Today in History: September 9, President Reagan sanctions white-ruled government of South Africa
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 9, the 252nd day of 2026. There are 113 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Sept. 9, 1985, President Ronald Reagan ordered economic sanctions against South Africa to target apartheid.
Also on this date:
In 1776, the second Continental Congress formally adopted the name “United States of America,” replacing the “United Colonies of North America.”
In 1850, California was admitted as the 31st U.S. state.
In 1919, about 1,100 members of Boston’s 1,500-member police force went on strike. The strike was broken by Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge with replacement officers.
In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared.
In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction, a measure primarily concerned with protecting voting rights. It also established a Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, taking 42 staff members hostage and demanding improvements to inmate treatment and living conditions.
In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat exchanged letters in which the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced violence and Israel recognized the PLO as representing the Palestinian people. The exchange occurred days before an agreement under the Oslo peace process.
In 2022, King Charles III gave his first speech to Britain as its new monarch, vowing to carry on the “lifelong service” of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who died a day earlier.
In 2025, Israeli conducted a daylight airstrike targeting the Hamas political leadership in Doha, Qatar. The attack killed at least five lower-ranking Hamas members and inflamed Middle East tensions as Israel continued to wage war against Hamas in Gaza.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Singer Dee Dee Sharp is 81.
- Former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann is 77.
- Actor Angela Cartwright is 74.
- Musician-producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) is 74.
- Actor Hugh Grant is 66.
- Actor Constance Marie is 61.
- Actor Adam Sandler is 60.
- Actor Julia Sawalha (suh-WAHL’-hah) is 58.
- Model Rachel Hunter is 57.
- Actor Eric Stonestreet is 55.
- Actor Henry Thomas is 55.
- Actor Goran Visnjic (VEEZ’-nihch) is 54.
- Pop-jazz singer Michael Bublé (boo-BLAY’) is 51.
- Actor Michelle Williams is 46.
- Actor Zoe Kazan is 43.
- Country singer-songwriter Hunter Hayes is 35.
- Actor Ronni Hawk is 27.
- NHL hockey player Luke Hughes is 23.
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