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On This Day: Mother Teresa dies at age 87

On Sept. 5, 1997, Mother Teresa died at age 87.

By UPI Staff
Mother Teresa, who was canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, died on September 6, 1997. UPI File Photo
1 of 4 | Mother Teresa, who was canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, died on September 6, 1997. UPI File Photo | License Photo

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1774, the first Continental Congress convened in secret in Philadelphia.

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In 1836, Sam Houston was elected president of Texas.

In 1877, Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Neb. A year earlier, Crazy Horse was among the Sioux leaders who defeated George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory.

In 1882, 10,000 workers marched in the first Labor Day parade -- in New York City.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation declaring U.S. neutrality in World War II. The United States joined the war in 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

In 1972, Palestinian militants invaded the Olympic Village outside Munich, West Germany, and killed 11 Israeli athletes and six other people.

In 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of mass murderer Charles Manson, failed in an attempt to shoot U.S. President Gerald Ford. Fromme was paroled in 2009 after 34 years in prison.

Secret Service agents rush President Gerald R. Ford towards the California State Capitol following an attempt on the president's life by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme -- a disciple of Charles Manson -- on September 5, 1975, in Sacramento, Calif. File Photo courtesy Gerald R. Ford Library
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In 1978, President Jimmy Carter hosted Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David, Md., for Middle East peace talks that laid the groundwork for a permanent peace agreement between Egypt and Israel after three decades of hostilities. The summit resulted in the Camp David Accords, which earned Sadat and Begin the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1995, France conducted an underground nuclear test at the Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific. It was the first of several -- all of which were met by protests worldwide.

In 1997, Mother Teresa died at age 87. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, an organization that provides charity for orphans, the homeless and people with terminal illnesses. She was canonized a saint in 2016.

In 2006, Katie Couric, longtime co-host of the NBC Today show, became the first solo female anchor on a major U.S. television network when she took over the CBS Evening News.

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

In 2014, U.S. officials said Ahmed Abdi Godane, leader of the Somalia-based Islamic militant organization al-Shabab, was killed in a U.S. airstrike. In 2012, the United States had posted a $7 million reward for his arrest.

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In 2021, an elite national army unit detained Guinean President Alpha Condé -- the country's first democratically elected leader -- and seized control of power. Mamady Doumbouya became interim president.

In 2022, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss became the country's new prime minister, capturing 57% of the Conservative Party vote to replace scandal-laden Boris Johnson. She took office Sept. 6 and resigned less than two months later, on Oct. 25.

File Photo by Neil Hall/EPA-EFE

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