens in Smyrna, Georgia
1933 - 5th "extermination campaign" against communists in Nanjing China
1934 - John Van Druten's "Distaff Side," premieres in NYC
1934 - Lou Gehrig plays in his 1,500th consecutive game
1934 - Rainbow (US) beats Endeavour (England) in 16th America's Cup
1935 - Maxwell Anderson's "Winterset," premieres in NYC
1936 - Joe Medwick sets a still-standing NL record with his 64th double
1937 - "il duce" visits Berlin/named "the Fuhrer" to corporal 1st class
1937 - Battle of of P'ing-hsin-kuan Wutai Mountain
1939 - German Luftwaffe strikes Warsaw with (fire)bombs
1939 - Versailles Peace Treaty forgot to include Andorra, so Andorra & Germany finally sign an official treaty ending WW I
1940 - German High Commissioner in Norway sets up Vidkun Quisling government
1940 - Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire-factory in Southampton
1941 - Brooklyn Dodgers win their 1st pennant in 21 years
1943 - Russian troops liberate Smolensk
1948 - "Heaven on Earth" closes at Century Theater NYC after 12 performances
1949 - 4th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Louise Suggs
1949 - Despite 71 injuries, Yankees have been in 1st place all season until Red Sox move into a tie for 1st place
1952 - Hal Newhouser of Tigers wins his 200th game
1954 - Francois "Doc" Duvalier wins Haitian presidential election
1954 - Indians win AL record 111 games
1954 - WCBD TV channel 2 in Charleston, SC (ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Detroit outfielder Al Kaline, 20, is youngest batting champ
1955 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Clock Golf Open
1955 - The Royal Jordanian Air Force is founded.
1956 - 1st transatlantic telephone cable goes into operation (Scot-Canada)
1956 - Brooklyn Dodger Sal Maglie no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0
1956 - Transatlantic telephone cable (Newfoundland-Oban) is used
1957 - 300 US Army troops guard 9 black kids return to Central HS in Ark
1957 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
1957 - Soviet 7 year plan (1959-1965) announced
1959 - Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley (37) & David Brown (43) wed
1960 - 1st Atomic powered aircraft carrier (Enterprise) launched (US)
1960 - Chubby Checker's "Twist," hits #1
1960 - For 1st time since 1927, Pirates clinch NL pennant
1960 - NY Yankees clinch AL pennant
1960 - Phillies beat Reds 7-1, ending 16 consecutive Sunday loses
1961 - KTPS TV channel 62 in Tacoma, WA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962 - Black church is destroyed by fire in Macon Georgia
1962 - Sonny Liston KOs Floyd Patterson in 1st round for heavyweight title
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Weatherly (US) beats Gretel (Aust) in 19th running of America's Cup
1962 - Yankees clinch AL pennant
1964 - Jens Otto Krag forms minority government in Denmark
1965 - "Do I Hear a Waltz?" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 220 perfs
1965 - 60 year old Satchel Paige of KC A's pitches 3 scoreless innings
1965 - Beatle cartoon show begins in US
1965 - Children find trunk with corpse in Amsterdam canal
1966 - 12th LPGA Championship won by Gloria Ehret
1966 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's 2nd Cello Concert premieres in Moscow
1966 - Smallest Yankee stadium crowd, 413 see White Sox win 4-1
1967 - WGBX TV channel 44 in Boston, MA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1970 - Ringo releases his "Beaucoups of Blues" album
1972 - Dutch air force drives away Russian Tupolev-bomber
1972 - KAVT (now KSMQ) TV channel 15 in Austin, MN (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 - Norway votes to join common market
1972 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Lincoln-Mercury Golf Open
1973 - 3-man crew of Skylab 3 make safe splashdown in Pacific after 59 days
1973 - Mets beat Expos 2-1 on Willie Mays Night at Shea Stadium
1974 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1975 - Jackie Wilson, suffers heart attack & lapse into a 9 yr terminal coma
1976 - "Porgy & Bess" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 122 performances
1976 - Expo's last game at Montreal's Jarry Park
1977 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Golf Tournament
1978 - PSA Boeing 727 & a Cessna private plane collide by San Diego, 144 die
1979 - "Evita" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 1568 performances
1979 - California Angels win their 1st NL West pennant
1980 - Chevy Chase calls Cary Grant a homo on Tomorrow show (suit follows)
1980 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1980 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - Jerry Mumphrey joins Ozzie Smith, & Gene Richards to steal 50 bases this year for Padres
1980 - The first congress of the Democratic Youth Organization of Afghanistan held in Kabul.
1981 - Nolan Ryan's 5th career no-hitter as Astros beat Dodgers 5-0
1981 - Rolling Stones begin their 6th US tour (JFK Stadium, Phila)
1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor sworn in as 1st female supreme court justice
1982 - Northwestern ends 34 football game losing streak, beats No Ill 31-6
1982 - Penn prison guard George Banks kills 13 (5 were his own children)
1982 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - 35th Emmy Awards: Hill St Blue, Cheers, Ed Flanders & Shelley Long
1983 - Bob Forsch pitches 2nd career no-hitter, Cards beat Expos 3-0
1983 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1984 - "Quilters" opens at Jack Lawrence Theater NYC for 24 performances
1984 - 1st London performance of musical "Stepping Out" presented
1984 - Egypt & Jordan regain diplomatic relations
1984 - NY Met Rusty Staub joins Ty Cobb, who hit HRs as a teen & in 40s
1985 - Akali Dal wins Punjab State election in India
1985 - Palestinian terrorists kill 3 Israeli sailors at Lanaca Cyprus
1985 - Rickey Henderson steals Yankee record 75th base of season
1986 - Antonin Scalia appointed to Supreme Court
1986 - Houston Astro Mike Scott no-hits SF Giants, 2-0
1987 - 2nd coup on Fiji led by Major General Sitiveni Rabuka
1988 - Florence Griffith Joyner runs Olympic record 100m in 10.54s
1988 - Kathy Guadagnino wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1988 - Christopher Jacobs, Troy Dalbey, Tom Hunter & Matt Biondi, swim world record 4x100 m freestyle (3:16.53)
1989 - Archaeologists open Titus of Rhine grave in Amsterdam
1989 - Ronald Harwood's "Another Time," premieres in London
1989 - Wade Boggs is 1st to get 200 hits & 100 walks in 4 consecutive seasons
1990 - "Les Miserables," opens at Forrest Theatre, Phila
1990 - 1st 8 NY Yankees hit safely vs Balt Orioles to tie record
1990 - Oakland A's clinch 3rd straight AL West title
Iraqi President Saddam HusseinIraqi President Saddam Hussein 1990 - Saddam Hussein warns that US will repeat Vietnam experience
1990 - UN Security Council vote 14-1 to impose air embargo against Iraq
1991 - "Good & Evil" premieres on ABC TV
1991 - Paramount at Madison Square Garden in NYC opens
1992 - "Barry Manilow's Showstoppers" opens at Paramount NYC
1992 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1992 - Opening Main-Donau canal (North Sea-Black Sea)
1992 - Sparky Anderson ties Hughie Jennings as Detroit's winningest manager
1992 - US Mars Observer launched from Space shuttle
1992 - Gregory Kingsley, 12, wins right to divorce his parents & live with his foster parents, he takes name Shawn Russ
1994 - Oliver McCall TKOs Lennox Lewis in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
1996 - The last of the Magdalen Asylums closes in Ireland.
1997 - "ER" is performed live on TV
1997 - Britain's Andy Green sets jet-powered car record (714 mph)
1997 - Marv Albert plea bargains in assault case
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Lennox LewisHeavyweight Boxing Champion Lennox Lewis 1997 - STS 86 (Atlantis 20) launches into orbit
1997 - WNBA announces it will add Detroit & Wash DC franchises
2002 - The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact in Siberia, Russia.
2003 - A magnitude-8.0 earthquake strikes just offshore of Hokkaidō, Japan.
2005 - E1 Train Disaster
2008 - China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7.
2012 - 50 Taiwanese ships clash with the Japan Coast Guard in waters off the Senkaku Islands
2012 - Anouchka van Miltenburg is elected President of the Netherlands




1492 - The crew of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus' ships, mistakenly thought that they had spotted land.   1493 - Christopher Columbus left Spain with 17 ships on his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere.   1513 - The Pacific Ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He named the body of water the South Sea. He was truly just the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.   1690 - One of America's earliest newspapers published its first and last edition. The "Publik Occurences Both Foreign and Domestik" was published at the London Coffee House in Boston, MA, by Benjamin Harris.   1775 - Ethan Allen was captured by the British during the American Revolutionary War. He was leading the attack on Montreal.   1789 - The first U.S. Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.   1847 - During the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces led by General Zachary Taylor captured Monterrey Mexico.   1882 - The first major league double header was played. It was between the Worcester and Providence teams.   1890 - The Sequoia National Park was established as a U.S. National Park in Central California.   1890 - Mormon President Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto in which the practice of polygamy was renounced.   1919 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson collapsed after a speech in Pueblo, CO. The speaking tour was in support of the Treaty of Versailles.   1933 - Tom Mix was heard on NBC Radio for the first time. His show ran until June of 1950.   1956 - A transatlantic telephone-cable system began operation between Newfoundland and Scotland.   1957 - 300 U.S. Army troops stood guard as nine black students were escorted to class at Central High School in Little Rock, AR. The children had been forced to withdraw 2 days earlier because of unruly white mobs.   1965 - Willie Mays, at the age of 34, became the oldest man to hit 50 home runs in a single season. He had also set the record for the youngest to hit 50 ten years earlier.   1973 - The three crewmen of Skylab II landed in the Pacific Ocean after being on the U.S. space laboratory for 59 days.   1978 - Melissa Ludtke, a writer for "Sports Illustrated", filed a suit in U.S. District Court. The result was that Major League Baseball could not bar female writers from the locker room after the game.   1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court when she was sworn in as the 102nd justice. She had been nominated the previous July by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.   1983 - A Soviet military officer, Stanislav Petrov, averted a potential worldwide nuclear war. He declared a false alarm after a U.S. attack was detected by a Soviet early warning system. It was later discovered the alarms had been set off when the satellite warning system mistakenly interpreted sunlight reflections off clouds as the presence of enemy missiles.   1986 - An 1894-S Barber Head dime was bought for $83,000 at a coin auction in California. It is one of a dozen that exist.   1987 - The booty collected from the Wydah, which sunk off Cape Cod in 1717, was auctioned off. The worth was around $400 million.   1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to impose an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba was the only dissenting vote.   1991 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously ordered a worldwide arms embargo against Yugoslavia and all of its warring factions.   1992 - In Orlando, FL, a judge ruled in favor of 12-year-old Gregory Kingsley. He had sought a divorce from his biological parents.   1992 - The Mars Observer blasted off on a mission that cost $980 million. The probe has not been heard from since it reached Mars in August of 1993.   1995 - Ross Perot announced that he would form the Independence Party.   1997 - NBC sportscaster Marv Albert pled guilty to assault and battery of a lover. He was fired from NBC within hours.   1997 - Mark & Brian received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   2001 - Michael Jordan announced that he would return to the NBA as a player for the Washington Wizards. Jordan became the president of basketball operations for the team on January 19, 2000.   2002 - U.S. forces landed in Ivory Coast to aid in the rescue foreigners trapped in a school by fighting between government troops and rebel troops. Rebels had attempted to take over the government on September 19.   2012 - China launched its first aircraft carrier into service.



1775 Ethan Allen was captured by the British. 1789 The first Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. The first ten became the Bill of Rights. 1890 Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon church, renounced the practice of polygamy. This paved the way for Utah's acceptance as a state in 1896. 1957 Nine black teenagers, now known as the Little Rock Nine, challenged racial segregation by attending the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 1957 Nine black children were escorted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, under heavily armed guard, because of racial violence. 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme Court. 2003 It was reported that more than 14,000 had lost their lives in France in a summer heat wave. 2011 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia grants women the right to vote and run for office in future elections.





The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/sep25.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

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