Today In History

In 1814: Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland.

In 1847: U.S. forces under Gen. Winfield Scott took control of Mexico City.

In 1901: President McKinley died in Buffalo, N.Y., of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him.

In 1940: Congress passed the Selective Service Act, providing for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.

In 1975: Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first U.S.-born saint.