On This Day

September 10, 2011

11297 - Scotsman William Wallace defeated the English forces of Sir Hugh de Cressingham at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

1499 - French forces took over Milan, Italy.

1609 - Explorer Henry Hudson sailed into New York harbor and discovered Manhattan Island and the Hudson River.

1695 - Imperial troops under Eugene of Savoy defeated the Turks at the Battle of Zenta.

1709 - An Anglo-Dutch-Austrian force defeated the French in the Battle of Malplaquet.

1714 - Spanish and French troops broke into Barcelona and ended Catalonia's sovereignty after 13 months of seige.

1776 - A Peace Conference was held between British General Howe and three representatives of the Continental Congress (Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge). The conference failed and the American war for independence continued for seven years.

1777 - American forces, under General George Washington, were forced to retreat at the Battle of Brandywine Creek by British forces under William Howe. The Stars and Stripes (American flag) were carried for the first time in the battle.

1786 - The Convention of Annapolis opened with the aim of revising the articles of the confederation.

1789 - Alexander Hamilton was appointed by U.S. President George Washington to be the first secretary of the treasury.

1814 - The U.S. fleet defeated a squadron of British ships in the Battle of Lake Champlain, VT.

1842 - 1,400 Mexican troops captured San Antonio, TX. The Mexicans retreated with prisoners.

1855 - The siege of Sevastopol ended when French, British and Piedmontese troops captured the main naval base of the Russian Black fleet in the Crimean War.

1875 - "Professor Tidwissel's Burglar Alarm" was featured in the New York Daily Graphic and became the first comic strip to appear in a newspaper.

1877 - The first comic-character timepiece was patented by the Waterbury Clock Company.

1883 - The mail chute was patented by James Cutler. The new device was first used in the Elwood Building in Rochester, NY.

1897 - A ten-week strike of coal workers in Pennsylvania, WV, and Ohio came to an end. The workers won and eight-hour workday, semi-monthly pay, and company stores were abolished.

1904 - The U.S. battleship Connecticut was launched in New York.

1910 - In Hollywood, the first commercially successful electric bus line opened.

1926 - In Honolulu Harbor, HI, the Aloha Tower was dedicated.

1936 - Boulder Dam in Nevada was dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt by turning on the dam's first hydroelectric generator. The dam is now called Hoover Dam.

1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave orders to attack any German or Italian vessels found in U.S. defensive waters. The U.S. had not officially entered World War II at this time.

1941 - Charles A. Lindbergh brought on charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in which he blamed "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration" for trying to draw the United States into World War II.

1941 - In Arlington, VA, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon took place.

1951 - Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the English Channel from both directions.

1952 - Dr. Charles Hufnagel successfully replaced a diseased aorta valve with an artificial valve made of plastic.

1954 - The Miss America beauty pageant made its network TV debut on ABC. Miss California, Lee Ann Meriwether, was the winner.

1959 - The U.S. Congress passed a bill authorizing the creation of food stamps.

1964 - "Friday Night Fights" was seen for the last time.

1965 - The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) arrived in South Vietnam and was stationed at An Khe.

1967 - The Carol Burnett Show premiered on CBS.

1970 - The last "Get Smart" episode aired on CBS-TV.

1971 - Former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev died at the age of 77 from a heart attack.

1973 - Chilean President Salvador Allende died in a violent coup. Police said he committed suicide. The coup was widely believed to have been linked to the CIA.

1974 - "Little House On The Prairie" made its television debut.

1974 - The St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets set a National League record when they played 25 innings. It was the second longest game in professional baseball history.

1985 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds achieved hit number 4,192 to break the record held by Ty Cobb.

1985 - A U.S. satellite passed through the tail of the Giacobini-Zinner comet. It was the first on-the-spot sampling of a comet.

1990 - U.S. President Bush vowed "Saddam Hussein will fail" while addressing Congress on the Persian Gulf crisis. In the speech Bush spoke of an objective of a new world order - "freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace".

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced that thousands of troops would be drawn out of Cuba.

1991 - 51 prisoners were released by Israel.

1992 - Hurricane Iniki struck Hawaii. The storm damaged or destroyed over 10,000 homes and killed at least 5 people.

1994 - Actress Jessica Tandy died at the age of 85 in Easton, CT.

1997 - John Lee Hooker received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1997 - Scotland voted to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.

1998 - Independent counsel Kenneth Starr sent a report to the U.S. Congress accusing President Clinton of 11 possible impeachable offenses.

1999 - The Wall Street Journal reported that Bayer Corp. had quit putting a wad of cotton in their bottles of aspirin. Bayer had actually stopped the practice earlier in the year.

2001 - In the U.S., four airliners were hijacked and were intentionally crashed. Two airliners hit the World Trade Center, which collapsed shortly after, in New York City, NY. One airliner hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Another airliner crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. About 3,000 people were killed.

2002 - Nick Nolte was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was released later in the day on $2,500 bail.

2003 - Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died from stab wounds inflicted by an unknown assailant the previous day.

September 12, 2011

1609 - English explorer Henry Hudson sailed down what is now known as the Hudson River.

1814 - During the War of 1812, the Battle of North Point was fought in Maryland.

1866 - "The Black Crook" opened in New York City. It was the first American burlesque show.

1873 - The first practical typewriter was sold to customers.

1878 - Patent litigation involving the Bell Telephone Company against Western Union Telegraph Company and Elisha Gray began. The issues were over various telephone patents.

1914 - The first battle of Marne ended when the allied forces stopped the German offensive in France.

1916 - Adelina and August Van Buren finished the first successful transcontinental motorcycle tour to be attempted by two women. They started in New York City on July 5, 1916.

1918 - During World War I, At the Battle of St. Mihiel, U.S. Army personnel operate tanks for the first time. The tanks were French-built.

1922 - The Episcopal Church removed the word "Obey" from the bride's section of wedding vows.

1928 - Katharine Hepburn made her stage debut in the play "The Czarina." Four years later she made her film debut in "A Bill of Divorcement."

1938 - In a speech, Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

1940 - The Lascaux paintings were discovered in France. The cave paintings were 17,000 years old and were some of the best examples of art from the Paleolithic period.

1943 - During World War II, Benito Mussolini was taken by German paratroopers from the Italian government that was holding him.

1944 - U.S. Army troops entered Germany, near Trier, for the first time during World War II.

1953 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.

1953 - Nikita Krushchev was elected as the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1954 - "Lassie" made its television debut on CBS. The last show aired on September 12, 1971.

1963 - The last episode of "Leave it to Beaver" was aired. The show had debuted on October 4, 1957.

1966 - "Family Affair" premiered on CBS television.

1974 - Violence occurred on the opening day of classes in Boston, MA, due opposition to court-ordered school "busing."

1974 - Emperor Haile Selassie was taken out of power by Ethiopia's military after ruling for 58 years.

1977 - South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko died at the age of 30. The student leader died while in police custody which triggered an international outcry.

1979 - Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to get 3,000 career hits and 400 career home runs.

1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini listed four conditions for the release of American hostages taken on November 4, 1979. The conditions were the unfreezing of Iranian assets, the return of the shah’s wealth to Iran, the cancellation of U.S. claims against Iran, and a U.S. pledge of noninterference in Iran’s internal affairs.

1981 - In London, Scotland Yard announced that nine Italian terrorists had been arrested as prime suspects in the 1980 bombing of a Bologna train station in which more than 80 people were killed.

1983 - Arnold Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen. He had emigrated from Austria 14 years earlier.

1984 - Michael Jordan signed a seven-year contract to play basketball with the Chicago Bulls.

1984 - Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets set a rookie strikeout record with his 251st strikeout of the season.

1986 - Joseph Cicippio was kidnapped in Beirut. He was the acting comptroller at the American University in Beirut. Cicippio was released in December of 1991.

1986 - The U.S. released Soviet physicist Gennadiy Zakharov and the Soviet Union released journalist Nicholas Daniloff. Both were put into the custody of their respective countries pending their espionage trials.

1988 - Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica killing 45 people and causing about $1 billion in damage.

1991 - The space shuttle Discovery took off on a mission to deploy an observatory that was to study the Earth's ozone layer.

1992 - Police in Peru captured Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman.

1992 - Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first African-American woman in space. She was the payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. Also onboard were Mission Specialist N. Jan Davis and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. Lee. They were the first married couple to fly together in space. And, Mamoru Mohri became the first Japanese person to fly into space.

1994 - Frank Corder was killed when he crashed a stolen, single-engine Cessna on the South Lawn of the White House.

1995 - Two Americans were killed when their hydrogen balloon was shot down by the Belarussian military during an international race.

September 12, 2011

1759 - The French were defeated by the British on the Plains of Abraham in the final French and Indian War.

1788 - The Constitutional Convention decided that the first federal election was to be held on Wednesday the following February. On that day George Washington was elected as the first president of the United States. In addition, New York City was named the temporary national capital.

1789 - The United States Government took out its first loan.

1847 - U.S. forces took the hill Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War.

1862 - During the American Civil War General Lee's Order No. 191 was found by federal soldiers in Maryland.

1898 - Hannibal Williston Goodwin patented celluloid photographic film, which is used to make movies.

1922 - In El Azizia, Libya, the highest shade temperature was recorded at 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

1937 - The first broadcast of "Kitty Keene, Incorporated" was heard on the NBC Red network.

1943 - Chiang Kai-shek became the president of China.

1948 - The School of Performing Arts opened in New York City. It was the first public school to specialize in performing arts.

1948 - Margaret Chase Smith was elected to the U.S. Senate and became the first woman to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

1949 - The Ladies Professional Golf Association of America was formed.

1959 - The Soviet Union's Luna 2 became the first space probe to reach the moon. It was launched the day before.

1960 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned payola.

1970 - The first New York City Marathon took place. Fireman Gary Muhrucke won the race.

1971 - In New York, National Guardsmen stormed the Attica Correctional Facility and put an end to the four-day revolt. A total of 43 people were killed in the final assault. A committee was organized to investigate the riot on September 30, 1971.

1971 - The World Hockey Association was formed.

1977 - The first diesel automobiles were introduced by General Motors.

1981 - U.S. Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig said the U.S. had physical evidence that Russia and its allies used poisonous biological weapons in Laos, Cambodia and Afghanistan.

1988 - Forecasters reported that Hurricane Gilbert's barometric pressure measured 26.13. It was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

1993 - "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" premiered on NBC.

1993 - Israel and Palestine signed their first major agreement. Palestine was granted limited self-government in the Gaza Strip and in Jericho.

1994 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a $30 billion crime bill into law.

1995 - A grenade was fired at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The wall was pierced but there were no injuries.

1998 - The New York Times closed its Web site after hackers added offensive material.

1999 - At least 118 people were killed when a bomb exploded in Moscow, Russia.

2000 - In Albuquerque, NM, former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee pled guilty to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets.

2001 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Limited commercial flights resumed in the U.S. for the first time in two days.

September 14, 2011

1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge. Two weeks earlier Burr had been found innocent of treason.

1812 - Moscow was set on fire by Russians after Napoleon Bonaparte's troops invaded.

1814 - Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner," a poem originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry," after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, MD, during the War of 1812. The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.

1847 - U.S. forces took control of Mexico City under the leadership of General Winfield Scott.

1866 - George K. Anderson patented the typewriter ribbon.

1899 - In New York City, Henry Bliss became the first automobile fatality.

1901 - U.S. President William McKinley died of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42, succeeded him.

1915 - Carl G. Muench received a patent for Insulit, the first sound-absorbing material to be used in buildings.

1927 - Isadora Duncan died when her scarf became entangled in the wheel of her car.

1938 - The VS-300 made its first flight. The craft was based on the helicopter technology patented by Igor Sikorsky.

1940 - The Selective Service Act was passed by the U.S. Congress providing the first peacetime draft in the United States.

1948 - In New York, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the site of the United Nations' world headquarters.

1959 - Luna II, a Soviet space probe, became the first man-made object on the moon when it crashed on the surface.

1960 - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded. The core members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

1963 - Mary Ann Fischer gave birth to America's first surviving quintuplets.

1965 - "My Mother The Car" premiered on NBC TV. The series was canceled after only a few weeks after the debut.

1972 - "The Waltons" premiered on CBS-TV.

1975 - Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first U.S.-born saint.

1978 - "Mork & Mindy" premiered on ABC-TV.

1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco died at the age of 52 because of injuries she suffered the day before in a car crash. She was formerly actress Grace Kelly.

1982 - Bashir Gemayel, Lebanon's president-elect, was killed by a bomb at his party's headquarters in east Beirut.

1983 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 416-0 in a resolution condemning the Soviet Union for the shooting down of a Korean jet on September 1.

1984 - Joe Kittinger became the first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1985 - Reverend Benjamin Weir, an American missionary, was released after being held captive for 16 months by Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon.

1987 - Tony Magnuson cleared 9.5 feet above the top of the U-ramp and set a new skateboard high jump record.

1989 - Joseph T. Wesbecker shot and killed eight people and wounded twelve others at a printing plant in Louisville, KY. Wesbecker, 47 years old, was on disability for mental illness. He took his own life after the incident.

1994 - It was announced that the season was over for the National Baseball League on the 34th day of the players strike. The final days of the regular season were canceled.

1998 - Jaime Jarrin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - Israel announced that they had successfully tested its Arrow-2 missile defense system. The system successfully destroyed a simulated target.

1999 - Disney World closed down for the first time in its 28-year history. The closure was due to Hurricane Floyd heading for Florida.

Disney movies, music and books

1999 - It was announced that "US" magazine would change from monthly to weekly and change its name to "USWeekly."

2001 - Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console in Japan.

2001 - The FBI released the names of the 19 suspected hijackers that had taken part in the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S.

2009 - Greyhound UK began operations as an hourly service between London and Portsmouth or Southampton.

September 15, 2011

1775 - An early and unofficial American flag was raised by Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Mott after the seizing of Fort Johnson from the British. The flag was dark blue with the white word "Liberty" spelled on it.

1776 - British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

1789 - The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.

1821 - Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador proclaimed independence.

1853 - Reverend Antoinette Brown Blackwell was ordained becoming first female minister in the United States.

1857 - Timothy Alder earned a patent for the typesetting machine.

1858 - The first mail service begins to the Pacific Coast of the U.S. under government contract. Coaches from the Butterfield Overland Mail Company took 12 days to make the journey between Tipton, MO and San Francisco, CA.

1883 - The University of Texas at Austin opened.

1909 - A New York judge rule that Ford Motor Company had infringed on George Seldon's patent for the "Road Engine." The ruling was later overturned.

1909 - Charles F. Kettering applied for a patent on his ignition system. His company Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company) later became a subsidiary of General Motors.

1916 - During the Battle of the Somme, in France, tanks were first used in warfare when the British rolled them onto the battlefields.

1917 - Alexander Kerensky proclaimed Russia to be a republic.

1923 - Oklahoma was placed under martial law by Gov. John Calloway Walton due to terrorist activity by the Ku Klux Klan. After this declaration national newspapers began to expose the Klan and its criminal activities.

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic penicillin in the mold Penicillium notatum.

1935 - The Nuremberg Laws were enacted by Nazi Germany. The act stripped all German Jews of their civil rights and the swastika was made the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

1940 - The German Luftwaffe suffered the loss of 185 planes in the Battle of Britain. The change in tide forced Hitler to abandon his plans for invading Britain.

1949 - "The Lone Ranger" premiered on ABC. Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels was Tonto.

1950 - U.N. forces landed at Inchon, Korea in an attempt to relieve South Korean forces and recapture Seoul.

1953 - The National Boxing Association adopted the 10-point scoring system for all of its matches.

1955 - Betty Robbins became the first woman cantor.

1959 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev arrived in the U.S. to begin a 13-day visit.

1961 - The U.S. resumed underground testing of nuclear weapons.

1963 - A church bombing kills four young girls in Birmingham, AL. Robert Chambliss was not brought to justice until 1977.

1965 - "Lost in Space" premiered on CBS TV.

1965 - "Green Acres" premiered on CBS TV.

1971 - Greenpeace was founded.

1972 - The Watergate indictments began against seven perpetrators.

1978 - Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks to win his 3rd World Heavyweight Boxing title.

1982 - The first issue of "USA Today" was published.

1982 - Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, Iran's former foreign minister, was executed. He had been convicted of plotting against the government.

1983 - The U.S. Senate joined the U.S. House of Representatives in their condemning of the Soviet Union for shooting down a Korean jet with 269 people onboard.

1990 - France announced that it would send an additional 4,000 soldiers to the Persian Gulf. They also expelled Iraqi military attaches in Paris.

1993 - The FBI announced a new national campaign concerning the crime of carjacking.

1993 - Katherine Ann Power surrendered to authorities to face charges in a 1970 bank robbery in which Walter Schroeder Sr. of the Boston Police was killed. She had been in hiding for 23 years.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton told Haiti's military leaders "Your time is up. Leave now or we will force you from power."

1995 - The U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing.

1998 - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Iranian military to be on full alert and massed troops on its border with Afghanistan.

1998 - It was announced that 5.9 million people read The Starr Report on the Internet. 606,000 people read the White House defense of U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - David Andrew Douglas was convicted of strangling his 3-year-old granddaughter Shelby Lynne Barrackman because she licked icing off cupcakes.

1999 - The United Nations approved the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor.

2003 - In Independence, MO, the birthplace of Ginger Rogers was designated a local landmark. The move by the Independence City Council qualified the home for historic preservation.

September 15, 2011

1400 - Owain Glyndwr was proclaimed Prince of Wales after rebelling against English rule. He was the last Welsh-born Prince of Wales.

1620 - The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England. The ship arrived at Provincetown, MA, on November 21st and then at Plymouth, MA, on December 26th. There were 102 passengers onboard.

1630 - The village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.

1782 - The Great Seal of the United States was impressed on document to negotiate a prisoner of war agreement with the British. It was the first official use of the impression.

1810 - The Mexicans began a revolt against Spanish rule. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest of Spanish descent, declared Mexico's independence from Spain in the small town of Dolores.

1893 - The "Cherokee Strip" in Oklahoma was swarmed by hundreds of thousands of settlers.

1908 - General Motors was founded by William Crapo "Billy" Durant. The company was formed by merging the Buick and Olds car companies.

1919 - Marvin Middlemark was born. He was the inventor of the rabbit ears TV antenna.

1924 - Jim Bottomley knocked in 12 runs in a single game setting a major league baseball record.

1940 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.

1940 - Samuel T. Rayburn of Texas was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He served for 17 years.

1941 - "The Arkansas Traveler" debuted on CBS Radio. The show was later renamed "The Bob Burns Show."

1953 - "The Robe" premiered at the Roxy Theater in New York. It was the first movie filmed in the wide screen CinemaScope process.

1953 - The St. Louis Browns of the American League were given permission to move to Baltimore, MD, where they became the Baltimore Orioles.

1963 - "The Outer Limits" premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 - "The Dean Martin Show" debuted on NBC-TV.

1968 - "The Andy Griffith Show" was seen for the final time on CBS.

1972 - "The Bob Newhart Show" premiered on CBS-TV.

1974 - U.S. President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for draft-evaders and deserters during the Vietnam War.

1976 - The Episcopal Church formally approved women to be ordained as priests and bishops.

1982 - In west Beirut, the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children began in refugee camps of the Lebanese Christian militiamen.

1985 - The Communist Party in China announced changes in leadership that were designed to bring younger officials into power.

1987 - The Montreal Protocol was signed by 24 countries in an effort to save the Earth's ozone layer by reducing emissions of harmful chemicals by the year 2000.

1988 - Tom Browning pitched the 12th perfect game in major league baseball.

1990 - An eight-minute videotape of an address by U.S. President George H.W. Bush was shown on Iraqi television. The message warned that action of Saddam Hussein could plunge them into a war "against the world."

1991 - A federal judge in Washington dismissed the Iran-Contra charges against Oliver North.

1994 - Exxon Corporation was ordered by federal jury to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to the people harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.

1994 - Two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery went on the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years.

1998 - Universal paid $9 million for the rights to the Dr. Seuss classics "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Oh, the Places You'll Go."

1998 - Meryl Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Volgodnosk, Russia, a bomb in an apartment killed at least 17 people. Chechen militants seeking independence from Russia were suspected as the planners.

September 18, 2011

1709 - The creator of the first dictionary of the English language, Samuel Johnson, was born in England.

1759 - The French formally surrendered Quebec to the British.

1763 - It was reported, by the Boston Gazette, that the first piano had been built in the United States. The instrument was named the spinet and was made by John Harris.

1789 - Alexander Hamilton negotiated and secured the first loan for the United States. The Temporary Loan of 1789 was repaid on June 8, 1790 at the sum of $191,608.81.

1793 - U.S. President George Washington laid the actual cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

1810 - Chile declared its independence from Spain.

1830 - The "Tom Thumb", the first locomotive built in America, raced a horse on a nine-mile course. The horse won when the locomotive had some mechanical difficulties.

1850 - The Fugitive Slave Act was declared by the U.S. Congress. The act allowed slave owners to claim slaves that had escaped into other states.

1851 - The first issue of "The New York Times" was published.

1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse became the first white woman to ever be named chief of an Indian tribe. The tribe was the Six Nations Tribe at Towanda Reservation in New York.

1895 - Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment.

1927 - Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System made its debut with its network broadcast over 16 radio stations. The name was later changed to CBS.

1940 - "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe was published by Harper and Brothers.

1947 - The U.S. Air Force was established as a separate military branch by the National Security Act.

1955 - The "Ed Sullivan Show" began on CBS-TV. The show had been "The Toast of the Town" since 1948.

1961 - United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

1963 - "The Patty Duke Show" premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 - The first episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" was shown on NBC-TV. The last show was televised on September 1, 1970.

1975 - The FBI captured newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in San Francisco, CA. 19 months earlier she had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

1981 - A museum honoring former U.S. President Ford was dedicated in Grand Rapids, MI.

1984 - The 39th session of the U.N. General Assembly was opened with an appeal to the U.S. and Soviet Union to resume arms negotiations.

1990 - Charles H. Keating was jailed in Los Angeles after being indicted on criminal fraud charges concerning saving-and-loans.

1991 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush said that he would send warplanes to escort U.N. helicopters that were searching for hidden Iraqi weapons if it became necessary.

1994 - Haiti's military leaders agreed to depart on October 15th. This action averted a U.S.-led invasion to force them out of power.

1997 - Ted Turner, U.S. Media magnate, announced that over the next ten years he would give $1 billion to the United Nations.

1998 - 18 people, including adults and children, were massacred by gunmen in el Sauzal, Mexico. The victims were lined up in firing squad style after being dragged from their beds.

1998 - The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted to release to videotape of President Clinton's grand jury testimony from August 17.

1998 - The FDA approved a once-a-day easier-to-swallow medication for AIDS patients.

2003 - Robert Duvall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

September 19, 2011

1356 - The Battle of Poitiers was fought between England and France. Edward "the Black Prince" captured France's King John.

1777 - The Battle of Saratoga was won by American soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

1796 - U.S. President Washington's farewell address was published.

1819 - John Keats wrote "Ode to Autumn."

1876 - Melville R. Bissell patented the carpet sweeper.

1881 - James A. Garfield died of wounds from an assassin. The 20th U.S. president lived for 11 weeks after the wounds were inflicted.

1891 - "The Merchant of Venice" was performed for the first time at Manchester.

1893 - In New Zealand, the Electoral Act 1893 was consented to giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.

1934 - Bruno Hauptman was arrested in New York and charged with the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindbergh.

1945 - William Joyce, also known as "Lord Haw-Haw", was sentenced to death by a British court for his role as a Nazi propagandist.

1955 - Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman starred in the "Producer's Showcase" presentation of "Our Town" on NBC-TV.

1955 - Argentina President Juan Peron was ousted after a revolt by the army and navy.

1957 - The U.S. conducted its first underground nuclear test. The test took place in the Nevada desert.

1959 - Nikita Khruschev was not allowed to visit Disneyland due to security reasons. Khrushchev reacted angrily.

1960 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in New York to visit the United Nations, checked out of the Shelburne Hotel angrily after a dispute with the management.

1970 - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" premiered on CBS-TV.

1982 - Scott Fahlman became the first person to use :-) in an online message.

1983 - Lebanese army units defending Souk el-Gharb were supported in their effort by two U.S. Navy ships off Beirut.

1984 - China and Britain completed a draft agreement transferring Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule by 1997.

1985 - An earthquake registering 8.1 on the Richter Scale hit the Mexico City area. About 6,000 people were killed.

1986 - U.S. health officials announced that AZT, though an experimental drug, would be made available to AIDS patients.

1988 - Israel successfully launched the Horizon-I test satellite.

1989 - A DC-10 belonging to the French airliner UTA disappeared while carrying 171 people to Paris. The wreckage of the plane was found the next day in Niger. It was believed a bomb was responsible.

1990 - Iraq began confiscating foreign assets of countries that were imposing sanctions against the Iraqi government.

1992 - The U.N. Security Council recommended suspending Yugoslavia due to its role in the Bosnian civil war.

1994 - U.S. troops entered Haiti peacefully to enforce the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1995 - The Unabomber's manifesto was published by The Washington Post and the New York Times.

1995 - The U.S. Senate passed a welfare overhaul bill.

1995 - The commander of American forces in Japan and the U.S. ambassador apologized for the rape of a schoolgirl committed by three U.S. servicemen.

1996 - The government of Guatemala and leftist rebels signed a peace treaty to end their long war.

2002 - In Ivory Coast, around 750 rebel soldiers attempted to overthrow the government. U.S. troops landed on September 25th to help move foreigners, including Americans, to safer areas.

2003 - It was reported that AOL Time Warner was going to drop "AOL" from its name and be known as Time Warner Inc.

September 20, 2011

1519 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan left Spain to find a route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Magellan was killed during the trip, but one of his ships eventually made the journey.

1870 - The Papal States came under the control of Italian troops, leading to the unification of Italy.

1881 - Chester A. Arthur became the 21st president of the U.S. President James A. Garfield had died the day before.

1884 - The Equal Rights Party was formed in San Francisco, CA.

1921 - KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, started a daily radio newscast. It was one of the first in the U.S.

1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival premiered. The original premier was delayed in 1939 due to World War II.

1946 - WNBT-TV in New York became the first station to promote a motion picture. Scenes from "The Jolson Story" were shown.

1953 - The TV show "Letter to Loretta" premiered. The name was changed to "The Loretta Young Show" on February 14, 1954.

1953 - Jimmy Stewart debuted on the radio western "The Six Shooter" on NBC.

1955 - "You'll Never Be Rich" premiered on CBS-TV. The name was changed less than two months later to "The Phil Silvers Show."

1958 - Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed in the chest at a New York City department store by an apparently deranged black woman.

1962 - James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted.

1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

1977 - The first of the "boat people" arrived in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new U.S. resettlement program.

1982 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the U.S., France, and Italy were going to send peacekeeping troops back to Beirut.

1984 - A Hizbulla suicide bomber destroyed the rebuilt U.S. Embassy in Beirut. 25 people were killed.

1984 - "The Cosby Show" premiered on NBC-TV.

1985 - A second major earthquake hit Mexico City.

1988 - The United Nations opened it 43rd General Assembly.

1989 - The wreckage of a DC-10 belonging to the French airliner UTA was found in Niger. The plane disappeared on September 19 with 171 passengers onboard. The Paris-bound plane was believed to have been brought down by a bomb.

1989 - F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as president of South Africa.

1991 - U.N. weapons inspectors left for Iraq in a renewed search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

1992 - French voters approved the Maastricht Treaty.

1995 - AT&T announced that it would be splitting into three companies. The three companies were AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and NCR Corp.

1995 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit. This allowed the states to decide their own speed limits.

1999 - Raisa Gorbachev, wife of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorvachev, died of leukemia.

September 21, 2011

1792 - The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

1784 - "The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser" was published for the first time in Philadelphia. It was the first daily paper in America.

1893 - Frank Duryea took what is believed to be the first gasoline- powered automobile for a test drive. The "horseless carriage" was designed by Frank and Charles Duryea.

1897 - The New York Sun ran the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial. It was in response to a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon.

1931 - Britain went off the gold standard.

1931 - Japanese forces began occupying China's northeast territory of Manchuria.

1937 - J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" was first published.

1938 - A hurricane struck parts of New York and New England killing more than 600 people.

1941 - "The Second Mrs. Burton" premiered to the entire CBS Radio Network.

1948 - Milton Berle debuted as the host of "The Texaco Star Theater" on NBC-TV. The show later became "The Milton Berle Show." Berle was the regular host until 1967.

1948 - "Life With Luigi" debuted on CBS Radio.

1949 - Communist leaders proclaimed The People's Republic of China.

1957 - "Perry Mason", the television series, made its debut on CBS-TV. The show was on for 9 years.

1961 - Antonio Abertondo swam the English Channel (in both directions) in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

1964 - Malta gained independence from Britain.

1966 - The Soviet probe Zond 5 returned to Earth. The spacecraft completed the first unmanned round-trip flight to the moon.

1970 - "NFL Monday Night Football" made its debut on ABC-TV. The game was between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. The Browns won 31-21.

1973 - Henry Kissinger was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become 56th Secretary of State. He was the first naturalized citizen to hold the office of Secretary of State.

1976 - Orlando Letelier, former foreign minister for President Salvador Allende of Chili, was killed by a car bomb in Washington, DC.

1981 - The U.S. Senate confirmed Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1981 - Belize gained full independence from Great Britain.

1982 - National Football League (NFL) players began a 57-day strike. It was their first regular-season walkout.

1982 - Amin Gemayel was elected president of Lebanon. He was the brother of Bashir Gemayel who was the president-elect when he was assassinated.

1984 - General Motors and the United Auto Workers union reached an agreement that would end the previous six days of spot strikes.

1985 - North and South Korea opened their borders for their family reunion program.

1989 - Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, SC, causing $8 billion in damage.

1991 - Richard L. Worthington finally freed his nine hostages at the end of 18 hours in Sandy, UT. Worthington had killed a nurse before seizing control of a hospital maternity ward.

1993 - Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin announced that he was ousting the Communist-dominated Congress. The action was effectively seizing all state power.

1996 - The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.

1996 - John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, GA.

1998 - The videotaped grand jury statement that U.S. President Bill Clinton made concerning the Monica Lewinsky case was made public.

September 22, 2011

1656 - An all-female jury heard the case of a woman murdering her child. The jury in Patuxent, MD, voted for acquittal.

1776 - During the Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale was hanged as a spy by the British.

1789 - The U.S. Congress authorized the office of Postmaster General.

1792 - The French Republic was proclaimed.

1828 - Shaka, the African ruler and founder of the Zulu kingdom, was murdered by his half-brother Dingane. Shaka's mental illness had begun to compromise his leadership.

1862 - U.S. President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that all slaves held within rebel states would be free as of January 1, 1863.

1903 - Italo Marchiony was granted a patent for the ice cream cone.

1914 - Three British cruisers were sunk by one German submarine in the North Sea. 1,400 British sailors were killed. This event alerted the British to the effectiveness of the submarine.

1927 - In Chicago, IL, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight.

1949 - The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb successfully.

1955 - Commercial television began in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted.

1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed a congressional act that established the Peace Corps.

1964 - "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." debuted on NBC-TV.

1966 - The U.S. lunar probe Surveyor 2 crashed into the moon.

1969 - Willie Mays hit his 600th career home run.

1975 - Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. 17 days earlier Lynnette "Squeaky" Fromme made an assassination attempt against Ford.

1980 - A border conflict between Iran and Iraq developed into a full-scale war.

1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed the U.N. General Assembly and voiced a new hope for arms control. He also criticized the Soviet Union for arresting U.S. journalist Nicholas Daniloff.

1988 - Canada's government apologized for the internment of Japanese-Canadian's during World War II. They also promised compensation.

1990 - Saudi Arabia expelled most of the Yememin and Jordanian envoys in Riyadh. The Saudi accusations were unspecific.

1991 - An article in the London newspaper "The Mail" revealed that John Cairncross admitted to being the "fifth man" in the Soviet Union's British spy ring.

1992 - The U.N. General Assembly expelled Yugoslavia for its role in the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1993 - 47 people were killed when an Amtrak passenger train derailed near Mobile, AL.

1994 - The U.S. upgraded its military control in Haiti.

1995 - AWACS plane crashed on takeoff at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, AK. All 24 of the U.S. and Canadian military personnel were killed.

1996 - Robert Dent, in Australia, became the first person to commit legally assisted suicide under a voluntary euthanasia law. Dent was suffering from terminal cancer.

1998 - The U.S. and Russia signed two agreements. One was to privatize Russia's nuclear program and the other was to stop plutonium stockpiles and nuclear scientists from leaving the country.

1998 - U.S. President Clinton addressed the United Nations and told world leaders to "end all nuclear tests for all time". He then sent the long-delayed global test-ban treaty to the U.S. Senate.

1998 - Keely Smith received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

September 24, 2011

1789 - The U.S. Congress passed the First Judiciary Act. The act provided for an Attorney General and a lower federal courts.

1869 - Thousands of businessmen were financially ruined after a panic on Wall Street. The panic was caused by an attempt to corner the gold market by Jay Gould and James Fisk.

1880 - Sarah Knauss was born. She was the world's oldest person when she died at 119 years old on December 31, 1999.

1915 - "The Lamb," Douglas Fairbanks first film, was shown at the Knickerbocker Theater in New York City, NY.

1929 - The first all-instrument flight took place in New York when Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY2 Biplane over Mitchell Field.

1933 - "Roses and Drums" was heard on WABC in New York City. It was the first dramatic presentation for radio.

1934 - Babe Ruth played his last game as a New York Yankee player.

1938 - Don Budge became the first tennis player to win all four of the major titles when he won the U.S. Tennis Open. He had already won the Australian Open, the French Open and the British Open.

1948 - Mildred Gillars, known as "Axis Sally", pled innocent to charges of treason. She ended up serving 12 years for being a Nazi wartime radio propagandist.

1955 - U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Denver, CO.

1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field.

1957 - U.S. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, AR, to enforce school integration.

1960 - The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier was launched. The USS Enterprise set out from Newport News, VA.

1961 - "The Bullwinkle Show" premiered in prime time on NBC-TV. The show was originally on ABC in the afternoon as "Rocky and His Friends."

1963 - The U.S. Senate ratified a treaty that limited nuclear testing. The treaty was between the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union.

1968 - "60 Minutes" premiered on CBS-TV.

1968 - "The Mod Squad" premiered on ABC-TV.

1969 - The trial began for the "Chicago Eight," who were accused of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.

1976 - Patricia Hearst was sentenced to 7 years in prison for her role in a 1974 bank robbery. An executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter set her free after only 22 months.

1977 - "The Love Boat" debuted on ABC-TV. The theme song was sung by jack Jones and was written by Paul Williams and Charles Fox.

1991 - jack mann, a British hostage, was set free by Lebanese kidnappers. He had been held captive for more than two years.

1991 - Theodor Seuss Geisel died at the age of 87. The children's author is better known as Dr. Seuss.

1994 - Ten Haitians were killed when a firefight erupted between U.S. Marines and a group of armed Haitians in Cap-Haitian.

1995 - Three decades of Israeli occupation of West Bank cities ended with the signing of a pact by Israel and the PLO.

1996 - The United States, represented by President Clinton, and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.

1998 - Gianluigi Assennato, 34, will be tried for one count of stalking and three counts of making terrorist threats towards Andrea Thompson.

1998 - The U.S. Federal Reserve released into circulation $2 billion in new harder-to-counterfeit $20 bills.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush froze the assets of 27 suspected terrorists and terrorist groups.

2003 - Anthony Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2004 - The USS Crommelin stopped the fishing boat San Jose. The Coast Guard team found 26,000 pounds of cocaine.

September 25, 2011

1492 - The crew of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus' ships, mistakenly thought that they had spotted land.

1493 - Christopher Columbus left Spain with 17 ships on his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere.

1513 - The Pacific Ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He named the body of water the South Sea. He was truly just the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

1690 - One of America's earliest newspapers published its first and last edition. The "Publik Occurences Both Foreign and Domestik" was published at the London Coffee House in Boston, MA, by Benjamin Harris.

1725 - Nicolas Joseph Cugnot was born. He was the inventor and builder of two steam-propelled tractors. They are considered to be the world's first automobiles.

1775 - Ethan Allen was captured by the British during the American Revolutionary War. He was leading the attack on Montreal.

1789 - The first U.S. Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.

1847 - During the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces led by General Zachary Taylor captured Monterrey Mexico.

1882 - The first major league double header was played. It was between the Worcester and Providence teams.

1890 - The Sequoia National Park was established as a U.S. National Park in Central California.

1890 - Mormon President Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto in which the practice of polygamy was renounced.

1897 - Author William Faulkner was born. He is remembered for his works "As I Lay Dying," "Light in August" and "The Sound and the Fury."

1919 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson collapsed after a speech in Pueblo, CO. The speaking tour was in support of the Treaty of Versailles.

1933 - Tom Mix was heard on NBC Radio for the first time. His show ran until June of 1950.

1956 - A transatlantic telephone-cable system began operation between Newfoundland and Scotland.

1957 - 300 U.S. Army troops stood guard as nine black students were escorted to class at Central High School in Little Rock, AR. The children had been forced to withdraw 2 days earlier because of unruly white mobs.

1965 - Willie Mays, at the age of 34, became the oldest man to hit 50 home runs in a single season. He had also set the record for the youngest to hit 50 ten years earlier.

1973 - The three crewmen of Skylab II landed in the Pacific Ocean after being on the U.S. space laboratory for 59 days.

1978 - 144 people were killed when a private plane and a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 collided over San Diego, CA.

1978 - Melissa Ludtke, a writer for "Sports Illustrated", filed a suit in U.S. District Court. The result was that Major League Baseball could not bar female writers from the locker room after the game.

1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court when she was sworn in as the 102nd justice. She had been nominated the previous July by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

1983 - 38 Irish nationalist guerillas shot their way out of prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1983 - A Soviet military officer, Stanislav Petrov, averted a potential worldwide nuclear war. He declared a false alarm after a U.S. attack was detected by a Soviet early warning system. It was later discovered the alarms had been set off when the satellite warning system mistakenly interpreted sunlight reflections off clouds as the presence of enemy missiles.

1986 - An 1894-S Barber Head dime was bought for $83,000 at a coin auction in California. It is one of a dozen that exist.

1987 - The booty collected from the Wydah, which sunk off Cape Cod in 1717, was auctioned off. The worth was around $400 million.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to impose an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba was the only dissenting vote.

1991 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously ordered a worldwide arms embargo against Yugoslavia and all of its warring factions.

1992 - In Orlando, FL, a judge ruled in favor of 12-year-old Gregory Kingsley. He had sought a divorce from his biological parents.

1992 - The Mars Observer blasted off on a mission that cost $980 million. The probe has not been heard from since it reached Mars in August of 1993.

1995 - Ross Perot announced that he would form the Independence Party.

1997 - NBC sportscaster Marv Albert pled guilty to assault and Battery of a lover. He was fired from NBC within hours.

1997 - Mark & Brian received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - The death toll due to Hurricane Georges rose to 307 after the storm passed through Caribbean.

2001 - Michael Jordan announced that he would return to the NBA as a player for the Washington Wizards. Jordan became the president of basketball operations for the team on January 19, 2000.

2002 - In Karachi, Pakistan, seven people were killed and another were wounded by gunmen in the offices of a Christian welfare organization.

2002 - U.S. forces landed in Ivory Coast to aid in the rescue foreigners trapped in a school by fighting between government troops and rebel troops. Rebels had attempted to take over the government on September 19.

September 26, 2011

1774 - John Chapman was born. He was better known as Johnny Appleseed. He planted orchards, befriended wild animals, and was considered at great medicine man by Native Americans.

1777 - Philadelphia was occupied by British troops during the American Revolutionary War.

1789 - Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first Secretary of State. John Jay was appointed the first chief justice of the U.S. Samuel Osgood was appointed the first Postmaster-General. Edmund Jennings Randolph was appointed the first Attorney General.

1892 - "The King of Marches" was introduced to the general public.

1908 - Ed Eulbach of the Chicago Cubs became the first baseball player to pitch both games of a doubleheader and win both with shutouts.

1908 - In "The Saturday Evening Post" an ad for the Edison Phonograph appeared.

1914 - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission was established.

1918 - During World War I, the Meuse-Argonne offensive against the Germans began. It was the final Allied offensive on the western front.

1950 - U.N. troops recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul from the North Koreans during the Korean Conflict.

1955 - The New York Stock Exchange suffered its worst decline since 1929 when the word was released concerning U.S. President Eisenhower's heart attack.

1960 - The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL.

1962 - "The Beverly Hillbillies" premiered on CBS-TV.

1964 - "Gilligan's Island" premiered on CBS-TV. The show aired for the last time on September 4, 1967.

1969 - "The Brady Bunch" series premiered on ABC-TV.

1980 - The Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor to end the freedom flotilla of Cuban refugees that began the previous April.

1981 - The Boeing 767 made its maiden flight in Everett, WA.

1984 - Britain and China initialed a draft agreement on the future of Hong Kong when the Chinese take over ruling the British Colony.

1985 - Shamu was born at Sea World in Orlando, FL. Shamu was the first killer whale to survive being born in captivity.

1986 - The episode of "Dallas" that had Bobby Ewing returning from the dead was aired.

1986 - William H. Rehnquist became chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court following the retirement of Warren Burger.

1990 - The Motion Picture Association of America announced that it had created a new rating. The new NC17 rating was to keep moviegoers under the age of 17 from seeing certain films.

1991 - Four men and four women began their two-year stay inside the "Biosphere II." The project was intended to develop technology for future space colonies.

1991 - The U.S. Congress heard a plea from Kimberly Bergalis concerning mandatory AIDS testing for health care workers.

1992 - 163 people were killed when a Nigerian military transport crashed shortly after takeoff.

1993 - The eight people who had stayed in "Biosphere II" emerged from their sealed off environment.

1995 - The warring factions of Bosnia agreed on guidelines for elections and a future government.

1996 - Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, was sentenced to death in San Jose, CA.

1996 - Shannon Lucid returned to Earth after being in space for 188 days. she set a time record for a U.S. astronaut in space and in the world for time spent by a woman in space.

1997 - In Indonesia, a Garuda Airlines Airbus crashed killing 234 people.

2000 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. The act states that an infant would be considered to have been born alive if he or she is completely extracted or expelled from the mother and breathes and has a beating heart and definite movement of the voluntary muscles.

2000 - Slobodan Milosevic conceded that Vojislav Kostunica had won Yugoslavia's presidential election and declared a runoff. The declared runoff prompted mass protests.

2001 - In Kabul, Afghanistan, the abandoned U.S. Embassy was stormed by protesters. It was the largest anti-Amercian protest since the terror attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on September 11.

2001 - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres announced plans to formalize a cease-fire and end a year of fighting in the region.

2001 - In New York City, hundreds of people began the process of filing for death certificates for family members still missing in the ruins of the World Trade Center. At the time more than 6,300 people were still missing.

September 27, 2011

1779 - John Adams was elected to negotiate with the British over the American Revolutionary War peace terms.

1825 - George Stephenson operated the first locomotive that hauled a passenger train.

1840 - Thomas Nast was born. He was a political cartoonist that created the Republican elephant and the Democrat donkey.

1854 - The steamship Arctic sank off Cape Race, Newfoundland, with 300 people onboard. It was the first major disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.

1894 - The Aqueduct Race Track opened in New York City, NY.

1928 - The U.S. announced that it would recognize the Nationalist Chinese Government.

1938 - The League of Nations branded the Japanese as aggressors in China.

1939 - After 19 days of resistance, Warsaw, Poland, surrendered to the Germans after being invaded by the Nazis and the Soviet Union during World War II.

1940 - The Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis was set up. The military and economic pact was for 10 years between Germany, Italy and Japan.

1954 - The "Tonight!" show made its debut on NBC-TV with Steve Allen as host.

1959 - The Japanese island of Honshu was hit by Typhoon Vera. Nearly 5,000 people were killed.

1962 - The U.S. sold Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel.

1964 - The Warren Commission issued a report on the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in November of 1963. The report concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone.

1968 - The U.K.'s entry into the European Common Market was barred by France.

1970 - "The Original Amateur Hour" aired for the last time on CBS. It had been on television for 22 years.

1973 - U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew said he would not resign after he pled "no contest" to a charge of tax evasion. He did resign on October 10th.

1979 - The Department of Education became the 13th Cabinet in U.S. history after the final approval from Congress.

1982 - Italian and French soldiers entered the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut. The move was made by the members of a multinational force due to hundreds of Palestinians being massacred by Christian militiamen.

1983 - Larry Bird signed a seven-year contract with the Boston Celtics worth $15 million. The contract made him the highest paid Celtic in history.

1986 - The U.S. Senate approved federal tax code changes that were the most sweeping since World War II.

1989 - Columbia Pictures Entertainment agreed to buyout Sony Corporation for $3.4 billion.

1989 - Two men went over the 176-foot-high Niagara Falls in a barrel. Jeffrey Petkovich and Peter Debernardi were the first to ever survive the Horshoe Falls.

1990 - The deposed emir of Kuwait addressed the U.N. General Assembly and denounced the "rape, destruction and terror" that Iraq had inflicted upon his country.

1991 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush eliminated all land-based tactical nuclear arms and removed all short-range nuclear arms from ships and submarines around the world. Bush then called on the Soviet Union to do the same.

1994 - More than 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the Contract with America. It was a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.

1995 - The U.S. government unveiled the redesigned $100 bill. The bill featured a larger, off-center portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

1996 - The Taliban seized control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and hanged the former president Najibullah.

1998 - In Germany, Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder was elected chancellor. The election ended 16 years of conservative rule.

1998 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) set a major league baseball record when he hit his 70th home run of the season.

2001 - In Zug, Switzerland, an armed man killed 14 people and himself after entering the local parliament.

2002 - In Senegal, over 1,000 people were killed when the ocean ferry MS Joola capsized.

2004 - North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon announced that North Korea had turned plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods into nuclear weapons. He also said that the weapons were to serve as a deterrent against increasing U.S. nuclear threats and to prevent nuclear war in northeast Asia. The U.S. State Department noted that the U.S. has repeatedly said that the U.S. has no plans to attack North Korea.

2009 - Polish-French film director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on a United States arrest warrant. He had fled the U.S. in 1977 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

September 29, 2011

1758 - England's Admiral Horatio Nelson was born.

1789 - A regular army was established by the U.S. War Department with several hundred men.

1829 - The first public appearance by London's re-organized police force was met with jeers from political opponents. The force became known as Scotland Yard.

1902 - David Belasco opened his first Broadway theater.

1930 - Lowell Thomas made his debut on CBS Radio. He was in the radio business for the next 46 years.

1930 - Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee were married.

1940 - The radio quiz show "Double or Nothing" debuted on the Mutual Radio Network.

1943 - U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marchal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson.

1946 - "The Adventures of Sam Spade" debuted on CBS Radio.

1951 - The first network football game was televised by CBS-TV in color. The game was between the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania.

1953 - "Make Room for Daddy" premiered on ABC-TV.

1955 - "A View From the Bridge," a play by Arthur Miller, opened in New York at the Coronet Theater.

1957 - The New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds. The next year the Giants were in San Francisco, CA.

1960 - "My Three Sons" debuted on ABC-TV.

1962 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy nationalized the Mississippi National guard in response to city officials defying federal court orders. The orders had been to enroll James Meredith at the University of Mississippi.

1963 - "My Favorite Martian" premiered on CBS-TV.

1963 - "The Judy Garland Show" premiered on CBS-TV.

1967 - The International Monetary Fund reformed monetary systems around the world.

1977 - Eva Shain became the first woman to officiate a heavyweight title boxing match. About 70 million people watched Muhammad Ali defeat Ernie Shavers on NBC-TV.

1978 - Pope John Paul I was found dead after only one month of serving as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

1982 - In Chicago, IL, seven people died after taking capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol that had been laced with cyanide. 264,000 bottles were recalled.

1983 - The War Powers Act was used for the first time by the U.S. Congress when they authorized President Reagan to keep U.S. Marines in Lebanon for 18 more months.

1983 - "A Chorus Line" with performance number 3,389 became the longest running show on Broadway.

1984 - Irish officials announced that they had intercepted the Marita Anne carrying seven tons of U.S.-purchased weapons. The weapons were intended for the Irish Republican Army.

1984 - Elizabeth Taylor was voted to be the world's most beautiful woman in a Louis Harris poll. Taylor was at the time in the Betty Ford Clinic overcoming a weight problem.

1986 - Nicholas Daniloff was released by the Soviet Union. He had been held on spying charges.

1986 - Mary Lou Retton announced that she was quitting gymnastics.

1988 - The space shuttle Discovery took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It was the first manned space flight since the Challenger disaster.

1990 - "Millie's Book" by First Lady Barbara Bush was the best-selling non-fiction book in the U.S.

1992 - Magic Johnson announced that he was returning to professional basketball. The comeback ended the following November.

1992 - Brazilian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach President Fernando Collor de Mello.

1993 - Bosnia's parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject an international peace plan unless Bosnian Serbs returned land that had been taken by force.

1994 - The U.S. House voted to end the practice of lobbyist buying meals and entertainment for members of Congress.

1995 - Three U.S. servicemen were indicted on rape charges concerning a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. The men were handed over to Japanese authorities.

1998 - Hasbro announced plans to introduce an action figure of retired U.S. General Colin Powell.

2010 - In China, Canton Tower became operational.

September 30, 2011

1399 - Henry Bolingbroke became the King of England as Henry IV.

1630 - John Billington was hanged for murder. He was the first criminal to be executed in the American colonies.

1777 - The Congress of the United States moved to York, PA, due to advancing British forces.

1787 - The Columbia left Boston and began the trip that would make it the first American vessel to sail around the world.

1846 - Ether, an experimental anesthetic at the time, was used for the first time by Dr. William Morton at Massachusetts General Hospital.

1861 - Chewing gum tycoon William Wrigley, Jr. was born.

1868 - Spain's Queen Isabella was deposed and fled to France.

1882 - In Appleton, WI, the world's first hydroelectric power plant began operating.

1924 - Truman Streckfus Persons was born in New Orleans, LA. He later changed his name to Truman Capote.

1927 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth hit his 60th homerun of the season. He broke his own record with the homerun. The record stood until 1961 when Roger Maris broke the record.

1930 - "Death Valley Days" was heard for the first time on the NBC Blue radio network.

1935 - "The Adventures of Dick Tracey" debuted on Mutual Radio Network.

1935 - "Porgy and Bess" premiered in Boston.

1938 - The Munich Conference ended with a decision to appease Adolf Hitler. Britain, and France allowed Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to be annexed by the Nazis.

1939 - "Captain Midnight" was heard for the first time on the Mutual Radio Network.

1946 - An international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.

1947 - The World Series was televised for the first time. The sponsors only paid $65,000 for the entire series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees.

1949 - The Berlin Airlift came to an end. The airlift had taken 2.3 million tons of food into the western sector despite the Soviet blockade.

1951 - "The Red Skelton Show" debuted on NBC-TV.

1954 - The U.S. Navy commissioned the Nautilus submarine at Groton, CT. It was the first atomic-powered vessel. The submarine had been launched on January 21, 1954.

1954 - Julie Andrews made her first Broadway appearance in "The Boy Friend".

1955 - Actor James Dean was killed in a car accident at the age of 24 near Cholame, CA. Dean's mechanic, who was also in the vehicle, eventually recovered from his injuries.

1962 - James Meredith succeeded in registering at the University of Mississippi. It was his fourth attempt to register.

1963 - The Soviet Union publicly declared itself on the side of India in their dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir.

1966 - Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach were released at midnight from Spandau prison after completing their 20-year sentences. Speer was the Nazi minister of armaments and von Schirach was the founder of Hitler Youth.

1971 - The Soviet Union and the United States signed pacts that were aimed at avoiding an accidental nuclear war.

1971 - A committee of nine people was organized to investigate the prison riot at Attica, NY. 10 hostages and 32 prisoners were killed when National Guardsmen stormed the prison on September 13, 1971.

1976 - California enacted the Natural Death Act of California. The law was the first example of right-to-die legislation in the U.S.

1980 - Israel issued its new currency, the shekel, to replace the pound.

1983 - The first AH-64 Apache attack helicopter was rolled out by McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company.

1982 - "Cheers" began an 11-year run on NBC-TV.

1984 - 107 Moslem extremists were sentenced to prison for their actions after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

1984 - Mike Witt became only the 11th pitcher to throw a perfect game in major league baseball.

1984 - "Doonesbury" by Garry Trudeau returned. The comic strip had not been printed in nearly 20 months.

1985 - Four Soviet diplomats were kidnapped in Beirut by the Islamic Liberation Organization. One of the diplomats was killed and the other three were later released.

1986 - The U.S. released accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Nicholas Daniloff had been released by the Soviets.

1987 - Mikhail S. Gorbachev retired President Andrei A. Gromyko from the Politburo and fired other old-guard leaders in a shake-up at the Kremlin.

1989 - Thousands of East Germans began emigrating under an accord between the NATO nations and the Soviet Union.

1989 - Non-Communist Cambodian guerrillas claimed that they had captured 3 towns and 10 other positions from the residing government forces.

1990 - The Soviet Union and South Korea opened diplomatic relations.

1991 - Haiti's first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown by Brigadier General Raoul Cedras. Aristide was later returned to power.

1992 - George Brett of the Kansas City Royals reached his 3,000th career hit during a game against the California Angels.

1992 - Moscow banks distributed privatization vouchers aimed at turning millions of Russians into capitalists.

1993 - About 10,000 people were killed in India when an earthquake that measured 6.4 hit the southern part of the country.

1993 - U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell retired.

1994 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off on an 11-day mission. Part of the mission was to use a radar instrument to map remote areas of the Earth.

1997 - France's Roman Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the persecution and deportation of Jews the pro-Nazi Vichy regime.

1998 - Gov. Pete Wilson of California signed a bill into law that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity." The law went into effect January 1, 1999.

1999 - The San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the last baseball game to be played at Candlestick Park (3Com Park). The Dodgers won 9-4.

1999 - In Tokaimura, Japan, radiation escaped a nuclear facility after workers accidentally set off an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction.

2003 - The FBI began a criminal investigation concerning the possibility that White House officials had illegally leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer.

October 1, 2011

1596 - The Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for trying to marry Mary the Queen of Scots.

1781 - James Lawrence was born. He was the American naval officer whose dying words were "Don't give up the ship."

1800 - Spain ceded the territory of Louisiana back to France. Later the property would be purchased by the U.S. effectively doubling its size.

1880 - Thomas Edison began the commercial production of electric lamps at Edison Lamp Works in Menlo Park.

1885 - Special delivery mail service began in the United States. The first routes were in West Virginia.

1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act. The act raised tariffs to a record level.

1896 - Rural Free Delivery was established by the U.S. Post Office.

1903 - The first modern World Series took place between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1908 - The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford. The purchase price of the car was $850.

1918 - Damascus was captured from the Turks during World War I by a force made up of British and Arab forces.

1933 - Babe Ruth made his final pitching appearance. He pitched all nine innings and hit a home run in the 5th inning.

1936 - General Francisco Franco was proclaimed the head of the Spanish state.

1938 - German forces enter Czechoslovakia and seized control of the Sudetenland. The Munich Pact had been signed two days before.

1940 - The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened as the first toll superhighway in the United States.

1943 - Naples was captured by the Allied forces during World War II.

1946 - The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg sentenced 12 Nazi officials to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms and 3 were acquitted.

1946 - The first baseball play-off game for a league championship was played. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.

1949 - Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People's Republic of China when the communist forces had defeated the Nationalists. The Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan.

1952 - "This is Your Life" began airing on NBC-TV.

1961 - Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season to beat Babe Ruth's major league record of 60.

1962 - Johnny Carson began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. He stayed with the show for 29 years. jack Paar was the previous host.

1964 - The Free Speech Movement was started at the University of California at Berkeley.

1968 - "Night of the Living Dead" premiered in Pittsburgh, PA.

1971 - Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL.

Disney movies, music and books

1972 - The Chinese government approved friendly relations with the United States.

1979 - The United States handed control of the Canal Zone over to Panama.

1980 - Robert Redford became the first male to appear alone on the cover of "Ladies' Home Journal." He was the only male to achieve this in 97 years.

1981 - EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center opened in Florida. The concept was planned by Walt Disney.

1984 - U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan announced that he was taking a leave of absence following his indictment on charges of larceny and fraud. He was later acquitted.

1985 - The PLO's headquarters in Tunisia was raided by Israeli jet fighters.

1987 - Eight people were killed in Los Angeles when an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale hit the area.

1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet presidency.

1989 - The authorized Charles Schulz biography, Good Grief, was published.

1989 - 7,000 East Germans were welcomed into West Germany after they were allowed to leave by the communist government.

1990 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and once again condemned Iraq's takeover of Kuwait.

1990 - In Croatia, minority Serbs proclaimed autonomy.

1991 - U.S. President Bush condemned the military coup in Haiti that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. U.S. economic and military aid was suspended.

1991 - The U.S. trust territory of Palau became independent.

1992 - The USS Saratoga accidentally fired missiles at a Turkish destroyer in the Aegean Sea. Five people were killed in the incident.

1992 - The Strategic Arm Reduction Treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate.

1993 - 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted from her home in Petaluma, CA, by an intruder.

1994 - The U.S. and Japan avoided a trade war by reaching a series of trade agreements.

1994 - The National Hockey League (NHL) team owners began a lockout of the players that lasted 103 days.

1995 - Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine other defendants were convicted in New York of conspiring to attack the U.S. through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.

1995 - Southwestern Turkey experienced an earthquake that killed about 90 people.

1996 - Lucent Technologies became an independent company.

1996 - A federal grand jury indicted Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in the 1994 mail bomb murder of an ad executive.

1998 - The U.S. government posted a $2.2 million reward for the capture of Augustin Vasquez Mendoza. He is accused of killing an undercover U.S. agent during a drug purchase in 1994.

1999 - The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China was celebrated in Beijing.

2001 - San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban Internet filters designed to keep pornography away from children at city libraries.

October 1, 2011

1452 - Richard III was born. He married the widow of the Prince of Wales and then imprisoned his mother-in-law for life.

1492 - King Henry VII of England invaded France.

1780 - British army major John Andre was hanged as a spy. He was carrying information about the actions of Benedict Arnold.

1835 - The first battle of the Texas Revolution took place near the Guadalupe River when American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry unit.

1836 - Charles Darwin returned to England after 5 years of acquiring knowledge around the world about fauna, flora, wildlife and geology. He used the information to develop his "theory of evolution" which he unveiled in his 1859 book entitled The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

1869 - Mahatma (Mohandas) K Gandhi was born. He was known for his advocacy of non-violent resistance to fight tyranny.

1870 - Rome was made the capital of Italy.

1876 - The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas opened. It was the state's first venture into public higher education. The school was formally dedicated 2 days later by Texas Gov. Richard Coke.

1889 - The first international Conference of American States began in Washington, DC.

1890 - Groucho Marx was born in New York. He is known for the "Marx Brothers" movies and his quiz show "You Bet Your Life."

1895 - Ruth Cheney Streeter was born. She became the first director of the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve.

1908 - Addie Joss of Cleveland pitched the fourth perfect game in major league baseball history.

1919 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

1920 - The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates played the only triple-header in baseball history. The Reds won 2 of the 3 games.

1924 - The Geneva Protocol adopted the League of Nations.

1925 - Scottish inventor John Logie Baird completed the first transmission of moving images.

1929 - "The National Farm and Home Hour" debuted on NBC radio.

1933 - "Red Adams" debuted on NBC radio.

1937 - Warner Bros. released "Love Is on the Air." Ronald Reagan made his acting debut in the motion picture. He was 26 years old.

1940 - During World War II, the HMS Empress was sunk while carrying child refugees from Britain to Canada.

1941 - Operation Typhoon was launched by Nazi Germany. The plan was an all-out offensive against Moscow.

1944 - The Nazis crushed the Warsaw Uprising.

1947 - The Federatino Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) formally established Formula One racing in Grand Prix competition.

1948 - The first automobile race to use asphalt, cement and dirt roads took place in Watkins Glen in New York. It was the first road race in the U.S. following World War II.

1949 - "The Aldrich Family" debuted on NBC-TV.

1950 - "Peanuts," the comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz, was published for the first time in seven newspapers.

1953 - "Person to Person" debuted on CBS-TV.

1955 - "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" debuted on CBS-TV.

1958 - Guinea, the French colony in West Africa, proclaimed its independence. Sekou Toure was the first president of the Republic of Guinea.

1959 - "The Twilight Zone" debuted on CBS-TV. The show ran for 5 years for a total of 154 episodes.

1962 - U.S. ports were closed to nations that allowed their ships to carry arms to Cuba, ships that had docked in a socialist country were prohibited from docking in the United States during that voyage, and the transport of U.S. goods was banned on ships owned by companies that traded with Cuba.

1967 - Thurgood Marshall was sworn in. He was the first African-American member of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1985 - Rock Hudson died from the AIDS virus at the age of 59.

1988 - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered free elections.

1989 - In Leipzig, East Germany a protest took place demanding the legalization of opposition groups and the adoption of democratic reforms.

1990 - The Allies ceded their rights to areas they occupied in Germany.

1993 - Opponents of Russian President Boris Yeltsin fought police and set up burning barricades.

1996 - Mark Fuhrman was given three years' probation and fined $200 after he pled no contest to perjury at O.J. Simpson's trial.

1998 - Hawaii sued petroleum companies, claiming state drivers were overcharged by about $73 million a year in price-fixing.

1998 - About 10,000 Turkish soldiers cross into northern Iraq and attacked Kurdish rebels.

2001 - The U.S. Postmaster unveiled the "Tribute to America" stamp. The stamp was planned for release the next month.

2001 - NATO, for the first time, invoked a treaty clause that stated that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. The act was in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

October 3, 2011

1226 - St. Francis of Assisi died. He was the founder of the Franciscan order.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November would be recognized as Thanksgiving Day.

1888 - "The Yeomen of the Guard" was performed for the first time. It was the first of 423 shows.

1893 - The motor-driven vacuum cleaner was patented by J.S. Thurman.

1901 - The Victor Talking Machine Company was incorporated. After a merger with Radio Corporation of America the company became RCA-Victor.

1902 - Harvey Kurtzman, founder of "Mad" magazine, was born.

1906 - W.T. Grant opened a 25-cent department store.

1922 - Rebecca L. Felton became the first female to hold office of U.S. Senator. She was appointed by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia to fill a vacancy.

1929 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1932 - Iraq was admitted into the League of Nations leading Britain to terminate their mandate over the nation. Britain had ruled Iraq since taking it from Turkey during World War I.

1935 - Italian forces invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).

1941 - Adolf Hitler stated in a speech that Russia was "broken" and they "would never rise again."

1942 - The Office of Economic Stabilization was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also authorized controls on rents, wages, salaries and farm prices.

1944 - During World War II, U.S. troops broke through the Siegfried Line.

1946 - "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day" began airing on NBC-TV.

1951 - CBS-TV aired the first coast-to-coast telecast of a prizefight. Dave Sands defeated Carl Olson at Soldier Field in Chicago.

1952 - Britain became the third nuclear power in the world when they successfully detonated their first atomic bomb. The U.S. and Russia were the only other nuclear powers.

1954 - "Father Knows Best" began airing on CBS-TV.

1955 - "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS-TV.

1955 - Rock Hudson was featured on the cover of "LIFE" magazine.

1955 - "The Mickey Mouse Club" premiered on ABC-TV.

1961 - "The Dick Van Dyke Show" debuted on CBS-TV.

1962 - The Sigma VII blasted off from Cape Canaveral for a nine-hour flight.

1962 - The play, "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!" opened on Broadway.

1974 - Frank Robinson took over the management position of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. He was the first black manager in major league baseball.

1981 - Irish Nationalist in Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland called off their hunger strike. The strike had lasted 7 months and ten people had died.

1986 - "Tough Guys" was released. It was the first comedy to feature Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. It was, however, their seventh movie together.

1988 - The space shuttle Discovery landed safely after its four-day mission. It was the first American shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster.

1988 - Mithileshwar Singh, an Indian educator, was released by kidnappers in Lebanon. He had been held captive for almost two years with three Americans.

1989 - An unsuccessful coup was attempted against Panamanian Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega.

1989 - East Germany suspended unrestricted travel to Czechoslovakia in an effort to slow the flow of refugees to the West.

1989 - Art Shell became the first African-American head coach in the modern NFL when he took over the Los Angeles Raiders.

1990 - The Berlin Wall was dismantled eleven months after the borders between East and West Germany were dissolved. The unification of Germany ended 45 years of division.

1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made a visit to Kuwait since his country had seized control of the oil-rich nation.

1994 - The headquarters of the Haitian pro-army militia was raided by U.S. soldiers.

1995 - O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman. Simpson was later found liable in a civil trial.

1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said she had found no evidence that U.S. President Clinton had broken the law with White House coffees and overnight stays for big contributors.

2001 - Near Manchester, TN, a passenger on a Greyhound bus slashed the throat of the driver. The resulting wreck killed six and injured 34 others. The driver survived his injuries. The attacker was killed in the accident and was identified as Damir Igric.

2001 - ESPN began its 10th season of National Hockey League (NHL) coverage.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) broke Babe Ruth's major league single-season record for walks at 171.

2003 - Ray Horn, of the duo "Siegfried & Roy," was attacked by tiger during a performance. Roy survived the attack after being dragged offstage. The tiger, a 7-year-old male named Montecore, was debuting in his first show.

2006 - North Korea announced that it would conduct a nuclear test as a key step in the manufacture of atomic bombs that it viewed as a deterrent against a U.S. attack. A date for the test was not announced.

2006 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed at a new high ending the day at 11,727.34. Earlier in the session, the Dow had risen to 11,758.95. Both previous records had been set on January 14, 2000.

October 5, 2011

1813 - Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee Indians was killed at the Battle of Thames when American forced defeated the British and the allied Indian warriors.

1877 - Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the U.S. Army after a 1,000-mile retreat towards the Canadian border.

1882 - Robert H. Goddard , known as the "Father of the Space Age", was born.

1892 - The Dalton gang was nearly wiped out while attempting to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville, KS. Four members of the gang and four citizens were killed. The only survivor of the gang, Emmett Dawson, was sentenced to life after surviving his wounds.

1902 - Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, was born.

1919 - Enzo Ferrari debuted in his first race. He later founded the Auto Avio Construzioni Ferrari, an independent manufacturing company.

1921 - The World Series was broadcast on the radio for the first time. The game was between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees.

1930 - Laura Ingalls became the first woman to make a transcontinental airplane flight.

1930 - "The Fighting Priest" began airing on CBS radio.

1931 - Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon landed in Washington after flying non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. The flight originated in Japan and took about 41 hours.

1934 - "Hollywood Hotel" became the first major network radio to originate from Hollywood, CA.

1937 - U.S. President Roosevelt called for a "quarantine" of aggressor nations.

1947 - U.S. President Harry S Truman held the first televised presidential address from the White House. The subject was the current international food crisis.

1952 - "Inner Sanctum" was heard for the last time on ABC radio.

1955 - The play "The Diary of Anne Frank" opened at the Cort Theatre in New York.

1969 - Dianne Linkletter jumps to her death from her apartment in West Hollywood. Art Linkletter, her father, claimed that she was under the influence of LSD at the time of her death.

1969 - A Cuban defector landed a Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. The plane entered U.S. air space and landed without being detected.

1969 - "Monty Python's Flying Circus" debuted on BBC television.

1970 - Anwar Sadat took office as President of Egypt replacing Gamal Abdel Nassar. Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

1974 - American David Kunst completed the first journey around the world on foot. It took four years and 21 pairs of shoes. He crossed four continents and walked 14,450 miles.

1985 - An Egyptian policeman went on a shooting rampage at a Sinai beach. Seven Israeli tourists were killed. The policeman died in prison the following January of an apparent suicide.

1986 - "Business World" began airing on ABC-TV.

1986 - Sandinista soldiers captured American Eugene Hasenfus after shooting him down over southern Nicaragua.

1988 - In a debate between candidates for vice president of the U.S., Democratic Lloyd Bentsen told Republican Dan Quayle, "You're no jack Kennedy."

1989 - Jim Bakker was convicted of using his television show to defraud his viewers.

1989 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet. Gyatso was the 15th Dalai Lama.

1990 - The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall opened.

1990 - A jury in Cincinnati, OH, acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced that his country would cut its nuclear arsenal in response to the arms reduction that was initiated by U.S. President George Bush.

1993 - China set off an underground nuclear explosion.

1994 - 48 people found dead in two Swiss villages. The people were members of a secret religious doomsday cult. Five other people were found in Montreal, Canada.

1995 - A 60-day cease-fire was agreed upon by Bonsian combatants. The civil war had lasted 3 1/2.

1997 - In London, the Express Newspapers printed an article claiming that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were homosexual and that their marriage was a sham to cover the truth. The paper paid damages in a settlement on October 29, 1998.

1998 - The U.S. paid $60 million for Russia's research time on the international space station to keep the cash-strapped Russian space agency afloat.

1999 - Kevin Spacey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - MCI Worldcom Inc. and Sprint Corp. announced plans to merge.

2006 - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rolled out its $4 generic drug program to the entire state of Florida after a successful test in the Tampa area.

October 7, 2011

1765 - Nine American colonies sent a total of 28 delegates to New York City for the Stamp Act Congress. The delegates adopted the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances."

1777 - During the American Revolution the second Battle of Saratoga began.

1868 - Cornell University was inaugurated in Ithaca, NY.

1913 - For the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory was run on a continuously moving assembly line when the chassis was added to the process.

1918 - The Georgia Tech football team defeated Cumberland College 222-0. Georgia Tech carried the ball 978 yards and never threw a pass.

1939 - "Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy" was heard for the first time on CBS radio.

1940 - "Portia Faces Life" debuted on the NBC Red network.

1949 - The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was formed.

1950 - The U.S.-led U.N. forces crossed the 38th parallel and entered North Korea. China in November proved their threat to enter the war by sending several hundred thousand troops over the border into North Korea.

1951 - The Western Hills Hotel in Fort Worth, TX, became the first hotel to feature all foam-rubber mattresses and pillows.

1956 - A U.S. House subcommittee began investigations of allegedly rigged TV quiz shows.

1963 - U.S. President Kennedy signed a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.

1968 - The Motion Picture Association of America adopted the film-rating system that ranged for "G" to "X."

1981 - The Egyptian parliament, after the assassination of Anwar Sadat, named Vice President Hosni Mubarak the next president of Egypt.

1982 - A record was set when 147,000,000 shares were exchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

1985 - Four Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt. There were 440 people onboard. They surrendered after two days and killing American passenger Leon Klinghoffer.

1985 - At least 91 people were killed in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by a mudslide.

1985 - The United States announced that it would no longer automatically comply with World Court decisions.

1989 - In Budapest, Hungary's Communist Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism.

1992 - In Peru, a secret military tribunal sentenced Abimael Guzman to life in prison without parole. He was the leader of the Shining Path guerrilla movement.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton sent more troops, heavy armor, and naval firepower to Somalia.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf when Iraqi troops were spotted moving toward Kuwait. The U.S. Army was also put on alert.

1995 - More than 80 people were killed in Indonesia when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 on the Richter Scale hit.

1998 - The U.S. government filed an antitrust suit that alleged Visa and MasterCard inhibit competition by preventing banks from offering other cards.

1999 - American Home Products Corp. agreed to pay up to $4.83 billion to settle claims that the fen-phen diet drug caused dangerous problems with heart valves.

2000 - Vojislav Kostunica took the oath of office as Yugoslavia's first popularly elected president.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 73rd home run of the season and set a new major league record.

2001 - The U.S. and Great Britain began airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to that state's support of terrorism and Osama bin Laden. The act was the first military action taken in response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

2003 - In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in the recall election of Governor Gray Davis.

2003 - Randy Quaid received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2004 - Billy Bob Thornton got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

October 9, 2011

1635 - Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, was banished from Massachusetts because he had spoken out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away land that belonged to the Indians. Williams had founded Providence, Rhode Island as a place for people to seek religious freedom.

1701 - The Collegiate School of Connecticut was chartered in New Haven. The name was later changed to Yale.

1776 - A group of Spanish missionaries settled in what is now San Francisco, CA.

1781 - The last major battle of the American Revolutionary War took place in Yorktown, VA. The American forces, led by George Washington, defeated the British troops under Lord Cornwallis.

1812 - During the War of 1812 American forces captured two British brigs, the Detroit and the Caledonia.

1855 - Isaac Singer patented the sewing machine motor.

1855 - Joshua C. Stoddard received a patent for his calliope.

1858 - Mail service via stagecoach between San Francisco, CA, and St. Louis, MO, began.

1872 - Aaron Montgomery started his mail order business with the delivery of the first mail order catalog. The firm later became Montgomery Wards.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson made their longest telephone call to date. It was a distance of two miles.

1888 - The public was admitted to the Washington Monument for the first time.

1914 - During World War I, German forces captured Antwerp, Belgium.

1919 - The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. The win would be later tainted when 8 Chicago White Sox were charged with throwing the game. The incident became known as the "Black Sox" scandal.

1930 - Aviator Laura Ingalls landed in Glendale, CA, to complete the first solo transcontinental flight across the U.S. by a woman.

1935 - "Cavalcade of America" was first broadcast on CBS radio.

1936 - The first generator at Boulder Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles, CA. The name of the dam was later changed to Hoover Dam.

1940 - St. Paul's Cathedral in London was bombed by the Nazis. The dome was unharmed in the bombing.

1943 - "Land of the Lost" debuted on ABC radio.

1946 - "The Iceman Cometh" opened in New York City, NY.

1946 - The first electric blanket went on sale in Petersburg, VA.

1947 - The Broadway show, "High Button Shoes", opened.

1963 - Over 2,000 people were killed in northeast Italy when the Vaiont Dam was overrun by water. The incident was caused by landslide that occurred behind the dam.

1967 - Che Guevara was executed by Bolivian soldiers for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.

1974 - Oskar Schindler died in Frankfurt, Germany. Schindler is credited with saving the lives of about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

1975 - Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Soviet scientist is known as the "father of the hydrogen bomb."

1983 - Helen Moss joined the Brownies at the age of 83. She became the oldest person to become a member.

1985 - The hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port Said, Egypt.

1986 - U.S. District Judge Harry E. Claiborne became the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment. The U.S. Senate convicted Claiborne of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

1986 - Joan Rivers debuted her new "The Late Show" on the FOX network.

1986 - The musical "Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber opened in London.

1989 - The official Soviet news agency Tass reported an unidentified flying object. The report included a trio of tall aliens that had visited the city of Voronzh.

1991 - The play revival "On Borrowed Time" opened.

1994 - The U.S. sent troops and warships to the Persian Gulf in response to Saddam Hussein sending thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks toward the Kuwaiti border.

1995 - Saboteurs tinkered with a stretch of railroad track in Arizona. An Amtrak train derailed killing one and injuring a hundred.

2000 - Brett Hull (Dallas Stars) scored his 611th National Hockey League (NHL) goal. The goal allowed him to pass his father, Bobby Hull, on the all time scoring list bringing him to number 9.

2001 - Prosecutors in Miami, FL, announced that they would seek a prison sentence if O.J. Simpson was convicted in his road rage trial. Jury selection began for the trial just after the announcement.

2003 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II knighted Roger Moore and made Sting a CBE (Commander of the British Empire).

2009 - NASA launched the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). On November 13, it was announced that water had been discovered in the planned impact plume on the moon.

October 10, 2011

1845 - The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, MD.

1865 - The billiard ball was patented by John Wesley Hyatt.

1886 - The tuxedo dinner jacket made its U.S. debut in New York City.

1887 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Phonograph Company.

1911 - China's Manchu dynasty was overthrown by revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen.

1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike that ended the construction of the Panama Canal.

1928 - "Hold Everything" opened on Broadway.

1932 - "Betty and Bob" began on radio.

1932 - "Judy and Jane" began on radio.

1933 - Dreft, the first synthetic detergent, went on sale.

1937 - The Mutual Broadcasting System debuted "Thirty Minutes in Hollywood".

1938 - Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

1943 - Chaing Kai-shek took the oath of office as the president of China.

1957 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after the official had been refused service in a Dover, DE, restaurant.

1959 - Pan American World Airways announced the beginning of the first global airline service.

1963 - A dam burst in Italy killing 3,000 people.

1965 - The Red Baron made his first appearance in the "Peanuts" comic strip.

1970 - Pierre Laporte, the labor minister of Quebec, was kidnapped by the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ) during the October Crisis in Canada. He was found eight days later strangled to death.

1973 - U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged with federal income tax evasion.

1973 - Fiji became independent after of nearly a century of British rule.

1977 - Joe Namath played the last game of his National Football League (NFL) career.

1978 - The U.S. bill authorizing the Susan B. Anthony dollar was signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

1984 - The U.S. Congress passed the 2nd Boland Amendment which outlawed solicitation of 3rd-party countries to support the Contras. The amendment barred the use of funds available to CIA, defense, or intelligence agencies for "supporting, directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation, group, organization or individual."

1985 - U.S. fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane to land in Italy so that the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achilles Lauro could be arrested.

1986 - An estimated 1,500 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale struck San Salvador, El Salvador.

1987 - Tom McClean finished rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. It set the record at 54 days and 18 hours.

1991 - The United States cut all foreign aid to Haiti in reaction to a military coup that forced President Jean-Claude Aristide into exile.

1994 - Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras resigned as Haiti's commander-in-chief of the army and pledged to leave the country.

1994 - Iraq announced it was withdrawing its forces from the Kuwaiti border. No signs of a pullback were observed.

1995 - Gary Kasparov won a chess championship against Viswanathan Anand that had lasted about a month.

1997 - The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, opened to the public. Architect Frank Gehry designed the 450 ft. long and 98 ft. wide building.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush presented a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.

October 11, 2011

1759 - Parson Mason Weems was born. He is remembered for his fictitious stories that he presented as fact. He was responsible for the story about George Washington cutting down his father's cherry tree.

1776 - During the American Revolution the first naval battle of Lake Champlain was fought. The forces under Gen. Benedict Arnold suffered heavy losses.

1779 - Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman, was killed while fighting during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah, GA. He was fighting for American independence.

1809 - Meriwether Lewis committed suicide along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee at an inn called Grinder's Stand.

1811 - The Juliana, the first steam-powered ferryboat, was put into operation by the inventor John Stevens. The ferry went between New York City, NY, and Hoboken, NJ.

1869 - Thomas Edison filed for a patent on his first invention. The electric machine was used for counting votes for the U.S. Congress, however the Congress did not buy it.

1881 - David Henderson Houston patented the first roll film for cameras.

1890 - The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, DC.

1899 - The Boer War began in South Africa between the British and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

1929 - JCPenney opened a store in Milford, DE, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.

1932 - In New York, the first telecast of a political campaign was aired.

1936 - The radio show, "Professor Quiz", aired for the first time.

1939 - U.S. President Roosevelt was presented with a letter from Albert Einstein that urged him to develop the U.S. atomic program rapidly.

1942 - The Battle of Cape Esperance, during World War II, began in the Solomons.

1958 - Pioneer 1, a lunar probe, was launched by the U.S. The probe did not reach its destination and fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.

1968 - Apollo 7 was launched by the U.S. The first manned Apollo mission was the first in which live television broadcasts were received from orbit. Wally Schirra, Don Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham were the astronauts aboard.

1971 - Hugh Downs left the "Today" show and "Concentration". He later became the host of ABC's "20/20".

1975 - "Saturday Night Live" was broadcast for the first time. George Carlin was the guest host.

1975 - Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham were married in Fayetteville, AR.

1976 - The "Gang of Four" of China was charged with plotting a coup and were arrested and imprisoned.

1983 - The last hand-cranked telephones in the U.S. went out of service. The 440 telephone customers of Bryant Pond, ME, were switched to direct-dial service.

1984 - Construction began on the Kamric/Cinergy Futursonics Studio in Houston, TX.

1984 - American Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first female astronaut to space walk. She was aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

1984 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) made his debut in the National Hockey League (NHL) against the Boston Bruins. He scored a goal on his first shot on his first NHL shift.

1994 - U.S. troops in Haiti took control of the National Palace.

1994 - Iraqi troops began moving away from the Kuwaiti border.

1994 - The Colorado Supreme Court declared that the anti-gay rights measure in the state was unconstitutional.

2002 - In Cedar Grove, WI, ten people were killed when more than two dozen vehicles crashed on a foggy highway.

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