This day in history

[September 23, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2010. There are 99 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Sept. 23, 1846, Neptune was identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle (GAH'-luh).

On this date:

In 63 B.C., Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was born.

In 1779, during the Revolutionary War, the American warship Bon Homme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, defeated the HMS Serapis in battle.

In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the British.

In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.

In 1939, Sigmund Freud (froyd), the founder of psychoanalysis, died in London at age 83.

In 1952, Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvaged his vice-presidential nomination by delivering the "Checkers" speech, in which he defended himself against allegations of improper campaign fundraising.

In 1957, nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.

In 1962, New York's Philharmonic Hall (later renamed Avery Fisher Hall) formally opened as the first unit of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

In 1973, former Argentine president Juan Peron won a landslide election victory that returned him to power; his wife, Isabel, was elected vice president.

In 2001, 13 coal miners were killed in explosions at the Blue Creek Mine No. 5 in Brookwood, Ala.

Ten years ago: At the Sydney Olympics, Maurice Greene took the men's 100-meter in 9.87 seconds; Marion Jones won the women's 100 final in 10.75 seconds. (However, in 2007, Jones forfeited the three gold medals and two bronzes she'd won in Sydney after she admitted taking a designer steroid.) Commentator Carl T. Rowan died in Washington at age 75.

Five years ago: Hurricane Rita, down to Category 3, steamed toward refinery towns along the Texas-Louisiana coast, creating havoc even before it arrived; levee breaks caused new flooding in New Orleans, and 23 people were killed when a bus carrying nursing-home evacuees caught fire in Texas. Embattled FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford abruptly resigned. Puerto Rican nationalist Filiberto Ojeda Rios, wanted in a 1983 robbery of a Connecticut armored truck, died during a gunbattle with FBI agents.

One year ago: President Barack Obama addressed the U.N. General Assembly, where he challenged world leaders to shoulder more of the globe's critical burdens, warning they could no longer castigate the U.S. as a go-it-alone bully while still demanding it cure all ills.

Today's birthdays: Actor Mickey Rooney is 90. Actress Margaret Pellegrini ("The Wizard of Oz") is 87. Singer Julio Iglesias is 67. Actor Paul Petersen ("The Donna Reed Show") is 65. Actress-singer Mary Kay Place is 63. Rock star Bruce Springsteen is 61. Rock musician Leon Taylor (The Ventures) is 55. Actress Rosalind Chao is 53. Golfer Larry Mize is 52. Actor Jason Alexander is 51. Actor Chi McBride is 49. Actress Elizabeth Pena is 49. Country musician Don Herron (BR549) is 48. Actor Erik Todd Dellums is 46. Actress LisaRaye is 44. Singer Ani (AH'-nee) DiFranco is 40. Rock singer Sarah Bettens (K's Choice) is 38. Recording executive Jermaine Dupri is 38. Actor Kip Pardue is 34. Pop singer Erik-Michael Estrada ("Making the Band") is 31. Actress Aubrey Dollar is 30. Tennis player Melanie Oudin (oo-DAN') is 19.

Thought for today: "Every successful revolution puts on in time the robes of the tyrant it has deposed." -- Barbara Tuchman, American historian (1912-1989)

[Associated Press]

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