| September |
| September |
1 |
In 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland. |
| September |
2 |
In 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II.
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| September |
3 |
In 1976, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the planet’s surface. |
| September |
4 |
In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. |
| September |
5 |
In 1972, Arab terrorists attacked the Israeli delegation at the Munich Olympic games; 11 Israelis, five guerrillas and a police officer were killed in the siege. |
| September |
6 |
In 1901, President McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. |
| September |
7 |
In 1940, Nazi Germany began its initial blitz on London during World War II.
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| September |
8 |
In 1974, President Ford granted an unconditional pardon to former President Nixon. |
| September |
9 |
In 1976, Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung died in Beijing at age 82. |
| September |
10 |
In 1919, New York City welcomed home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who had served in the United States 1st Division during World War I. |
| September |
11 |
In 2001, suicide hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, causing the 110-story twin towers to collapse. Another hijacked airliner hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. |
| September |
12 |
In 1977, South African black student leader Steven Biko died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry. |
| September |
13 |
In 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
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| September |
14 |
In 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface. |
| September |
15 |
In 1963, four children were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama. |
| September |
16 |
In 1974, President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders. |
| September |
17 |
In 1862, Union forces hurled back a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War Battle of Antietam. During the battle, 23,100 were killed, wounded or captured, making it the bloodiest day in United States military history. |
| September |
18 |
In 1947, the National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect. |
| September |
19 |
In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died of wounds inflicted by an assassin. |
| September |
20 |
In 1973, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match.
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| September |
21 |
In 1938, a hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming more than 600 lives. |
| September |
22 |
In 1862, President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. |
| September |
23 |
In 1952, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the “Checkers” speech as he denied allegations of improper campaign financing. |
| September |
24 |
In 1996, the United States and the world’s other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. |
| September |
25 |
In 1957, with 300 United States Army troops standing guard, nine black children were escorted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, days after unruly white crowds had forced them to withdraw.
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| September |
26 |
In 1960, the first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago. |
| September |
27 |
In 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy. |
| September |
28 |
In 1924, two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days. |
| September |
29 |
In 1957, the New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1. The Giants moved to San Francisco for the next season. |
| September |
30 |
In 1938, British and French leaders agreed to allow Nazi Germany to occupy sections of the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia.
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