Today in History: September 17, Camp David Accords

Today in History Today is Saturday, Sept. 17, the 260th day of 2022. There are 105 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 17, 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. On this date: In 1787, the Constitution of the United States was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. 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 1920, the American Professional Football Association — a precursor of the National Football League — was formed in Canton, Ohio. 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 1947, James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first U.S. Secretary of Defense. In 1980, former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza (suh-MOH’-sah) was assassinated in Paraguay. In 1986, the Senate confirmed the nomination of William H. Rehnquist to become the 16th chief justice of the United States. 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. In 2011, a demonstration calling itself Occupy Wall Street began in New York, prompting similar protests around the U.S. and the world. Ten years ago: Republican Mitt Romney tried to head off a new distraction for his presidential campaign after a video surfaced showing him telling wealthy donors that 47 percent of all Americans ‘œbelieve they are victims’� entitled to help from the government that permeated their lives; Romney offered no apologies, but conceded his comments were not ‘œelegantly stated’� and were spoken ‘œoff the cuff.’� Five years ago: British authorities said a second suspect was in custody in connection with a bomb that partially exploded two days earlier on a packed London subway, injuring dozens. The top series prizes at the Emmy Awards went to ‘œThe Handmaid’s Tale,’� ‘³Veep’� and the ever-topical ‘œSaturday Night Live’�; the ceremony took almost nonstop aim at President Donald Trump in awards and speeches. One year ago: A Los Angeles jury convicted Robert Durst of murdering his best friend 20 years earlier; the a case had taken on new life after the New York real estate heir participated in a documentary that connected him to the slaying linked to his wife’s 1982 disappearance. (Durst who was sentenced to life in prison, died in January 2022 at 78.) Retreating from its defense of a drone strike that had killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan in August, the Pentagon announced that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, and not an Islamic State extremist as first believed. France recalled its ambassador to the United States in an unprecedented show of anger by America’s oldest ally; the action came after the U.S., Australia and Britain shunned France in creating a new Indo-Pacific security arrangement, and Australia scrapped a purchase of French submarines in favor of nuclear subs built with U.S. technology.