Monday, September 15th
The 259th day of 2008.
There are 107 days left in the year.
On Sept. 15, 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, in the deadliest act of the civil rights era.
On Sept. 15, 1857, William Howard Taft, the only person to serve as both United States president and chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, was born.
On this date in:
1776 - British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.
1789 - The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.
1821 - Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador became independent from Spain.
1857 - William Howard Taft, the 27th president who later served as chief justice, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1917 - Russia was proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.
1935 - The Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.
1940 - The Royal Air Force inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe as the tide turned in the Battle of Britain during World War II.
1950 - During the Korean War, United Nations forces landed at Inchon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul.
1997 - The IRA-allied Sinn Fein party entered Northern Ireland's peace talks for the first time.
2001 - President George W. Bush identified Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and told Americans to prepare for a long, difficult war against terrorism.
2003 - The WUSA, a women's professional soccer league, shut down after three seasons.
2004 - National Hockey League owners agreed to lock out the players. (The 2004-05 season was eventually canceled.)
2005 - President George W. Bush, addressing the nation from storm-ravaged New Orleans, acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina and urged Congress to approve a massive reconstruction program.
2006 - Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, agreed to plead guilty to two criminal charges in the congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.