In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

In 1888, poet T.S. Eliot was born in St. Louis.

In 1954, the Japanese commercial ferry Toya Maru sank during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, claiming more than 1,150 lives.

In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

In 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.

In 2008, Hollywood screen legend and philanthropist Paul Newman died in Westport, Conn., at age 83.