On This Day in History - September 19th - Almanac

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 19, the 262nd day of 2018 with 103 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski in 1905; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell in 1907; Austrian automobile designer Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche in 1909; British author William Golding (Lord of the Flies) in 1911; James Lipton, actor/writer/host of Inside the Actors Studio, in 1926 (age 92); actor Adam West (TV's Batman) in 1928; actor David McCallum (TV's NCIS) in 1933 (age 85); singer Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers in 1940 (age 78); singer Mama Cass Elliot in 1941; singer Freda Payne in 1942 (age 76); baseball Hall of Fame member Joe Morgan in 1943 (age 75); singer/songwriter David Bromberg in 1945 (age 73); actor Randolph Mantooth in 1945 (age 73); actor Jeremy Irons in 1948 (age 70); model/actor Twiggy, whose real name is Lesley Hornby, in 1949 (age 69); television personality Joan Lunden in 1950 (age 68); actor/director Kevin Hooks in 1958 (age 60); celebrity chef Mario Batali in 1960 (age 58); actor Cheri Oteri in 1962 (age 56); country singer Trisha Yearwood in 1964 (age 54); journalist Soledad O'Brien in 1966 (age 52); actor Sanaa Lathan in 1971 (age 47); comedian/TV host Jimmy Fallon in 1974 (age 44); actor Alison Sweeney in 1976 (age 42); singer Tegan Quin in 1980 (age 38); actor Kevin Zegers in 1984 (age 34); singer Pia Mia in 1996 (age 22).

On this date in history:

UPI Archives: Louganis gets role in 'Paper Dolls'

In 1777, American soldiers won the first Battle of Saratoga in the Revolutionary War.

In 1881, U.S. President James Garfield, 49, who had been shot in July by a disgruntled office-seeker, died of his wounds. Vice President Chester Arthur was sworn in as the successor to Garfield, who had been president for 6 1/2 months. His assassin was executed in 1882.

In 1893, with the signing of the Electoral Bill by Gov. David Boyle, New Zealand became the first country to grant national voting rights to women.

In 1955, after a decade of rule, Argentine President Juan Domingo Peron was deposed in a military coup.

In 1985, an earthquake collapsed hundreds of buildings, killed at least 7,000 people and injured thousands of others in Mexico City.

In 1988, U.S. swimmer Greg Louganis took the gold medal in 3-meter springboard diving at the Seoul Olympics after hitting his head on the board during preliminary competition.

In 1995, The Washington Post published a manifesto by Theodore Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who carried out 16 bombings across the United States from 1978-95, killing three people. Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and was sentenced to eight life sentences in prison.

In 2006, Thailand Premier Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a bloodless military coup.

In 2010, 42-year-old Frenchman Philippe Croizon, a quadruple amputee, swam across the English Channel in 13 1/2 hours. Croizon covered the 21 miles with flippers attached to the stumps of his legs and special steering attachments in the arm areas.

In 2013, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who led the transformation of Nintendo from a small Japanese company to a worldwide video gaming giant, died of pneumonia in Japan at the age of 85. Yamauchi was Nintendo's president from 1949 to 2002. He also was the majority owner of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners.

In 2017, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook central Mexico, killing more than 350 people, including dozens of children in the rubble of a school.

A thought for the day: "Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants." -- Gen. Omar Bradley