Today In History September 21

September 21 is the 264th day of the year. There are 101 days remaining until the end of the year.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

 Today's Highlight In History  1981 – Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice. Appointed by Ronald Reagan

 Before her appointment, she was an elected official and judge in Arizona serving as the first female Majority Leader in the United States as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. On July 1, 2005, she announced her intention to retire effective upon the confirmation of a successor. Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005, and joined the Court on January 31, 2006.

 Her unanimous confirmation by the Senate in 1981 was supported by most conservatives, led by Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, and liberals, including Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and women's rights groups like the National Organization for Women.

Sandra Day O'Connor was Chancellor of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and currently serves on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Several publications have named O'Connor among the most powerful women in the world. On August 12, 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, by President Barack Obama.

 WORLD EVENTS

1792 – The National Convention declares France a republic and abolishes the monarchy.

1860 – In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Palikao.

1896 – British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola in the Sudan.

1897 – The "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial is published in the New York Sun.

1898 – Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.

1942 – On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Nazis send over 1,000 Jews of Pidhaytsi (west Ukraine) to Belzec extermination camp.

1942 – In Poland, at the end of Yom Kippur, Germans order Jews to permanently evacuate Konstantynów and move to the Ghetto in Biała Podlaska, established to assemble Jews from seven nearby towns, including Janów Podlaski, Rossosz and Terespol.

1942 – In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murder 2,588 Jews.

1942 – The B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.

 1964 – Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1965 – Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.

1971 – Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the United Nations.

1972 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation № 1081, placing the entire country under martial law and marking the beginning of his authoritarian rule.

1976 – Seychelles joins the United Nations.

1977 – A nuclear non-proliferation pact is signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union.

1981 – Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.

1981 – Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.

1984 – Brunei joins the United Nations.

1991 – Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union.

1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.

1999 – Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.

2001 – America: A Tribute to Heroes is broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over

$200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks.

2003 – Galileo mission is terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.

2005 – Hurricane Rita becomes the third most intense hurricane(dropped to 4th in October 19, 2005)

2013 – al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people.