September tenth

Today's Highlight in History:
On September tenth, 1955, "Gunsmoke" premiered on CBS television.

On this date:
In 1608, John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia.

In 1813, an American naval force commanded by Oliver H. Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.

In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

In 1919, New York City welcomed home General John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who'd served in the US First Division during World War One.

In 1939, Canada declared war on Nazi Germany.

In 1945, Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis.

In 1963, twenty black students entered Alabama public schools following a standoff between federal authorities and Governor George C. Wallace.

In 1979, four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the US House of Representatives and a 1950 attempt on the life of President Truman were granted clemency by President Carter.

In 1983, John Vorster, prime minister of white-ruled South Africa from 1966 to 1978, died in Cape Town at age 67.

In 1987, Pope John Paul the Second arrived in Miami, where he was welcomed by President and Mrs. Reagan as he began a ten-day tour of the United States.

Ten years ago: Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with onetime enemy Iraq.

Five years ago: A plane carrying members of a skydivers club crashed in Shacklefords, Virginia, killing ten parachutists, the plane's pilot and a man on the ground. NBC's "ER" won eight Emmy Awards, but lost best dramatic series to ABC's "NYPD Blue;" NBC's "Frasier" won five awards, including best comedy series.

One year ago: The US government began freeing 14 Puerto Rican nationalists granted clemency by President Clinton. A federal judge ordered an end to busing and other means of achieving racial balance in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the North Carolina school system that pioneered urban busing in the United States after a landmark Supreme Court ruling three decades earlier.

"The authentic and pure values, truth, beauty, and goodness, in the activity of a human being are the result of one and the same act, a certain application of the full attention to the object."

-- Simone Weil, French philosopher (1909-1943).