Today is Wednesday, September 26th, the 269th day of the year. There are 96 days until the end of the year.
On this day:
In 1789, Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first Secretary of State.
In 1902, denim jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss died at the age of 73.
In 1948, Bob Hope made his television debut on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town."
In 1955, actress Debbie Reynolds married singer Eddie Fisher.
In 1957, the musical "West Side Story" opened on Broadway in New York.
In 1960, the first televised presidential debate took place between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
In 1964, The Kinks released their hit song "You Really Got Me."
In 1969, the "Brady Bunch" debuted on ABC.
In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States. Antonin Scalia was sworn in as the 103rd member of the Supreme Court.
In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America announced the new NC-17 rating.
In 2003, British rocker Robert Palmer died after suffering a heart attack in Paris. Palmer's hits included "Simply Irresistible" and "Addicted To Love." He was 54.
In 2007, the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector ended in a mistrial after five months. Spector was later tried again and convicted for the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson, who died of a gunshot wound in Spector's Los Angeles-area mansion.
In 2008, the first presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain was held at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The senators traded barbs over the war in Iraq, the economic crisis and foreign policy.
In 2008, Oscar winning movie legend Paul Newman died on this date after a battle with cancer. He was 83.
In 2015, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg addressed the United Nations calling for universal Internet access. In his speech, Zuckerberg pledged that his social media outfit would be doing what it could to bring Internet access to refugee camps.