Today in History – September 2 in History
What happened on this day in history – September 2 in History around the world
1666 | The Great Fire of London, which devastates the city, begins. | |
1789 | The Treasury Department, headed by Alexander Hamilton, is created in New York City. | |
1792 | Verdun, France, surrenders to the Prussian Army. | |
1798 | The Maltese people revolt against the French occupation, forcing the French troops to take refuge in the citadel of Valetta in Malta. | |
1870 | Napoleon III capitulates to the Prussians at Sedan, France. | |
1885 | In Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, 28 Chinese laborers are killed and hundreds more chased out of town by striking coal miners. | |
1898 | Sir Herbert Kitchner leads the British to victory over the Mahdists at Omdurman and takes Khartoum. | |
1910 | Alice Stebbins Wells is admitted to the Los Angeles Police Force as the first woman police officer to receive an appointment based on a civil service exam. | |
1915 | Austro-German armies take Grodno, Poland. | |
1944 | Troops of the U.S. First Army enter Belgium. | |
1945 | Japan signs the document of surrender aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II | |
1945 | Vietnam declares its independence and Nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaims himself its first president. | |
1956 | Tennessee National Guardsmen halt rioters protesting the admission of 12 African-Americans to schools in Clinton. | |
1963 | Alabama Governor George Wallace calls state troopers to Tuskegee High School to prevent integration. | |
1963 | The US gets its first half-hour TV weeknight national news broadcast when CBS Evening News expands from 15 to 30 minutes. | |
1970 | NASA cancels two planned missions to the moon. | |
1975 | Joseph W. Hatcher of Tallahassee, Florida, becomes the state’s first African-American supreme court justice since Reconstruction. | |
1992 | The US and Russia agree to a joint venture to build a space station. | |
1996 | The Philippine government and Muslim rebels sign a pact, formally ending a 26-year long insurgency. | |
1998 | Jean Paul Akayesu, former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, found guilty of nine counts of genocide by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. | |
Born on September 2 | ||
1838 | Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani, last sovereign before annexation of Hawaii by the United States. | |
1850 | Eugene Field, poet and journalist. | |
1877 | Frederick Soddy, named an isotope and received 1921 Nobel prize for chemistry. | |
1901 | Adolph Rupp, basketball coach at the University of Kentucky who achieved a record 876 victories. | |
1946 | Dan White, politician; assassinated San Francisco mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. | |
1948 | Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian passenger on a space mission. During that mission, she and the six other crew members on the space shuttle Challenger perished in an explosion shortly after launch. | |
1948 | Terry Bradshaw, athlete, TV sports analyst, actor; first quarterback to win four Super Bowls (Pittsburgh Steelers); Pro Football Hall of Fame. | |
1951 | Mark Harmon, actor (St. Elsewhere, NCIS TV series). | |
1952 | Jimmy Connors, former World No. 1 tennis player; reached more Grand Slam quarterfinals than any other male. | |
1964 | Keanu Reeves, actor (Speed, The Matrix trilogy). |