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The Almanac: Today is Thursday, Sept. 21

On This Date in History:

In 1792, the Legislative Assembly of revolutionary
France voted to abolish the monarchy and establish the
First Republic, stripping King Louis XVI of most of
his power.

In 1893, the first successful U.S.-made,
gasoline-operated motorcar appeared on the streets of
Springfield, Mass. It was designed and built by
Charles and Frank Duryea.

In 1921, following the sex scandal caused by the
arrest of comedian Fatty Arbuckle, Universal announced
it would require its actors to sign a ‘morality
clause’ in their contracts.

In 1938, an estimated 600 people were killed by a
hurricane that battered the coast of New England.

In 1985, Western intelligence estimates said the
Iran-Iraq war in five years had cost nearly 1 million
lives.

In 1991, Armenia became the 12th Soviet republic to
declare independence.

In 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended the
parliament and announced parliamentary elections would
be in December.

In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into law
the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states to
disregard same sex marriages that might be official in
other places.

And in 1996, John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the late
U.S. president and described by tabloids as the
world`s most eligible bachelor, wed Carolyn Bessette.

In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton`s videotaped
grand jury testimony, during which he admitted to an
inappropriate relationship with former White House
intern Monica Lewinsky, was shown on television. It
ran more than four hours.

Also in 1998, Hurricane Georges began its deadly
rampage through the Caribbean, killing more than 600
people.

In 1999, at least 2,300 people were killed when an
earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck
Taiwan.

In 2001, a telecast by top movie stars and musicians
raised more than $500 million for survivors of the
victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In 2002, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
reportedly told the Bush administration Israel would
strike back if attacked by Iraq.

In 2003, the spacecraft Galileo approached the fringes
of Jupiter`s atmosphere and then was directed to
destroy itself in a high-speed plunge.

In 2004, two U.S. hostages were reported executed by
suspected Iraqi insurgents within a day of each other.
Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, contractors working
for a United Arab Emirates firm, were kidnapped from
their Baghdad home.

In 2005, Texas coastal residents were ordered to
evacuate, creating a mass exodus from the Houston and
Galveston area as Hurricane Rita became the third-most
intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin. Top
sustained winds were near 165 mph over the Gulf of
Mexico.