On Sept. 17, 1862, more than 3,600 men were killed in the Battle of Antietam.
In 1933, The first long-playing record, a 33 1/3 rpm recording, was demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York by RCA-Victor. The venture was doomed to fail however due to the high price of the record players, which started around $95 (about $1140 in today’s dollars) and wasn’t revived until 1948.
In 1937, the likeness of President Abraham Lincoln’s head was dedicated at Mount Rushmore.
In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland during World War II, more than two weeks after Nazi Germany had launched its assault.
In 1954, the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding was first published by Faber & Faber of London.
In 1955, The BBC announced the removal of Bill Haley and His Comets’ ‘Rockin’ Through The Rye’ from its playlist because they felt the song went against traditional British standards, (and included the lyrics “All the lassies rock with me when rockin’ through the rye”). The record, based on an 18th century Scottish Folk tune, was at No.5 on the UK charts.
In 1967, The Doors were banned from The Ed Sullivan Show after Jim Morrison broke his agreement with the show’s producers. Morrison said before the performance that he wouldn’t sing the words, ‘Girl, we couldn’t get much higher,’ from ‘Light My Fire’ but did anyway. The Doors also performed their new single ‘People Are Strange.’
In 1978, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a framework for a peace treaty.
In 1994, Heather Whitestone of Alabama was crowned the first deaf Miss America.
In 2001, six days after 9/11, stock prices nosedived but stopped short of collapse in an emotional, flag-waving reopening of Wall Street.