1 of 6 | On September 23, 1950, the U.S. Congress adopted the Internal Security Act, which provided for the registration of communists. The legislation was also known as the McCarran Act, named after the bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Pat McCarran, D-Nev. File Photo courtesy of Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress
Sept. 23 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1806, U.S. explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned to St. Louis on their historic journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast and back. The duo received translation and diplomatic help from Shoshone woman Sacagawea on the more-than-two-year journey.
In 1846, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory. Neptune generally is the eighth planet from the sun.
In 1909, Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera was published.
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber takes part in curtain call ceremonies on January 9, 2006, at New York’s Majestic Theatre to mark that “Phantom of the Opera” has become the longest running musical show in Broadway history with it’s 7,486th performance. File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI
In 1950, the U.S. Congress adopted the Internal Security Act, which provided for the registration of communists. The legislation was also known as the McCarran Act, named after the primary sponsor of the bill, Sen. Pat McCarran, D-Nev. Leaders of the Communist Party vowed never to register, and it was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev visited the corn fields of Iowa to find out what made the American farmer tick and urged that the earth “be furrowed by plows, not rockets and tanks.”
In 1966, a Rolling Stones’ concert at England’s Royal Albert concert hall was halted temporarily when screaming girls attacked Mick Jagger onstage. The riotous enthusiasm of the fans resulted in a ban of pop concerts at the hall.
File Photo by David Yee/UPI
In 1973, Juan Peron was again elected president of Argentina after 18 years in exile. His second wife, Isabel, who became vice president, succeeded him after he died 10 months later.
In 1991, 44 U.N. inspectors were detained in Baghdad after attempting to remove secret Iraqi plans for building nuclear weapons. They were freed five days later.
In 2005, a fire killed 23 people on a bus carrying Texas nursing home evacuees from Hurricane Rita.
In 2008, a 22-year-old student killed 11 adult students and himself at a vocational college in Finland 205 miles north of Helsinki.
In 2024, Israel launched airborne raids on Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people and injuring thousands more.
File Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA-EFE
