Today in history: September 9

Sept. 9, 1791: The new capital of the United States was named after the country's first president, George Washington.

Sept. 9, 1893: President Cleveland's wife, Frances, gave birth to daughter Esther — the only presidential child to be born in the White House. The first child to be born in the White House was in 1806, when James Madison Randolph was born to Martha Randolph, the daughter of President Thomas Jefferson.

Sept. 9, 1957: President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act, the first major piece of civil rights legislation since the Civil War. Eisenhower's Civil Rights Act gave the government new powers to fight discrimination and to expand voting rights. It was a precursor to a far more comprehensive Civil Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

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Sept. 9, 1966: President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act into law. The Acts were designed to reduce highway fatalities, which were soaring as millions of Americans took to the road. It improved vehicle and highway design and represented the beginning of widespread use of seat belts.

Sept. 9, 1985: President Reagan ordered economic sanctions against the apartheid government of South Africa.

Quote of the Day

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." — John F. Kennedy

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