On This Day

August 30, 2013

1823 - Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne of Spain when invited French forces entered Cadiz. The event is known as the Battle of Trocadero.

1852 - The first pre-stamped envelopes were created with legislation of the U.S. Congress.

1881 - The first tennis championships in the U.S. were played.

1887 - The kinetoscope was patented by Thomas Edison. The device was used to produce moving pictures.

1920 - The first news program to be broadcast on radio was aired. The station was 8MK in Detroit, MI.

1935 - The act of exporting U.S. arms to belligerents was prohibited by an act signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1940 - Lawrence Olivier and Vivian Leigh were married.

1941 - The radio program "The Great Gildersleeve" made its debut on NBC.

1946 - Superman returned to radio on the Mutual Broadcasting System after being dropped earlier in the year.

1950 - Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit four home runs in a single game off of four different pitchers.

1959 - Sandy Koufax set a National League record by striking out 18 batters.

1962 - The Caribbean nations Tobago and Trinidad became independent within the British Commonwealth.

1964 - California officially became the most populated state in America.

1965 - The Department of Housing and Urban Development was created by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

1980 - Poland's Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk that ended a 17-day strike.

1981 - The 30-year contract between Milton Berle and NBC-TV expired.

1989 - Great Britain's Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced that they were separating. The marriage was 16 years old.

1990 - U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar met with the Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to try and negotiate a solution to the crisis in the Persian Gulf.

1990 - East and West Germany signed a treaty that meant the harmonizing of political and legal systems.

1991 - Uzbekistan and Kirghiziz declared their independence from the Soviet Union. They were the 9th and 10th republics to announce their plans to secede.

1991 - In a "Solidarity Day" protest hundreds of thousands of union members marched in Washington, DC.

1993 - Russia withdrew its last soldiers from Lithuania.

1994 - A cease-fire was declared by the Irish Republican Army after 25 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

1994 - Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after a half-century.

1998 - A ballistic missile was fired over Japan by North Korea. The missile landed in stages in the waters around Japan. There was no known target.

1998 - "Titanic" became the first movie in North America to earn more than $600 million.

September 1, 2013

1799 - The Bank of Manhattan Company opened in New York City, NY. It was the forerunner of Chase Manhattan.

1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was found innocent of treason.

1810 - The first plow with interchangeable parts was patented by John J. Wood.

1859 - The Pullman sleeping car was placed into service.

1878 - Emma M. Nutt became the first female telephone operator in the U.S. The company was the Telephone Dispatch Company of Boston.

1884 - The Thomas A. Edison Construction Department and the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting merged.

1887 - Emile Berliner filed for a patent for his invention of the lateral-cut, flat-disk gramophone. It is a device that is better known as a record player. Thomas Edison made the idea work.

1894 - A forest fire in Hinckley, MN, killed more than 400 people.

1897 - The first section of Boston's subway system was opened.

1905 - Saskatchewan and Alberta became the ninth and tenth provinces of Canada.

1906 - jack Coombs of the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics pitched 24 innings against the Boston Red Sox. (MLB)

1922 - The first daily news program on radio was "The Radio Digest," on WBAY radio in New York City, NY.

1923 - About 100,000 people were killed when an earthquake hit Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan.

1939 - World War II began when Germany invaded Poland.

1942 - A federal judge in Sacramento, CA, upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals.

1945 - The U.S. received official word of Japan's formal surrender that ended World War II. In Japan, it was actually September 2nd.

1949 - "Martin Kane, Private Eye" debuted on NBC-TV.

1951 - The ANZUS Treaty, a mutual defense pact, was signed by the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

1969 - Col. Moammar Gadhafi came into power in Libya after the government was overthrown.

1970 - The last episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" aired on NBC-TV. The show premiered was on September 18, 1965.

1971 - Danny Murtaugh of the Pittsburgh Pirates gave his lineup card to the umpire with the names of nine black baseball players on it. This was a first for Major League Baseball.

1972 - America’s Bobby Fischer beat Russia’s Boris Spassky to become world chess champion. The chess match took place in Reykjavik, Iceland.

1979 - The U.S. Pioneer 11 became the first spacecraft to visit Saturn.

1982 - J.R. Richard returned to major league baseball after a two-year absence following a near-fatal stroke.

1982 - Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo closed all the country's private banks.

1983 - A Soviet jet fighter shot down a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 when it entered Soviet airspace. 269 people were killed.

1985 - The Titanic was found by Dr. Robert Ballard and Jean Louis Michel in a joint U.S. and French expedition. The wreck site is located 963 miles northeast of New York and 453 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast.

1986 - The Soviet Union announced the accident involving the Admiral Nakhimov the night before. 448 people died in the ship collision.

1986 - Jerry Lewis raised a record $34 million for Muscular Dystrophy during his annual telethon for Jerry’s kids over the Labor Day weekend.

1993 - Louis Freeh was sworn in as the director of the FBI.

1995 - Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds announced his resignation. He had been convicted of having sex with an underage campaign volunteer.

1997 - In France, the prosecutor's office announced that the driver of the car, in which Britain's Princess Diana was killed, was over the legal alcohol limit.

1998 - The movie "Titanic" went on sale across North America.

1998 - Mark McGwire, of the St. Louis Cardinals, hit his 56th and 57th homeruns to set a new National League record. He would eventually reach a total of 70 for the season on September 27.

1998 - Vietnam released 5,000 prisoners, including political dissidents, on National Day.

1999 - Twenty-two of major league baseball's 68 permanent umpires were replaced. The problem arose from their union's failed attempt to force an early start to negotiations for a new labor contract.

September 2, 2013

31 B.C. - The Roman leader Octavian defeated the alliance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian, as Augustus Caesar, became the first Roman emperor.

1666 - The Great Fire of London broke out. The fire burned for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral. Only 6 people were killed.

1775 - Hannah, the first American war vessel was commissioned by General George Washington.

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

1864 - During the U.S. Civil War Union forces led by Gen. William T. Sherman occupied Atlanta following the retreat of the Confederates.

1897 - The first issue of "McCall’s" magazine was published. The magazine had been known previously as "Queens Magazine" and "Queen of Fashion."

1901 - Theodore Roosevelt, then Vice President, said "Speak softly and carry a big stick" in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.

1930 - The "Question Mark" made the first non-stop flight from Europe to the U.S. The plane was flown by Captain Dieudonne Coste and Maurice Bellonte.

1935 - A hurricane hit the Florida Keys killing 423 people.

1938 - The first railroad car to be equipped with fluorescent lighting was put into operation on the New York Central railroad.

1945 - Japan surrendered to the U.S. aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II. The war ended six years and one day after it began.

1945 - Ho Chi Minh declared the independence the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1961 - The U.S.S.R. resumed nuclear weapons testing. Test ban treaty negotiations had failed with the U.S. and Britain when the three nations could not agree upon the nature and frequency of on-site inspections.

1962 - Ken Hubbs, of the Chicago Cubs, set a major-league baseball fielding record when he played errorless for his 74th consecutive game.

1963 - The integration of Tuskegee High School was prevented by state troopers assigned by Alabama Gov. George Wallace. Wallace had the building surrounded by state troopers.

1963 - "The CBS Evening News" was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.

1969 - Ho Chi Minh died. He was the president of North Vietnam.

1969 - NBC-TV canceled "Star Trek." The show had debuted on September 8, 1966.

1973 - Billy Martin was fired as manager of the Detroit Tigers. Martin was relieved of his duties three days after ordering his pitchers to throw spitballs against Cleveland Indians batters.

1985 - It was announced that the Titanic had been found on September 1 by a U.S. and French expedition 560 miles off Newfoundland. The luxury liner had been missing for 73 years.

1986 - Cathy Evelyn Smith was sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the overdose death of John Belushi.

1991 - The U.S. formally recognized the independence of Lithuania, Lativa and Estonia.

1992 - The U.S. and Russia agreed to a joint venture to build a space station.

1996 - Muslim rebels and the Philippine government signed a pact formally ending 26-years of insurgency that had killed more than 120,000 people.

1998 - In Canada, pilots for Canada's largest airline launch their first strike in Air Canada's history.

1998 - 229 people were killed when a Swissair jetliner crashed into the Atlantic near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. The pilot had reported smoke in the cockpit a few minutes before the crash.

September 3, 2013

1189 - England's King Richard I was crowned in Westminster.

1783 - The Revolutionary War between the U.S. and Great Britain ended with the Treaty of Paris.

1833 - The first successful penny newspaper in the U.S., "The New York Sun," was launched by Benjamin H. Day.

1838 - Frederick Douglass boarded a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from being a slave.

1895 - The first professional football game was played in Latrobe, PA. The Latrobe YMCA defeated the Jeannette Athletic Club 12-0.

1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles an hour. He reached 304.331 MPH on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

1939 - British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in a radio broadcast, announced that Britain and France had declared war on Germany. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.

1943 - Italy was invaded by the Allied forces during World War II.

1951 - "Search for Tomorrow" debuted on CBS-TV.

1954 - "The Lone Ranger" was heard on radio for the final time after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.

1966 - The television series "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" ended after 14 years.

1967 - The TV game show "What's My Line?" broadcast its final episode. The show aired over 17 years on CBS.

1967 - Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president of South Vietnam under a new constitution.

1967 - In Sweden, motorists stopped driving on the left side of the road and began driving on the right side.

1976 - The U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars. The unmanned spacecraft took the first close-up, color photos of the planet's surface.

1981 - David Brinkley left NBC News after 38 years to join with ABC.

1981 - Egypt arrested more than 1,500 opponents of the government.

1984 - Bruce Sutter (St. Louis Cardinals) set a National League record by earning his 38th save of the season.

1986 - Peat Marwick International and Klynveld Main Goerdeler of the Netherlands agreed to merge and form the world’s largest accounting firm.

1989 - The U.S. began shipping military aircraft and weapons, worth $65 million, to Columbia in its fight against drug lords.

1994 - Russia and China announced that they would no longer be targeting nuclear missiles or using force against each other.

1999 - Mario Lemieux's ownership group officially took over the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins. Lemieux became the first player in the modern era of sports to buy the team he had once played for.

September 4, 2013

0476 - Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the western Roman Empire, was deposed when Odoacer proclaimed himself King of Italy.

1609 - English navigator Henry Hudson began exploring the island of Manhattan.

1781 - Los Angeles, CA, was founded by Spanish settlers. The original name was "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula," which translates as "The Town of the Queen of Angels."

1825 - New York Governor Clinton ceremoniously emptied a barrel of Lake Erie water in the Atlantic Ocean to consummate the "Marriage of the Waters" of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic.

1833 - Barney Flaherty answered an ad in "The New York Sun" and became the first newsboy/paperboy at the age of 10.

1882 - Thomas Edison's Pearl Street electric power station began operations in New York City. It was the first display of a practical electrical lighting system.

1885 - The Exchange Buffet opened in New York City. It was the first self-service cafeteria in the U.S.

1886 - Geronimo, and the Apache Indians he led, surrendered in Skeleton Canyon in Arizona to Gen. Nelson Miles.

1888 - George Eastman registered the name "Kodak" and patented his roll-film camera. The camera took 100 exposures per roll.

1894 - A strike in New York City by 12,000 tailors took place to protest sweatshops.

1899 - An 8.3 earthquake hit Yakutat Bar, AK.

1917 - The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.

1921 - The first police broadcast was made by radio station WIL in St. Louis, MO.

1923 - The first American dirigible, the "Shenandoah," began its maiden voyage in Lakehurst, NJ.

1944 - During World War II, British troops entered the city of Antwerp, Belgium.

1948 - The Dutch Queen Wilhelmina left her throne for health reasons.

1949 - The longest pro tennis match in history was played when Pancho Gonzales and Ted Schroeder played 67 games in five sets.

1951 - The first live, coast-to-coast TV broadcast took place in the U.S. The event took place in San Francisco, CA, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. It was seen all the way to New York City, NY.

1953 - The New York Yankees became the first baseball team to win five consecutive American League championships.

1957 - The Arkansas National Guard was ordered by Governor Orval Faubus to keep nine black students from going into Little Rock's Central High School.

1957 - The Ford Motor Company began selling the Edsel. The car was so unpopular that it was taken off the market only two years.

1967 - "Gilligan's Island" aired for the last time on CBS-TV. It ran for 98 shows.

1967 - Michigan Gov. George Romney said during a TV interview that he had undergone "brainwashing" by U.S. officials while visiting Vietnam in 1965.

1971 - "The Lawrence Welk Show" was seen for the last time on ABC-TV.

1972 - Swimmer Mark Spitz captured his seventh Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter medley relay event at Munich, Germany. Spitz was the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.

1981 - The Soviet Union began war games with about 100,000 troops on the Polish border.

1983 - U.S. officials announced that there had been an American plane, used for reconnaissance, in the vicinity of the Korean Air Lines flight that was shot down.

1986 - South African security forces halted a mass funeral for the victims of the riot in Soweto.

1989 - A reconnaissance satellite was released by the Air Force's Titan Three rocket. The Titan Three set over 200 satellites into space between 1964 and 1989.

1993 - Pope John Paul II started his first visit to the former Soviet Union.

1993 - Jim Abbott (New York Yankees) pitched a no-hitter. Abbott had been born without a right hand.

1995 - The Fourth World Conference on Women was opened in Beijing. There were over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.

1998 - In Mexico, bankers stopped approving personal loans and mortgages.

1998 - The International Monetary Fund approved a $257 million loan for the Ukraine.

1998 - While in Ireland, U.S. President Clinton said the words "I'm sorry" for the first time about his affair with Monica Lewinsky and described his behavior as indefensible.

1999 - The United Nations announced that the residents of East Timor had overwhelmingly voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum held on August 30. In Dili, pro-Indonesian militias attacked independence supporters, burned buildings, blew up bridges and destroyed telecommunication facilities.

2002 - The Oakland Athletics won their AL-record 20th straight game. The A's gave up an 11-run lead during the game and then won the game on a Scott Hatteberg home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

2003 - Keegan Reilly, 22, became the first parapalegic climber to reach the peak of Japan's Mount Fuji.

September 5, 2013

1698 - Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.

1774 - The first session of the U.S. Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia. The delegates drafted a declaration of rights and grievances, organized the Continental Association, and elected Peyton Randolph as the first president of the Continental Congress.

1793 - In France, the "Reign of Terror" began. The National Convention enacted measures to repress the French Revolutionary activities.

1836 - Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1877 - Sioux chief Crazy Horse was killed by the bayonet of a U.S. soldier. The chief allegedly resisted confinement to a jail cell.

1881 - The American Red Cross provided relief for disaster for the first time. The disaster was the Great Fire of 1881 in Michigan.

1882 - The first U.S. Labor Day parade was held in New York City.

1885 - Jake Gumper bought the first gasoline pump to be manufactured in the U.S.

1900 - France proclaimed a protectorate over Chad.

1901 - The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues was formed in Chicago, IL. It was the first organized baseball league.

1905 - The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed by Russia and Japan to end the Russo-Japanese War. The settlement was mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in New Hampshire.

1906 - Bradbury Robinson executed the first legal forward pass in football. Robinson threw the ball to jack Schneider of St. Louis University in a game against Carroll College.

1914 - Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a professional player in the International League.

1914 - The Battle of the Marne began. The Germans, British and French fought for six days killing half a million people.

1917 - Federal raids were carried out in 24 cities on International Workers of the World (IWW) headquarters. The raids were prompted by suspected anti-war activities within the labor organization.

1930 - Charles Creighton and James Hagris completed the drive from New York City to Los Angeles and back to New York City all in reverse gear. The trip took 42 days in their 1929 Ford Model A.

1938 - The NBC Red network broadcast "Life Can Be Beautiful" for the first time.

1939 - The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality in World War II.

1945 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino was arrested. D'Aquino was suspected of being the wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose". She served six years and was later pardoned by U.S. President Ford.

1953 - The first privately operated atomic reactor opened in Raleigh, NC.

1957 - jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was first published.

1958 - The first color videotaped program was aired. It was "The Betty Freezor Show" on WBTV-TV in Charlotte, NC.

1958 - Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" was published for the first time in the U.S.

1960 - Cassius clay of Louisville, KY, won the gold medal in light heavyweight boxing at the Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. clay later changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

1961 - The U.S. government made airline hijacking a federal offense.

1971 - J.R. Richard (Houston Astros) tied Karl Spooner’s record when he struck out 15 batters in his major-league baseball debut.

1977 - The U.S. launched Voyager .

1980 - The St. Gothard Tunnel opened in Switzerland. It is the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles long.

1982 - Eddie Hill set a propeller-driven boat water speed record when he reached 229 mph.

1983 - U.S. President Reagan denounced the Soviet Union for shooting down a Korean Air Lines. Reagan demanded that the Soviet Union pay reparations for the act that killed 269 people.

1983 - "Sports Illustrated" became the first national weekly magazine to use four-color process illustrations on every page.

1983 - The "MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour" on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) became the first hour-long network news show.

1984 - The space shuttle Discovery landed after its maiden voyage.

1984 - Mortimer Zuckerman purchased the newsmagazine, "U.S. News & World Report" for $163 million.

1985 - Rioting in South Africa spilled into white neighborhoods for the first time.

1986 - Merv Griffin aired his final program for Metromedia Television after 23 years on various talk shows.

1986 - NASA launched DOD-1.

1989 - Chris Evert retired from professional tennis after a 19 year career.

1989 - Deborah Norville became the news anchor of the "Today" show.

1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged for a Holy War against the West and former allies.

1991 - Soviet lawmakers created an interim government to usher in the confederation after dissolving the U.S.S.R. The new name the Union of Sovereign States was taken.

1992 - A General Motors Corporation strike ended with a new agreement being approved. Nearly 43,000 workers were on strike.

1995 - France set off an underground nuclear blast in the South Pacific.

1996 - The play "Summer and Smoke" opened at the Criterion Theatre.

2001 - Fox News Channel terminated Paula Zahn for breach of contract.

2003 - In London, magician David Blaine entered a clear plastic box and then suspended by a crane over the banks of the Thames River. He remained there until October 19 surviving only on water.

September 6, 2013

1620 - The Pilgrims left on the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to settle in the New World.

1819 - Thomas Blanchard patented a machine called the lathe.

1837 - The Oberlin Collegiate Institute of Ohio went co-educational.

1876 - The Southern Pacific rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco was completed.

1899 - Carnation processed its first can of evaporated milk.

1901 - U.S. President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded (he died eight days later) by Leon Czolgosz. Czolgosz, an American anarchist, was executed the following October.

1909 - Robert Peary, American explorer, sent word that he had reached the North Pole. He had reached his goal five months earlier.

1939 - South Africa declared war on Germany.

1941 - Jews in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed. The order only applied to Jews over the age of 6.

1943 - The youngest player to appear in an American League baseball game was pitcher Carl Scheib of the Philadelphia Athletics. Scheib was 16 years, eight months and five days old.

1944 - During World War II, the British government relaxed blackout restrictions and suspended compulsory training for the Home Guard.

1948 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was crowned.

1952 - In Montreal, Canadian television began broadcasting.

1959 - The first Barbie Doll was sold by Mattel Toy Corporation.

1972 - Rick DeMont lost the gold medal he received in a 400-meter swimming event because a banned drug was found in his system during routine drug testing.

1975 - Martina Navratilova requested political asylum while in New York for the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament.

1978 - James Wickwire and Louis Reichardt reached the top of the world's second largest mountain, Pakistan's K-2. They were the first Americans to reach the summit.

1990 - Iraq warned that anyone trying to flee the country without permission would be put in prison for life.

1991 - The State Council of the Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic states.

1991 - The name St. Petersburg was restored to Russia's second largest city. The city was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great. The name has been changed to Petrograd (1914) and to Leningrad (1924).

1992 - A 35-year old man died ten weeks after receiving a transplanted baboon liver.

1993 - Renault of France and Volvo of Sweden announced they were merging. Volvo eventually canceled the deal the following December.

1995 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood was expelled by the Senate Ethics Committee.

1995 - Cal Ripken played his 2,131st consecutive game setting a new record. Lou Gehrig previously held the record.

1996 - Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) hit his 500th career home run during a game against the Detroit Tigers. He was only the third person to have at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

2000 - The U.N. Millennium Summit began in New York. It was the largest gathering of world leaders in history with more than 150 present.

2001 - The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was seeking a lesser antitrust penalty and would not attempt to break up Microsoft.

2001 - eBay Inc. was found not liable for copyright infringement because bootleg copies of a Charles Manson documentary had been sold on the site.

2002 - In New York, the U.S. Congress convened at Federal Hall for a rare special session. The session was held in New York to express the nation's mourning for the loss on September 11, 2001 and unity in the war against terrorism.

2002 - At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition "George Catlin and His Indian Gallery" went on view. The exhibit contained over 400 objects.

September 7, 2013

1812 - Napoleon defeated the Russian army of Alexander I at the battle of Borodino.

1813 - The nickname "Uncle Sam" was first used as a symbolic reference to the United States. The reference appeared in an editorial in the New York's Troy Post.

1822 - Brazil declared its independence from Portugal.

1880 - George Ligowsky was granted a patent for his device that threw clay pigeons for trapshooters.

1888 - Edith Eleanor McLean became the first baby to be placed in an incubator.

1896 - A.H. Whiting won the first automobile race held on a racetrack. The race was held in Cranston, RI.

1901 - The Boxer Rebellion began in China ending the Peace of Beijing.

1921 - Margaret Gorman of Washington, DC, was crowned the first Miss America in Atlantic City, NJ.

1927 - Philo T. Farnsworth succeeded in transmitting an image through purely electronic means by using an image dissector.

1930 - The cartoon "Blondie" made its first appearance in the comic strips.

1940 - London received its initial rain of bombs from Nazi Germany during World War II.

1942 - During World War II, the Russian army counter attacked the German troops outside the city of Stalingrad.

1963 - The National Professional Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, OH.

1966 - The final episode of the original "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was aired on CBS-TV.

1971 - "The Beverly Hillbillies" was seen for the final time on CBS-TV.

1977 - The Panama Canal treaties were signed by U.S. President Carter and General Omar Torrijos Herrera. The treaties called for the U.S. to turn over control of the canal's waterway to Panama in the year 2000.

1979 - ESPN, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, made its debut on cable TV.

1983 - In Ireland, voters approved a constitutional ammendment that banned abortion.

1984 - American Express Co. issued the first of its Platinum charge cards.

1986 - Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins threw his 100th career touchdown pass, in only his 44th NFL game, which set a NFL record.

1986 - President Augusto Pinochet survived an assassination attempt made by guerrillas.

1986 - Desmond Tutu was the first black to be installed to lead the Anglican Church in southern Africa.

1987 - Erich Honecker became the first East German head of state to visit West Germany.

1989 - Legislation was approved by the U.S. Senate that prohibited discrimination against the handicapped in employment, public accommodations, transportation and communications.

1995 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood announced that he would resign after 27 years in the Senate.

1998 - Mark McGwire set a new major league baseball record for most homeruns hit in a single season. The previous record was 61 set in 1961.

1999 - Viacom Inc. announced that it had plans to buy CBS Corp.

September 8, 2013

1565 - A Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, FL.

1664 - The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who then renamed it New York.

1866 - The first recorded birth of sextuplets took place in Chicago, IL. The parents were James and Jennie Bushnell.

1892 - An early version of "The Pledge of Allegiance" appeared in "The Youth's Companion."

1893 - In New Zealand, the Electoral Act 1893 was passed by the Legislative Council. It was consented by the governor on September 19 giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.

1935 - U.S. Senator Huey P. Long, "The Kingfish" of Louisiana politics, was shot and mortally wounded. He died two days later.

1945 - In Washington, DC, a bus equipped with a two-way radio was put into service for the first time.

1945 - Bess Myerson of New York was crowned Miss America. She was the first Jewish contestant to win the title.

1951 - A peace treaty with Japan was signed by 48 other nations in San Francisco, CA.

1952 - The Ernest Hemingway novel "The Old Man and the Sea" was published.

1960 - NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, was dedicated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The facility had been activated in July earlier that year.

1966 - NBC-TV aired the first episode of "Star Trek" entitled "The Man Trap". The show was canceled on September 2, 1969.

1971 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was inaugurated. The opening featured the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass."

1973 - Hank Aaron hit his 709th home run.

1974 - U.S. President Ford granted an unconditional pardon to former U.S. President Nixon.

1975 - In Boston, MA, public schools began their court-ordered citywide busing program amid scattered incidents of violence.

1986 - Herschel Walker made his start in the National Football League (NFL) after leaving the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.

1997 - America Online acquired CompuServe.

1998 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) hit his 62nd home run of the season. He had beaten a record that had stood for 37 years by Roger Maris. McGwire would eventually reach 70 home runs on September 27.

1999 - Russia's Mission Control switched off the Mir space station's central computer and other systems to save energy during a planned six months of unmanned flights.

September 9, 2013

490 B.C. - The Battle of Marathon took place between the invading Persian army and the Athenian Army. The marathon race was derived from the events that occurred surrounding this battle.

1776 - The second Continental Congress officially made the term "United States", replacing the previous term "United Colonies."

1836 - Abraham Lincoln received his license to practice law.

1850 - California became the 31st state to join the union.

1898 - In Omaha, NE, Tommy Fleming of Eau Claire, WI won the first logrolling championship.

1893 - U.S. President Grover Cleveland's wife, Frances Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther. It was the first time a president's child was born in the White House.

1904 - Mounted police were used for the first time in the City of New York.

1911 - Italy declared war on the Ottoman Turks and annexed Libya, Tripolitania, and Cyrenaica in North Africa.

1919 - The majority of Boston's police force went on strike. The force was made up of 1,500 men.

1919 - Alexander Graham Bell and Casey Baldwin's HD-4, a hydrofoil craft, set a world marine speed record.

1926 - The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was created by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

1942 - Japan dropped incendiaries over NE in an attempt to set fire to the forests in Oregon and Washington. The forest did not ignite.

1943 - During World War II Allied forces landed at Taranto and Salerno.

1946 - Ben Alexander hosted "Heart’s Desire" for the first time on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

1948 - North Korea became the People's Democratic Republic of Korea.

1950 - Sal Maglie (New York Giants) pitched a fourth consecutive shutout. Only four other pitchers in the National League had ever accomplished this feat.

1957 - The first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction was signed into law by U.S. President Eisenhower.

1965 - French President Charles de Gaulle announced that France was withdrawing from NATO to protest the domination of the U.S. in the organization.

1965 - Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched the eighth perfect game in major league baseball history.

1971 - Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings retired from the National Hockey League (NHL).

1979 - Tracy Austin, at 16, became the youngest player to win the U.S. Open women’s tennis title.

1981 - Nicaragua declared a state of economic emergency and banned strikes.

1983 - The Soviet Union announced that the Korean jetliner the was shot down on September 1, 1983 was not an accident or an error.

1984 - Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears broke Jim Brown’s combined yardage record when he reached 15,517 yards.

1986 - Frank Reed was taken hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian kidnappers. The director of a private school in Lebanon was released 44 months later.

1986 - Ted Turner presented the first of his colorized films on WTBS in Atlanta, GA.

1986 - Gennadiy Zakharov was indicted by a New York jury on espionage charges. Zakharov was a Soviet United Nations employee.

1987 - Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer aired for the last time on CBS.

1993 - Israeli and PLO leaders agreed to recognize each other.

1994 - The U.S. agreed to accept about 20,000 Cuban immigrants a year. This was in return for Cuba's promise to halt the flight of refugees.

1994 - The space shuttle Discovery blasted off on an 11-day mission.

1995 - Amtrak's Broadway Limited service made its final run between New York City, NY and Chicago, IL.

1997 - Sinn Fein, the IRA's political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland's future.

1998 - Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr delivered to the U.S. Congress 36 boxes of material concerning his investigation of U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - Four tourists who had paid $32,500 each were taken in submarine to view the wreckage of the Titanic. The ship is 2 miles below the Atlantic off Newfoundland.

1999 - The Sega Dreamcast game system went on sale. By 1:00pm all Toys R Us locations in the U.S. had sold out.

September 10, 2013

1608 - John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown, VA colony council.

1794 - America's first non-denominational college was charted. Blount College later became the University of Tennessee.

1813 - The first defeat of British naval squadron occurred in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. The leader of the U.S. fleet sent the famous message "We have met the enemy, and they are ours" to U.S. General William Henry Harrison.

1845 - King Willem II opened Amsterdam Stock exchange.

1846 - Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

1847 - The first theater opened in Hawaii.

1862 - Rabbi Jacob Frankel became the first Jewish Army chaplain.

1897 - British police arrest George Smith for drunken driving. It was the first DWI.

1899 - A second quake in seven days hit Yakutat Bay, AK. It measured 8.6.

1913 - The Lincoln Highway opened. It was the first paved coast-to-coast highway in the U.S.

1919 - New York City welcomed home 25,000 soldiers and General John J. Pershing who had served in the First Division during World War I.

1919 - Austria and the Allies signed the Treaty of St.-Germain-en-Laye. Austria recognized the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

1921 - The Ayus Autobahn in Germany opened near Berlin. The road is known for its nonexistent speed limit.

1923 - The Irish Free state joined the League of Nations.

1926 - Germany joined the League of Nations.

1935 - "Popeye" was heard on NBC radio for the first time.

1939 - Canada declared war on Germany.

1940 - In Britain, Buckingham Palace was hit by German bomb.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt mandated gasoline rationing as part of the U.S. wartime effort.

1943 - German forces began their occupation of Rome during World War II.

1948 - Mildred "Axis Sally" Gillars was indicted for treason in Washington, DC. Gillars was a Nazi radio propagandist during World War II. She was convicted and spent 12 years in prison.

1950 - Eddie Cantor began working on TV on the "Colgate Comedy Hour" on NBC.

1951 - Britain began an economic boycott of Iran.

1953 - Swanson began selling its first "TV dinner."

1955 - "Gunsmoke" premiered on CBS.

1955 - Bert Parks began a 25-year career as host of the "Miss America Pageant" on NBC.

1956 - Great Britain performed a nuclear test at Maralinga, Australia.

1961 - Mickey Mantle tied a major league baseball record for home runs when he hit the 400th of his career.

1963 - Twenty black students entered public schools in Alabama at the end of a standoff between federal authorities and Alabama governor George C. Wallace.

1972 - Gayle Sayers (Chicago Bears) retired from the National Football League (NFL).

1974 - Lou Brock (St. Louis Cardinals) set a new major league baseball record when he stole his 105th base of the season.

1977 - "Mickey Finn" appeared in the comic pages for the last time.

1979 - U.S. President Carter granted clemency to four Puerto Rican nationalists who had been imprisoned for an attack on the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954 and an attempted assassination of U.S. President Truman in 1950.

1981 - Pablo Picasso's mural Guernica was received in the town of Guernica.

1984 - The Federal Communications Commission changed a rule to allow broadcasters to own 12 AM and 12 FM radio stations. The previous limit was 7 of each.

1989 - Hungary gave permission to thousands of East German refugees and visitors to immigrate to West Germany.

1990 - Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with past enemy Iraq.

1990 - Iraq's Saddam Hussein offered free oil to developing nations in an attempt to win their support during the Gulf War Crisis.

1992 - In Minneapolis, MN, a federal jury struck down professional football's limited free agency system.

1998 - Mac Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - U.S. President Clinton met with members of his Cabinet to apologize, ask forgiveness and promise to improve as a person in the wake of the scandal involving Monica Lewinsky.

1998 - Northwest Airlines announced an agreement with pilots, ending a nearly two-week walkout.

1999 - A bronze sculpture of a war horse just over 24 feet high was dedicated in Milan, Italy.

2002 - Florida tested its new elections system. The test resulted in polling stations opening late and problems occurred with the touch screen voting machines.

2002 - The "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" exhibit opened at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

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

September 10, 2013

1297 - 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.

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 (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.

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.

September 12, 2013

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.

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 (New York) Mets set a rookie strikeout record with his 251st strikeout of the season.

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.

September 13, 2013

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.

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

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, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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 16, 2013

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.

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."

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.

September 17, 2013

1394 - In France, Charles VI published an ordinance that expelled all Jews from France.

1778 - The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation.

1787 - The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by delegates at the Constitutional Convention.

1796 - U.S. President George Washington's Farewell Address was read before the U.S. Congress.

1862 - The Battle of Antietam took place during the American Civil War. More than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. The Rebel advance was ended with heavy losses to both armies.

1872 - Phillip W. Pratt patented a version of the sprinkler system.

1911 - The first transcontinental airplane flight started. It took C.P. Rogers 82 hours to fly from New York City to Pasadena, CA.

1920 - The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH. It was the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).

1930 - Construction on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began in Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, NV.

1932 - Sir Malcolm Campbell set a speed record when he reached 276.27 mph over a half mile.

1937 - At Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln's face was dedicated.

1939 - The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.

1944 - Operation "Market Garden" was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.

1947 - The first U.S. Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, was sworn in to office.

1953 - Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. He retired in 1971 known as 'Mr. Cub'.

1953 - The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA, successfully separated Siamese twins. Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were connected at the waist when born.

1955 - "The Perry Como Show" moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV.

1961 - The Minnesota Vikings were debuted as the new National Football League (NFL) team.

1962 - U.S. space officials announced the selection of Neil A. Armstrong and eight others as new astronauts.

1963 - "The Fugitive" premiered on ABC-TV. The show starred David Janssen.

1964 - "Bewitched" premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 - "Hogan's Heroes" debuted on CBS-TV.

1966 - "Mission Impossible" premiered on CBS-TV.

1972 - "M*A*S*H" premiered on CBS-TV.

1976 - NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, CA.

1983 - Vanessa Williams, as Miss New York, became the first black woman to be crowned Miss America.

1983 - Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds) retired after 16 years as a catcher.

1983 - Carl Yastrzemski (Boston Red Sox) broke Hank Aaron's major league record for games played when he started his 3,299th game. (MLB)

1984 - 9,706 immigrants became naturalized citizens when they were sworn in by U.S. Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL. It was the largest group to become U.S. citizens.

1984 - Gordon P. Getty was named the richest person in the U.S. His fortune was $4.1 billion.

1984 - Reggie Jackson hit his 500th career home run. It was exactly 17 years from the day he hit his first major league home run.

1988 - Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared himself president of Haiti after President Henri Hamphy was ousted.

1991 - The United Nations General Assembly opened its 46th session. The new members were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

1992 - Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his probe of the Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation had lasted 5 1/2 years.

1995 - Hong Kong held its last legislative election before being taken over by China in 1997.

1997 - Northern Ireland's main Protestant party joined in peace talks. It was the first time that all of the major players had come together.

1998 - The United States government offered a reward for the capture of Haroun Fazil for his role in the U.S. bombing in Kenya on August 7, 1998.

1998 - The U.S. announced a plan that would compensate victims in the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings on August 7, 1998.

September 18, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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 - 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, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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. The company had announced its merger and name change on January 10, 2000.

September 20, 2013

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."

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

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

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.

September 20, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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.

September 22, 2013

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

1792 - The French Republic was proclaimed.

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.

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.

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

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 23, 2013

1642 - The first commencement at Harvard College, in Cambridge, MA, was held.

1779 - John Paul Jones, commander of the American warship Bon Homme, was quoted as saying "I have not yet begun to fight!"

1780 - John Andre, a British spy, was captured with papers revealing that Benedict Arnold was going to surrender West Point, NY, to the British.

1806 - The Corps of Discovery, the Lewis and Clark expedition, reached St. Louis, MO, and ended the trip to the Pacific Northwest.

1838 - Victoria Chaflin Woodhull was born. She became the first female candidate for the U.S. Presidency.

1845 - The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York was formed by Alexander Joy Cartwright. It was the first baseball team in America.

1846 - Astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune.

1912 - "Keystone Comedy" by Mack Sennett was released.

1930 - Flashbulbs were patented by Johannes Ostermeier.

1951 - The first transcontinental telecast was received on the west coast. The show "Crusade for Freedom" was broadcast by CBS-TV from New York.

1952 - The first Pay Television sporting event took place. The Marciano-Walcott fight was seen in 49 theaters in 31 cities.

1952 - Richard Nixon gave his "Checkers Speech". At the time he was a candidate for U.S. vice-president.

1953 - "The Robe" premiered in Hollywood a week after its premiere in New York. The 20th Century Fox movie had been filmed using the Cinemascope wide screen process.

1957 - Nine black students withdrew from Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas due to the white mob outside.

1962 - New York's Philharmonic Hall opened. It was the first unit of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The hall was later renamed the Avery Fisher Hall.

1962 - "The Jetsons" premiered on ABC-TV. It was the first program on the network to be carried in color.

1964 - The new ceiling painting of the Paris Opera house was unveiled. The work was done by Russian-born artist Marc Chagall.

1973 - Overthrown Argentine president Juan Peron was returned to power. He had been overthrown in 1955. His wife, Eva Duarte, was the subject of the musical "Evita."

1981 - The Reagan administration announced its plans for what became known as Radio Marti.

1986 - Japanese newspapers quoted Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone as saying that minorities lowered the "intelligence level" of America.

1990 - Iraq publicly threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and to attack Israel if any nation tried to force it from Kuwait.

1991 - U.N. weapons inspectors find documents detailing Iraq's secret nuclear weapons program. The find in Baghdad triggered a standoff with authorities in Iraq.

1993 - The Israeli parliament ratified the Israel-PLO accord.

1993 - Blacks were allowed a role in the South African government after a parliamentary vote.

1998 - Jamie Lee Curtis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - A 17-month-old girl fell 230 feet from the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The girl had bruises but no broken limbs from the fall onto a rocky ledge.

1999 - Siegfried & Roy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

September 24, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 - 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.

September 25, 2013

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.

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.

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 - 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 - 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.

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 - 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.

2012 - China launched its first aircraft carrier into service.

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