Today in History

Today in History Today is Tuesday, Sept. 7, the 250th day of 2021. There are 115 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 7, 1977, the Panama Canal treaties, calling for the U.S. to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos (toh-REE’-hohs). On this date: In 1812, the Battle of Borodino took place as French troops clashed with Russian forces outside Moscow. (The battle, ultimately won by Russia, was commemorated by composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky with his ‘œ1812 Overture.’�) In 1936, rock-and-roll legend Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas. In 1940, Nazi Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain during World War II with the first air attack on London. In 1972, the International Olympic Committee banned Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett of the U.S. from further competition for talking to each other on the victory stand in Munich during the playing of the ‘œStar-Spangled Banner’� after winning the gold and silver medals in the 400-meter run. In 1986, Desmond Tutu was installed as the first Black clergyman to lead the Anglican Church in southern Africa. In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and mortally wounded on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later. In 2005, police and soldiers went house to house in New Orleans to try to coax the last stubborn holdouts into leaving the city shattered by Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Osama bin Laden appeared in a video for the first time in three years, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they wanted the war in Iraq to end. In 2008, troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship. In 2015, Hillary Clinton, interviewed by The Associated Press during a campaign swing through Iowa, said she did not need to apologize for using a private email account and server while at the State Department because ‘œwhat I did was allowed.’� In 2017, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Mexico struck off the country’s southern coast, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing at least 90 people. (A deadlier quake would strike central Mexico nearly two weeks later.) In 2019, President Donald Trump said he had canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghan leaders, just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, after a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier. Ten years ago: The latest in a series of Republican presidential debates brought together Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum in Simi Valley, California. A private Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team slammed into a riverbank moments after takeoff from the airport near the western city of Yaroslavl, killing 44 people. (Investigators blamed pilot error.) Five years ago: In back-to-back appearances, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton confronted their perceived weaknesses during a national security forum in New York, with Clinton, who went first, arguing that her email practices did not expose questionable judgment while Trump defended his preparedness to be commander in chief. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Laos, pledged to help to clear away the 80 million unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on the Southeast Asian country decades earlier.