Associated Press

On Sept.26, 1960, the first debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national television 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 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America announced it had created a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.

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 2 on this date in 1993.

In 2000, thousands of anti-globalization protesters clashed with police during demonstrations against an International Monetary Fund/World Bank summit in Prague.