@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Friday, September 14, the 257th day of 2007. There are 108 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1812, the Russians set fire to Moscow in the face of an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte's troops.

In 1814, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write his poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing how Ft. McHenry in Maryland had endured British bombardment during the War of 1812.

In 1930, Adolf Hitler's National Socialist (Nazi) Party became the second largest party in the Reichstag.

In 1937, Thomas Masaryk, the Czech revolutionary who in 1918 became Czechoslovakia's first president, died.

In 1939, the first successful helicopter, Igor Sikorsky's VS-300, made its maiden flight.

In 1948, a groundbreaking ceremony took place in New York at the site of the United Nations' world headquarters.

In 1960, representatives of oil producing countries finished a meeting in Baghdad that led to the formation of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

In 1964, Pope Paul VI opened the third session of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, also known as Vatican II. (The session closed two months later.)

In 1996, Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk pardoned Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary for his role in the "killing fields" era of the 1970s under Pol Pot.

Thought for Today

"Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open." — Japanese proverb.