Sept. 14 history: Prez McKinley

Sept. 14 history 

In 1814, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry” (later “The Star-Spangled Banner”) after witnessing the American flag flying over the Maryland fort following a night of British naval bombardment during the War of 1812. 

In 1847, during the Mexican American War, U.S. forces under Gen. Winfield Scott took control of Mexico City.

In 1861, the first naval engagement of the Civil War took place as the USS Colorado attacked and sank the Confederate private schooner Judah off the coast of Pensacola, Fla. 

In 1867, the first volume of “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx was published in Germany.

In 1901, President William McKinley died in Buffalo, NY, of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him. 

In 1940, with the Nazi army sweeping across Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act, which required all men between 26 and 35 to register for the military draft. The decision also meant that Black men - unlike in the past - could join all branches of the U.S. military. 

In 1959, a Soviet Union rocket crashes into the moon’s surface, becoming the first man-made object sent from Earth to reach the lunar surface, and prompting effort by the United States to develop its own space program.  

In 1964, writer John Steinbeck was presented the U.S. Medal of Freedom. Steinbeck had already received numerous other honors and awards for his writing, including the 1962 Nobel Prize and a 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Grapes of Wrath. 

In 1982, Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly film star Grace Kelly, died at age 52 of injuries from a car crash the day before. 

In 1994, on the 34th day of a strike by players, Acting Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced the 1994 season was over. 

In 2001, Americans packed churches and public squares on a day of remembrance for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. President George W. Bush prayed with his Cabinet and attended services at Washington National Cathedral, then flew to New York, where he waded into the ruins of the World Trade Center and addressed rescue workers in a flag-waving, bullhorn-wielding show of resolve.

In 2009, death claimed “Dirty Dancing” star Patrick Swayze at 57. 

In 2012, fury over an anti-Muslim film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad spread across the Muslim world, with deadly clashes near Western embassies in Tunisia and Sudan, an American fast-food restaurant set ablaze in Lebanon, and international peacekeepers attacked in the Sinai.

In 2018, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denied an allegation of sexual misconduct from when he was in high school, saying, “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” (Kavanaugh would later be confirmed by the Senate.) 

(The AP 09/14/23)