Holidays
Feast Day of St. Joseph of Cupertino
He is the patron saint of aviators.
What Happened On
Jimmy Carter Sees a UFO
September 18, 1973
Future U.S. President Jimmy Carter files a report stating he sighted a UFO in 1969. According to Carter, "It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was. …If I become President, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and the scientists."
Jimi Hendrix Chokes to Death on His Own Vomit
September 18, 1970
Jimi Hendrix's girlfriend awakes at 11 a.m. to find him unresponsive, but still breathing. She called an ambulance and he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 12:45 p.m. The coroner would rule that the legendary singer Jimi Hendrix aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates. His girlfriend later revealed that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage. He had been the highest-paid act at Woodstock the previous year.
Get Smart
September 18, 1965
The secret agent satirical TV show debuts on NBC. It featured Don Adams as Agent 86 Maxwell Smart and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Smart's shoe phone is humorously referred to as the first "Smart" phone.
The Addams Family
September 18, 1964
The Addams Family TV show debuts on ABC. It was based on characters from Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Did Hitler Have an Affair with and Kill His Niece?
September 18, 1931
Adolf Hitler's half-niece Geli Raubal presumably commits suicide. She had lived in close contact with Hitler from 1925 until her death. Years later, a family member said the family knew she and Hitler had been intimate and that she was pregnant, a fact that enraged Hitler. After her death, he kept her room at his home as she had left it, and hung portraits of her in his own room there and at the Chancellery in Berlin. Years later, he declared that Raubal was the only woman he had ever loved.
Raubal was the daughter of Hitler's half sister. Raubal's mother became Hitler's housekeeper in 1925 when Raubal was 17 years old. Two years later, when Hitler found out she was having an affair with his chauffeur, he forced her to end the affair and fired the chauffeur. After that, he provided escorts for her when she went out. In 1929, she enrolled in medical school and moved into Hitler's Munich apartment. When Hitler found out she planned to marry a man from Linz, he refused to let her leave. On September 18, 1931, they argued after Hitler refused to let her go to Vienna. Hitler then departed for Nuremberg, only to return the next day after finding out she had apparently killed herself in his apartment with his pistol. The death was ruled a suicide, but some speculate that Hitler either killed her or had her killed.
After her death, Hitler went into a deep depression, but reemerged and refocused on politics, becoming Chancellor of Germany two years later.
Lincoln Opposed to Negro Equality
September 18, 1858
Abraham Lincoln in a debate with Stephen A. Douglas states, "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people", and "…there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
Lincoln's views on blacks later evolved, especially after his friendship with Frederick Douglass.
Patty Hearst (right) robbing bank
Patty Hearst (right) robbing bank
Patty Hearst Captured
September 18, 1975
Patty Hearst, heiress to the Hearst publishing fortune, is captured by FBI agents and indicted for participating in a bank robbery with the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
She had been kidnapped by the SLA and they demanded the Hearst family deliver $70 worth of food to every needy person in California. The estimated cost of such an operation would have been about $400,000,000. Patty Hearst's father tried to donate $2,000,000 worth of food to the Bay Area, but the distribution turned into chaos and the SLA refused to release Patty.
She then claimed she was raped and tortured to coerce her into participating in their crimes, claiming she was a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, in which a hostage bonds with their captors. She was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison, but given clemency by U.S. President Jimmy Carter after serving 22 months and President Bill Clinton gave her a full pardon in 2001.
We Are Not the Enemy - National Security Act of 1947
September 18, 1947
The National Security Act of 1947 goes into effect. It created the "National Military Establishment" (NME). The name was later changed to Department of Defense since NME's pronunciation sounded too much like "Enemy." The act also created the CIA and formed the Air Force as its own military branch.
First Paved U.S. Automobile Racetrack
September 18, 1915
The asphalt-covered Narragansett Speedway, Cranston, Rhode Island opens. Two world records were then broken on it.
First Chiropractic Treatment
September 18, 1895
Daniel David Palmer treats Harvey Lillard for hearing loss by adjusting his spine. Palmer went on to develop chiropractic treatment and opened the first school of chiropractic two years later. He believed that disease was caused by poor nerve flow through the spine.
First White Woman Indian Chief
September 18, 1891
Harriet Maxwell Converse becomes an honorary chief of the Six Nations Tribe. She was an advocate for the rights of the Seneca and Iroquois tribes in New York state, helping them retain their lands and preserve their culture.
New York Daily Times
September 18, 1851
New York Daily Times is founded, by Henry J. Raymond and George Jones, becoming the New York Times in 1857.
Chile
September 18, 1810
Chile separates from Spain, achieving its full independence in 1818.
U.S. Capitol
September 18, 1793
George Washington lays the cornerstone for the Capitol building in Washington D.C.
Birthdays
First Woman Executed in the Electric Chair
Martha M. Place
Born September 18, 1849 d. 1899
American murderer. First woman executed in the electric chair. She was convicted of killing her 17-year-old stepdaughter and executed in 1899. Martha had attacked her stepdaughter with an axe, threw acid in her face, and then killed her by asphyxiation.
She pleaded not guilty at her trial, but with her husband as a witness against her, she was convicted of the murder.
Martha Place was struck in the head by a sleigh at age 23. Her brother said that the accident left her mentally unstable.
Although Place was the first woman to die in the electric chair, she was the third sentenced to die by electric chair, the first two being serial killer Lizzie Halliday (1894 conviction commuted and sent to an asylum) and Maria Barbella (sentenced in 1895 and acquitted the next year).
Lance Armstrong
Born September 18, 1971
American cyclist. After being diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996 that had metastasized and spread to his lungs, abdomen, and brain, he came back to win the Tour de France a record seven straight times (1999-2005). However, in 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) concluded that he had used performance-enhancing drugs over the course of his career and named him as the ringleader of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." He was stripped of all of his achievements from August 1998 onward, including his seven Tour de France titles.
Frankie Avalon (Francis Thomas Avallone)
Born September 18, 1940
American singer, actor.
Robert Blake as Baretta and Little Beaver
Robert Blake as Baretta and Little Beaver
Robert Blake (Michael James Vincenzo Gubitosi)
Born September 18, 1933 d. 2023
American Emmy-winning actor. In 2001 his second wife was shot to death while sitting in her car outside of a restaurant. Blake was tried and acquitted of the crime. However, he was found liable in a civil case for the murder and ordered to pay USD $15 million. He then declared bankruptcy.
Film: The Little Rascals (1939-44, Mickey Gubitosi), Red Ryder western movies (1944-47, Little Beaver), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, Mexican boy who sells Humphrey Bogart the winning lottery ticket), and In Cold Blood (1967, killer Perry Wilson). TV: Baretta (1975-78, Emmy, title role).
Phyllis Kirk (Phyllis Kirkegaard)
Born September 18, 1927 d. 2006
American actress. TV: The Thin Man (1957-59, Nora Charles). Film: House of Wax (1953, intended victim of the mad wax sculptor).
Jack Warden (John H. Lebzelter)
Born September 18, 1920 d. 2006
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Crazy Like a Fox (Harry Fox). Film: Shampoo (1975, Lester Carp). He fought in the WWII Battle of the Bulge (1944).
Rossano Brazzi
Born September 18, 1916 d. 1994
Italian actor, specializing in Continental lover roles. Film: The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Summertime (1955), and South Pacific (1958). TV: The Survivors (Riakos).
Edwin Mattison McMillan
Born September 18, 1907 d. 1991
American physicist. He shared a 1951 Nobel Prize with Glenn Seaborg for their discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements.
Greta Garbo (Greta Gustafsson)
Born September 18, 1905 d. 1990
Swedish-born actress. Film: Anna Karenina (1935) and Camille (1937).
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
Born September 18, 1905 d. 1977
American actor. TV: The Jack Benny Program (1950-65, Benny's valet Rochester). Radio: The Jack Benny Program (1937-55, making Anderson the first Black American to have a regular role on a nationwide radio program).
Agnes De Mille
Born September 18, 1905 d. 1993
American Tony-winning choreographer. Stage: Oklahoma! (1943), Brigadoon (1947, Tony), and Kwamina (1962, Tony).
Anton Mauve
Born September 18, 1838 d. 1888
Dutch painter, for whom the color "mauve" is named.
Jean Bernard Léon Foucault
Born September 18, 1819 d. 1868
French physicist. One of the first to measure the speed of light (1850), demonstrated the rotation of the Earth with a pendulum (1851), and invented the gyroscope (1852).
Gregory XVI (Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari)
Born September 18, 1765 d. 1846
religious leader, 254th Pope (1831-46).
George Read
Born September 18, 1733 d. 1798
American lawyer, politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Samuel Johnson
Born September 18, 1709 d. 1784
English lexicographer, poet. He wrote the first major English language dictionary (1755).
Trajan
Born September 18, A.D. 53 d. 117
Spanish-born Roman Emperor (98-117). Emperor Nerva, whom he succeeded, adopted him as his son in 97 A.D.
Deaths
Ken Norton
Died September 18, 2013 b. 1943
American Hall of Fame boxer. He is the only heavyweight boxing champion (1977-78) who never won a heavyweight championship fight. After Leon Spinks took the title from Muhammad Ali, the World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered a match between Spinks and the number one contender Norton. But Spinks wanted to give Ali the first shot at the title rather than face Norton. The WBC then gave title fight status to Norton's victory over Jimmy Young the previous year, awarding Norton the championship.
Designed the Peace Symbol
Gerald Herbert Holtom
Died September 18, 1985 b. 1914
British artist. He designed the familiar international peace symbol in 1958 for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). It is composed of the flag alphabet letters N and D (standing for Nuclear Disarmament) inside of a circle.
Jimi Hendrix (James Marshall Hendrix)
Died September 18, 1970 b. 1942
American singer. Hendrix created one of rock's most iconic moments by setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and was the highest paid act at Woodstock (1969).
In 1961, after multiple offenses of riding in a stolen car, he was given the option of prison or military service and joined the Army, where he was awarded the prestigious Screaming Eagles patch. Forming a band called the Casuals, he began playing at base clubs. However, he soon began neglecting his duties and after sleeping while on duty and failing to report for bed checks, he was deemed unfit for military service and given a "discharge under honorable conditions".
Hendrix died from choking on his own vomit while intoxicated with barbiturates. His girlfriend later revealed that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage.
Music: Purple Haze (1967), All Along the Watchtower (1968), and Foxy Lady (1968).
The original "Purple Cow", from 1895
The original "Purple Cow", from 1895
I Never Saw a Purple Cow
Gelett Burgess (Frank Gelett Burgess)
Died September 18, 1951 b. 1866
American author, humorist, illustrator. In 1895, he wrote the famous quatrain:
"I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I rather see than be one."
He also coined the word "blurb" in 1907 to describe to the material on a book jacket that praises the book, stating, "To 'blurb' is to make a sound like a publisher. …A blurb is a check drawn on Fame, and it is seldom honored."
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Did Hitler Have an Affair with and Kill His Niece?
Geli Raubal (Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal)
Died September 18, 1931 b. 1908
Hitler's half-niece. She lived in close contact with Adolf Hitler from 1925 until her presumed suicide in 1931. Years later, a family member said the family knew she and Hitler had been intimate and that she was pregnant, a fact that enraged Hitler. After her death, he kept her room at his home as she had left it, and hung portraits of her in his own room there and at the Chancellery in Berlin. Years later, he declared that Raubal was the only woman he had ever loved.
Raubal was the daughter of Hitler's half sister. Raubal's mother became Hitler's housekeeper in 1925 when Raubal was 17 years old. Two years later, when Hitler found out she was having an affair with his chauffeur, he forced her to end the affair and fired the chauffeur. After that, he provided escorts for her when she went out. In 1929, she enrolled in medical school and moved into Hitler's Munich apartment. When Hitler found out she planned to marry a man from Linz, he refused to let her leave. On September 18, 1931, they argued after Hitler refused to let her go to Vienna. Hitler then departed for Nuremberg, only to return the next day after finding out she had apparently killed herself in his apartment with his pistol. The death was ruled a suicide, but some speculate that Hitler either killed her or had her killed.
After her death, Hitler went into a deep depression, but reemerged and refocused on politics, becoming Chancellor of Germany two years later.
Pamela Brown
Died September 18, 1975 b. 1917
English Emmy-winning actress. TV: Victoria Regina (1961, Duchess of Kent, Emmy).
First to Split an Atom with a Particle Accelerator
Sir John Cockcroft
Died September 18, 1967 b. 1897
British nuclear physicist. He and Ernest Walton became the first to split an atom with a particle accelerator (1932), for which they were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize.
Dag Hammarskjöld
Died September 18, 1961 b. 1905
Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-61). He was killed in a suspicious plane crash while en route to negotiate a cease-fire between U.N. and Congolese forces. He was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Frank Morgan (Francis Wuppermann)
Died September 18, 1949 b. 1890
American actor. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939, the Wizard).
Charles Michael Schwab
Died September 18, 1939 b. 1862
American industrialist. Starting out in the steel industry as a stake driver, he rose to president of Carnegie Steel (1897-1901), president of U.S. Steel (1901-03), and chairman of Bethlehem Steel (1903 et seq.). Although at one time his net worth was estimated between $25 million and $40 million ($500 and $800 million in today's dollars), he lost his fortune after the stock market crash of 1929 and died broke.
Note: Not to be confused with Charles R. Schwab, the founder and chairman of the brokerage firm.
Pyotr Stolypin
Died September 18, 1911 b. 1862
Russian Premier (1906-11). Known for his ruthless tactics to achieve reform and democratization, he was assassinated by a police double agent. His assassin was apprehended and hanged.
Louis VII
Died September 18, 1180 b. circa 1121
King of France (1137-80).
Domitian
Died September 18, A.D. 96 b. A.D. 51
Roman Emperor (81-96 AD). Known for his cruelty, he was assassinated by a man hired by his wife and court officers after they discovered the emperor's plans to execute them.