Today is Thursday, September 5, the 249th day of 2024. There are 117 days left in the year.
Today in History:
On 5 September 1972, Palestinian militants attacked the Israeli Olympic delegation at the Munich Games, killing two and taking nine others hostage; five of the militants, one German policeman and all nine hostages were killed over the next 24 hours.
Also this date:
In 1774, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia.
In 1836, Sam Houston won the first presidential election in the newly established Republic of Texas.
In 1905 the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, ending the Russo-Japanese War; for his efforts to mediate the peace negotiations, US President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Noble Peace Prize the following year.
In 1957, Jack Kerouac’s novel “On the Road” was published.
In 1960, Muhammad Ali (as Cassius Clay) won the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing division at the Olympic Games in Rome.
In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford survived an assassination attempt by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, in Sacramento, California.
In 1986, four hijackers who had seized a Pan Am jumbo jet on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan, opened fire on the jet’s passengers; a total of 20 passengers and crew members were killed before Pakistani commandos stormed the jetliner.
1991 opened the 35th Annual Naval Aviation Symposium hosted by the Tailhook Association in Las Vegas; during the four-day gathering, there were reports that as many as 90 people, most of them women, were sexually assaulted or otherwise harassed. (The episode triggered the resignation of Navy Secretary Henry L. Garrett III.)
Today’s birthdays:
- Actress Lucille Soong (TV: “Fresh Off the Boat”) is 89.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski is 88.
- Actor William Devane is 85 years old.
- Actor George Lazenby is 85 years old.
- Film director Werner Herzog is 82 years old.
- Singer Al Stewart is 79 years old.
- “Cathy” cartoonist Cathy Guisewite (GYZ’-wyt) is 74.
- Actor Michael Keaton is 73 years old.
- The actor Rose McGowan is 51 years old.
- Olympic gold medal gymnast Tatiana Gutsu is 48.
- The actor Carice Van Houten is 48 years old.
- Mixed martial artist Francis Ngannou is 38 years old.
- Figure skater Yuna Kim with Olympic gold is 34 years old.
- Soccer player Bukayo Saka is 23.