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This day in history

Today is Friday, Sept. 30, the 274th day of 2016. There are 92 days left in the year.

Today’s birthdays: Actress Angie Dickinson is 85. Singer Cissy Houston is 83. Singer Johnny Mathis is 81. Actor Len Cariou is 77. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 73. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is 71. Actor Calvin Levels is 62. Actor Barry Williams is 62. Actress Fran Drescher is 59. Actor Eric Stoltz is 55. Rock singer Trey Anastasio is 52. Actress Jenna Elfman is 45. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu is 35.

In 1846, Boston dentist William Morton used ether as an anesthetic for the first time as he extracted an ulcerated tooth.

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In 1938, after co-signing the Munich Agreement allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said, ‘‘I believe it is peace for our time.’’

In 1949, the Berlin Airlift ended.

In 1955, actor James Dean, 24, was killed in a two-car collision near Cholame, Calif.

In 1962, James Meredith, a black student, was escorted by federal marshals to the campus of the University of Mississippi, where he enrolled for classes the next day; Meredith’s presence sparked rioting that claimed two lives.

In 2011, a US drone strike in Yemen killed two American members of Al Qaeda, cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and editor Samir Khan.

Last year, just hours before a midnight deadline, a bitterly divided Congress approved, and President Obama signed, a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government open.