By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Friday, Sept. 11, the 255th day of 2020. There are 111 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four jetliners, sending two of the planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.

On this date:

In 1777, during the American Revolution, forces under Gen. George Washington were defeated by the British in the Battle of Brandywine.

In 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

In 1814, an American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

In 1885, author D.H. Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England.

In 1936, Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the damís first hydroelectric generator.

In 1941, groundbreaking took place for the Pentagon. In a speech that drew accusations of anti-Semitism, Charles A. Lindbergh told an America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa, that ìthe British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administrationî were pushing the United States toward war.

In 1972, the troubled Munich Summer Olympics ended. Northern Californiaís Bay Area Rapid Transit system began operations.

In 1973, Chilean President Salvador Allende (ah-YENí-day) died during a violent military coup.

In 2006, in a prime-time address, President George W. Bush invoked the memory of the victims of the 9/11 attacks as he staunchly defended the war in Iraq, though he acknowledged that Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the attacks.

In 2007, a new Osama bin Laden videotape was released on the sixth anniversary of 9/11; in it, the al-Qaida leaderís voice is heard commemorating one of the suicide hijackers and calling on young Muslims to follow his example by martyring themselves in attacks.

In 2008, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama put aside politics as they visited ground zero together on the anniversary of 9/11 to honor its victims.