Today is Tuesday, Sept. 22, the 266th day of 2020. There are 100 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of January 1, 1863.

On this date:

In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.

In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.

In 1964, the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” starring Zero Mostel, opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances. The secret agent series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, premiered on NBC-TV.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed.

In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.

In 1995, an AWACS plane carrying U.S. and Canadian military personnel crashed on takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, killing all 24 people aboard.

In 1999, actor George C. Scott died in Westlake Village, Calif., at age 71.

In 2014, the United States and five Arab nations launched airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, sending waves of planes and Tomahawk cruise missiles against an array of targets.

Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda is 93. Dancer/choreographer/singer Toni Basil is 77. Actor Paul Le Mat is 75. Capt. Mark Phillips is 72. Rock singer David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Whitesnake) is 69. Actor Shari Belafonte is 66. Singer Debby Boone is 64. Classical crossover singer Andrea Bocelli is 62. Singer-musician Joan Jett is 62. Actor Scott Baio is 60. Actor Catherine Oxenberg is 59. Actor Bonnie Hunt is 59. Actor Rob Stone is 58.