History of 20 September
1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, started a daily radio newscast. It was one of the first in the U.S.
1946 – The first Cannes Film Festival premiered. The original premiere was delayed in 1939 due to World War II.
1946 – WNBT-TV in New York became the first station to promote a motion picture. Scenes from “The Jolson Story” were shown.
1953 – The TV show “Letter to Loretta” premiered. The name was changed to “The Loretta Young Show” on February 14, 1954.
1953 – Jimmy Stewart debuted on the radio western “The Six Shooter” on NBC.
1955 – “You’ll Never Be Rich” premiered on CBS-TV. The name was changed less than two months later to “The Phil Silvers Show.”
1962 – James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted.
1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
1967 – The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was launched. It went out of service on November 27, 2008.
1977 – The first of the “boat people” arrived in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new U.S. resettlement program.
1982 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the U.S., France, and Italy were going to send peacekeeping troops back to Beirut.
1984 – “The Cosby Show” premiered on NBC-TV.
1988 – The United Nations opened its 43rd General Assembly.
1989 – F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as president of South Africa.
1991 – U.N. weapons inspectors left for Iraq in a renewed search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
1992 – French voters approved the Maastricht Treaty.
1995 – AT&T announced that it would be splitting into three companies. The three companies were AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and NCR Corp.
1995 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit. This allowed the states to decide their own speed limits.
2000 – The United Kingdom’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by individuals using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile.
2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a “War on Terror”.
2003 – Civil unrest in the Maldives breaks out after a prisoner is killed by guards.
2007 – Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.
2008 – A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
2011 – The United States military ends its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
2013 – Apple released the iPhone 5s.
2017 – Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, resulting in 2,975 deaths, US$90 billion in damage, and a major humanitarian crisis.
2018 – At least 161 people have died after a ferry capsized close to the pier on Ukara Island in Lake Victoria and part of Tanzania.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Feliciano López, a Spanish tennis player
- 1981 – David McMillan, American football player (d. 2013)
- 1981 – Crystle Stewart, American actress, television host, model, winner of Miss USA 2008
- 1981 – Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby league player (d. 2014)
- 1981 – Jordan Tata, American baseball player
- 1982 – Jason Bacashihua, American ice hockey player
- 1982 – Aaron Burkart, German race car driver
- 1982 – Brian Fortuna, American dancer, and choreographer
- 1982 – Sexy Star, Mexican wrestler
- 1982 – Athanasios Tsigas, Greek footballer
- 1983 – Freya Ross, Scottish runner
- 1983 – Ángel Sánchez, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
- 1984 – Dean Israelite, South African film director, writer, and producer
- 1984 – Brian Joubert, French figure skater
- 1985 – Ian Desmond, American baseball player
- 1985 – Mami Yamasaki, Japanese model, and actress
- 1986 – Hayato Fujita, Japanese wrestler
- 1986 – Aldis Hodge, American actor
- 1986 – İbrahim Kaş, Turkish footballer
- 1986 – Jason Nightingale, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1987 – Gain, South Korean singer
- 1987 – Jack Lawless, American drummer
- 1987 – Tito Tebaldi, Italian rugby player
- 1988 – Sergei Bobrovsky, Russian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Ayano Omoto, Japanese singer, and dancer
- 1988 – Ryan Simpkins, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Phillip Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1990 – John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Isaac Cofie, Ghanaian footballer
- 1991 – Spencer Locke, American actress
- 1992 – Safura Alizadeh, Azerbaijani singer
- 1992 – Peter Prevc, Slovenian ski jumper
- 1992 – Michał Żyro, Polish footballer
- 1993 – Julian Draxler, German footballer
- 1995 – Laura Dekker, Dutch sailor
- 1995 – Sammi Hanratty, American actress
- 1995 – Rob Holding, English footballer
- 1996 – Ioana Loredana Roșca, a Romanian tennis player