Today's Highlight in History:
On Sept. 15, 1789, the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.
On this date:
In 1776, British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.
In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge two weeks after he was found innocent of treason.
In 1821, independence from Spain was proclaimed for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
In 1857, William Howard Taft - who would serve as president of the United States and as U.S. chief justice
- was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship.
In 1940, during the Battle of Britain in World War II, the tide turned as the Luftwaffe sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force.
In 1942, during World War II, the USS Wasp was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; the U.S. Navy ended up sinking the badly damaged aircraft carrier.
In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev arrived in the U.S. to begin a 13-day visit.
In 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)
In 1982, Iran's former foreign minister, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, was executed after he was convicted of plotting against the government.
Ten years ago: Two of the nation's most popular diet drugs - dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine
- were pulled off the market because of new evidence they could seriously damage patients' hearts. Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld gave up his battle to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico. The IRA-allied Sinn Fein party entered Northern Ireland's peace talks for the first time.
