GovCentral

August 27

1859  Edwin Drake drilled the first successful oil well near Titusville, PA.

1883  A massive volcanic eruption on the island of Krakatoa blew up most of the island and resulted in tsunamis that killed over 36,000 people.

1928  The Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, was signed.

1945  U.S. troops began landing in Japan after Japan's surrender in World War II!

1962  The U.S. launched the Mariner II space probe.

2003  Mars made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years.

August 29

1533  Atahualpa, the last ruler of the Incas, was murdered as Francisco Pizarro completed his conquest of Peru.

1786  Shay's Rebellion, an insurrection of Massachusetts farmers against the state government, began.

1792  Charles G. Finney was born.

1842  The Treaty of Nanking was signed, ending the Opium Wars, and ceding the island of Hong Kong to Britain.

1877  Brigham Young died in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1949  The U.S.S.R. tested its first atomic bomb.

1957  Strom Thurmond ended the longest filibuster in U.S. Senate history.  He spoke more than 24 hours against a civil rights bill, the bill passed.

1966  The Beatles played their last major live concert at Candlestick Park, CA.

1991  The Supreme Soviet, the parliament of the U.S.S.R., suspended all activities of the Communist Party, bringing an end to the institution.

2005  Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast, destroying beachfront towns in Mississippi and Louisiana, displacing a million people, and killing more than 1,000.

August 31

1887  Thomas Edison received a patent for his "Kinetoscope", and motion pictures were born.

1888  Mary Ann Nichols, considered to be Jack the Ripper's first victim, was found murdered in London.

1955  The first solar powered car was publicly demonstrated.

1962  Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Great Britain.

1980  Poland's solidarity labor movement had its beginnings when an agreement ending a 17 day strike was signed in Gdansk.

1994  Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltic states.

1997  Princess Diana and her companion Dodi al-Fayed were killed in a car accident in Paris.

September 2

1666  The great fire of London broke out, destroying much of the city, including St. Paul's Cathedral.

1789  The U.S. Treasury Department of was established.

1901  Vice President Theodore Roosevelt gave his "speak softly and carry a big stick" speech, regarding foreign policy, at the Minnesota State Fair.

1945  Japan's formal surrender in World War II was celebrated as Victory over Japan (V-J) Day

1945  Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent republic.

1963  Alabama Governor George Wallace prevented the racial integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

1969  North Vietnamese President Chi Minh died.

September 4

1781  The city of Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers.

1888  George Eastman patented his roll film camera and registered the trademark camera.

1951  President Harry S. Truman inaugurated transcontinental television service in the U.S. when AT&T carried his address to the opening session to the opening session of the Japanese Peace Convention in San Francisco.

1957  Nine black students attempted to enter Little Rock's Central High School but were blocked by the National Guard.  Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had summoned the federal troops.

1972  U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz won a record seventh gold medal at the Munich Summer Olympics.

September 6

1901  President William McKinley was shot by an anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.  President McKinley died September 14.

1941  Nazi Germany required all Jews over the age of 6 to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes.

1995  Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr., broke Lou Gehrig's iron man record by playing in his 2,131st straight game.

1997  More than 2 billion people watched Princess Diana's funeral on tv.

1998  Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa died in Tokyo at age 88.

2007  Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti died at age 71.

September 8

1900  A hurricane struck Galveston, TX, killing about 8,000 people.

1935  Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long, "The Kingfish", was shot and mortally wounded by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, Jr.

1951  The San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed, formally ending World War II hostilities with Japan.

1952  Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea was published.

1966  Star Tech premiered on television.

1974  Gerald Ford gave former President President Nixon a full pardon for all federal crimes he may have committed while he was in office.

1998  Mark McGuire's 62nd home run broke Roger Maris' record of 61 homers set in 1961.

September 10

1813  Oliver H. Perry sent his famous message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," after defeating the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.

1846  Elias Howe of Massachusetts received a patent for his sewing machine.

1939  Canada declared war on Germany, entering World War II.

1963  Twenty black students entered public schools in Birmingham, Mobile, and Tuskegee, Alabama, after John F. Kennedy sent National Guardsmen to end the standoff with Alabama Governor George Wallace.

1988  Steffi Graff achieved tennis first Grand Slam since Margaret Courtin 1970 by winning U.S. Open U.S. Women's Final.

2002  Switzerland became the 190th member of the United Nations.

September 12

1609  Henry Hudson began his exploration of the Hudson River.

1910  The Los Angeles Police Department appointed the first world's first police woman, Alice Stebbin Wells.

1940  Schoolboys exploring the Grotte de Lascaux, France, discovered an astonishing display of prehistoric art dating back to 15,000 B.C.E.

1953  Future President John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier.

1977  South African black civil rights leader Steven Bilko died while in police custody.

1992  Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first black woman in space aboard the space shuttle Endeavor.

1999  Indonesia announced it would allow an international peacekeeping force to restore order to East Timor.

September 14

1716  The Boston Light, the first lighthouse in America, was lit for the first time, just before sunset.

1814  Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to The StarSpangled Banner.

1901  President McKinley died of gunshot wounds afflicted by an assassin.  Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him.

1927  Modern dance pioneed, Isadora Duncan, died in Nice, France.

1959  The Soviet space probe Luna II became the first man-made object to reach the moon when it crashed onto the lunar surface.

1982  Princess Grace of Monaco died from injuries sustained in a car crash the previous day.

1994  Acting Commissioner Bud Seliq announced the cancellation of the baseball season on the 34th day of a strike by players.

September 16                                 Stepfamily Day

1630  The Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed it's name to Boston.

1810  Mexico began its revolt against Spanish rule.

1908  General Motors was founded by William C. Durant.

1919  The American Legion was incorporated by an act of Congress.

1940  The United States first adopted peacetime conscription when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act into law.

1974  President Ford announced conditional amnesty for Vietnam War deserters and draft deserters.

1975  Papua, New Guinea became independent.

1987  Montreal Protocol was signed by 25 nations, limiting production on substances that harm the ozone layer.  To date, 168 nations have joined the Protocol.

September 18                                         Rosh Hashanah (New Year 5770)

1759  French Quebec surrendered to the British after the September 13th battle on the Plains of Abraham, the last battle of the French and Indian Wars.  French General Montcalm and British General Wolfe died in the fray.

1810  Chile declared it indepence from Spain.

1850  Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which required escaped slaves to their owners.

1851  The first edition of The New York Daily Times, which later became The New York Times, was published.

1947  The National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and Air Force, was passed.

1961  Secretary General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia).

1970  Twenty-seven year old rock star, Jimi Hendrix, died in London.

1999  Sammy Sosa became the first player in major league baseball history to hit 60 homers in two seasons.

September 20                                 Rosh Hashanah (New Year 5750)/ Worldwide Day of Healing

1870  Victor Emmanuel II, the first King of modern Italy, seized the Papal States from the French.

1881  Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st President of the United States, succeeding James A. Garfield who had been assassinated.

1973  Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in a battle of the sexes tennis match.

1998  Baltimore Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr., sat out a game, ending his consecutive game playing streak.  Ripken played 2,632 consecutive games over 16 seasons.

2000  Independent Council Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater Investigation, saying that there was insufficient evidence to charge President Clinton, and his wife, Hillary.

2001  President George W. Bush addressed the nation and a joint session of Congress about terrorism.  He also named Tom Ridge as head of the new Office of Homeland Security.

September 22                        

1776  Nathan Hale was hanged by the British as a spy during the Revolutionary War.

1789  Congress authorized the office of Postmaster General.

1792  The French Republic was proclaimed.

1862  President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, proposing to free all slaves of rebel states, as of Jan. 1, 1863.

1980  The Persian Gulf Conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full scale war.

1989  Songwriter Irving Berlin died in New York City at age 101.

September 24

1789  Congress passed the First Judiciary Act which provided for a U.S. Attorney General and the Supreme Court.

1957  The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets field.

1960  The Enterprise, the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, was launched.

1969  The trial of the "Chicago Eight", radical antiwar and radical counterculture activists accused of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention, began.

1991  Children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, died at 87.

1996  The United States and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.