(File)
Good morning, it’s Tuesday, Sept. 25, the 269th day of 2012. There are 97 days left in the year. The Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, begins at sunset. We’ll have some clouds and temperatures will be in the upper 60s at the start of the day, but by this afternoon, the sky should clear and temperatures should rise to around 90. Lows overnight will be in the lower 70s.
Today’s Forecast And Conditions
On September 25, 1957—55 years ago today--members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division escorted nine black students to class at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., three weeks after Arkansas National Guard troops turned them away.
The Little Rock School District began to prepare to admit the students under federal court order early in September, but on Sept. 2, 1957, in a televised speech, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus said he would use the Arkansas National Guard troops to “prevent violence” and bar the nine students from entering the school. On Sept. 4 that’s what happened.
The standoff played out largely behind the scenes until Sept. 20 when a federal judge ordered the removal of the Arkansas National Guard troops. Three days later, on Sept. 23, as Little Rock police tried to maintain order, the nine students were escorted into the school while an angry mob of more than 1,000 white residents gathered outside. Rioting broke out, and police were forced to smuggle the nine out of the back of the school for their own safety.
In response President Dwight D. Eisenhower called the rioting “disgraceful”, ordered the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock, and federalized the Arkansas National Guard and on Sept. 25 the nine students entered the school under federal escort for their first full day of classes.
“We are now an occupied territory,” Faubus proclaimed. “Evidence of the naked force of the federal government is here apparent in these unsheathed bayonets in the backs of schoolgirls…”
Federal troops remained at Central throughout the rest of the school year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Sept. 25, 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.)
On This Date:
In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean.
In 1690, one of the earliest American newspapers, Publick Occurrences, published its first and last edition in Boston.
In 1775, the British captured American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen as he led an attack on Montreal. (The British released Allen in 1778.)
In 1904, a New York City police officer ordered a female automobile passenger on Fifth Avenue to stop smoking a cigarette. (A male companion was arrested and later fined $2 for "abusing" the officer.)
In 1911, ground was broken for Boston's Fenway Park.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson collapsed after a speech in Pueblo, Colo., during a national speaking tour in support of the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1932, the Spanish region of Catalonia received a Charter of Autonomy (however, the Charter was revoked by Francisco Franco at the end of the Spanish Civil War).
In 1962, Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson in round one to win the world heavyweight title at Comiskey Park in Chicago. "The Longest Day," 20th Century Fox's epic recreation of the D-Day invasion, based on the book by Cornelius Ryan, had its world premiere in France.
In 1978, 144 people were killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collided over San Diego.
In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme Court.
In 1992, the Mars Observer blasted off on a $980 million mission to the Red Planet (the probe disappeared just before entering Martian orbit in August 1993). A judge in Orlando, Fla., ruled in favor of Gregory Kingsley, a 12-year-old seeking to "divorce" his biological parents.
Ten years ago:
American schoolchildren escaped a rebel-held Ivory Coast city that was under siege as U.S. special forces and French troops moved in to rescue Westerners caught in the West African nation's bloody uprising. Tropical Storm Isidore drenched the Gulf Coast.
Five years ago:
Warren Jeffs, the leader of a polygamous Mormon splinter group, was convicted in St. George, Utah, of being an accomplice to rape for performing a wedding between a 19-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl. (The Utah Supreme Court later overturned the conviction; prosecutors ended up dropping the charges, since Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas in a separate case.) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing the United Nations, announced "the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed," and indicated Tehran would disregard Security Council resolutions imposed by what he called "arrogant powers." Japan's lower house of parliament elected Yasuo Fukuda prime minister.
One year ago:
Declaring they'd been detained because of their nationality, not their actions, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, two American hikers held for more than two years in an Iranian prison, returned to the United States. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah decreed that women would, for the first time, have the right to vote and run in local elections due in 2015. Wangari Maathai, 71, the first African woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, died in Nairobi.
Today's Birthdays:
Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters is 83. Folk singer Ian Tyson is 79. Rhythm-and-blues singer Joe Russell is 73. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is 69. Actor Josh Taylor is 69. Actor Robert Walden is 69. Actor-producer Michael Douglas is 68. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 65. Actress Mimi Kennedy is 63. Actor-director Anson Williams is 63. Actor Mark Hamill is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo is 61. Polka bandleader Jimmy Sturr is 61. Actor Colin Friels is 60. Actor Michael Madsen is 54. Actress Heather Locklear is 51. Actress Aida Turturro is 50. Actor Tate Donovan is 49. TV personality Keely Shaye Smith is 49. Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is 47. Actor Jason Flemyng is 46. Actor Will Smith is 44. Actor Hal Sparks is 43. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 43. Rock musician Mike Luce (Drowning Pool) is 41. Actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras is 39. Actress Clea DuVall is 35. Actor Chris Owen is 32. Rapper T. I. is 32. Actor Van Hansis is 31. Actor Lee Norris is 31. Singer Diana Ortiz (Dream) is 27. Actress Emmy Clarke ("Monk") is 21.
Thought for Today:
"History is too serious to be left to historians." - Iain Macleod, British politician (1913-1970).
