Devil’s Tower National Monument, Wyoming (Photo: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Today in History

• Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when his plot to surrender West Point is exposed (1780)
• The first steam-powered airship flies (1852)
• On “Black Friday,” gold prices plummet as a result of a plot to control the market (1869)
• The Mormons renounce polygamy (1890)
• US President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, as the first official national monument (1906)
• Jimmy Doolittle performs a “blind flight” to prove that full instrument flying from takeoff to landing is possible (1929)
• Honda Motor Company is founded (1948)
• US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation (1957)
• The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched (1960)
• 60 Minutes debuts (1968)
• CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service (1979)
• The Cambodian monarchy is restored (1993)

Birthdays

• Horace Walpole, author (1717)
• Franklin Clarence Mars, founded Mars, Inc. (1883)
• Blind Lemon Jefferson, blues musician (1893)
• Tommy Armour, golfer (1894)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, author (1896)
• Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian cleric and leader (1902)
• Audra Lindley, actress (1918)
• Richard Bong, top US World War II flying ace (1920)
• Jim McKay, sportscaster (1921)
• Angelo Muscat, actor (1930)
• Anthony Newley, actor and singer (1931)
• John Brunner, author (1934)
• Jim Henson, puppetteer, created The Muppets (1936)
• Linda McCartney, singer and activist (1941)
• Phil Hartman, comedian (1948)
• Brad Bird, animation director (1957)
• Amy Sky, singer-songwriter (1960)

Deaths

• Paracelsus, physician (1541)
• Pedro I of Brazil, emperor (1834)
• Branwell Brontë, painter and poet (1848)
• Hans Geiger, physicist, co-inventor of the Geiger counter (1945)
• Hasso von Manteuffel, German general (1978)
• Patsy Kelly, actress and dancer (1981)
• Dr. Seuss, children’s book creator (1991)
• Buckwheat Zydeco, accordionist (2016)

Holidays and Observances

• Armed Forces Day (Peru)
• Constitution Day (Cambodia)
• Heritage Day (South Africa)
• Independence Day (Guinea-Bissau)
• Mahidol Day (Thailand)
• National Punctuation Day (US)
• New Caledonia Day (New Caledonia)
• Republic Day (Trinidad and Tobago)

September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years). There are 98 days remaining until the end of the year.