This Day in History: Sept. 24

On this day, Sept. 24 …

2019: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announces the formalization of an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, saying "the president must be held accountable" for his "betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and the betrayal of the integrity of our elections."

Also on this day:

• 1789: President George Washington signs a Judiciary Act establishing America's federal court system and creating the post of attorney general.
• 1869: Thousands of businessmen are ruined in a Wall Street panic known as "Black Friday" after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempt to corner the gold market.
• 1976: Former hostage Patricia Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery in San Francisco carried out by the Symbionese Liberation Army. (Hearst was released 22 months later after receiving clemency from President Jimmy Carter.)
• 1934: Babe Ruth makes his farewell appearance as a player with the New York Yankees in a game against the Boston Red Sox.

• 1960: "The Howdy Doody Show" ends a nearly 13-year run with its final telecast on NBC.
• 1960: The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched at Newport News, Va.
• 1968: “60 Minutes" premieres on CBS; the undercover police drama "The Mod Squad" premieres on ABC.
• 1969: The trial of the Chicago Eight (later Seven) begins. (Five would be convicted of crossing state lines to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic convention, but the convictions would be ultimately overturned.)
• 1988: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson wins the men's 100-meter dash at the Seoul Summer Olympics — but he would be disqualified three days later for using anabolic steroids. 
• 1988: Members of the eastern Massachusetts Episcopal diocese elect Barbara C. Harris the first female bishop in the church's history.
• 1996: The United States and 70 other countries become the first to sign a treaty at the United Nations to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. (The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has yet to enter into force because of the refusal so far of eight nations — including the United States — to ratify it.)
• 2002: British Prime Minister Tony Blair asserts that Iraq has a growing arsenal of chemical and biological weapons and plans to use them, as he unveils an intelligence dossier to a special session of Parliament.

• 2007: United Auto Workers walk off the job at General Motors plants in the first nationwide strike during auto contract negotiations since 1976; a tentative pact would end the walkout two days later.