On this day, Sept. 11 ...

2001: America is changed forever when 19 al-Qaeda terrorists, in a coordinated attack, hijack four passenger jetliners, sending two of the planes smashing into New York City's World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in Shanksville, Pa., resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths. The ramifications of the Sept. 11 terror attacks are still unfolding to this day.

Also on this day:

1776: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge travel to Staten Island, N.Y., to meet Britain’s Admiral Lord Richard Howe in a bid to negotiate an end to the American Revolution.
1789: Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first secretary of the Treasury.
1936: Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) begins operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt presses a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam's first hydroelectric generator.
1941: Groundbreaking takes place for the Pentagon.
1962: The Beatles record their first single, "Love Me Do."
1967: "The Carol Burnett Show" premieres on CBS.
1970: Ford Motor Co. introduces the Pinto, a compact that would become caught up in controversy over the safety of its gas tank. (The Pinto would be discontinued in 1980.)

1985: Pete Rose breaks the all-time Major League Baseball record for hits with his 4,192nd hit, surpassing Ty Cobb.
1997: In Scotland, voters approve the establishment of a parliament to run their domestic affairs after 290 years of union with England.
1998: Congress releases Kenneth Starr's voluminous report that offers graphic details of President Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct and levels accusations of perjury and obstruction of justice; the president's attorneys quickly issue a point-by-point rebuttal.

In this Sept. 12, 2012, file photo, glass, debris and overturned furniture are strewn inside a room in the gutted U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri, File) (The Associated Press)

2012: The Benghazi attacks: A mob armed with guns and grenades launches a nightlong attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost and a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith and two CIA operatives, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALs.

This Day in History: Sept. 11

The United States is stunned - and forever changed as a nation - with the Sept. 11 terror attacks