September 2
September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years ). There are 120 days remaining.
Events
31 BC - Roman Civil War : Battle of Actium - Off the western coast of Greece , forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra .
1649 - The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X , ending the Wars of Castro .
1666 - The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral .
1752 - The United Kingdom adopts the Gregorian Calendar , nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.
1789 - United States Department of the Treasury was founded.
1807 - British Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon . 70% of the city was destroyed and 2000 citizens were killed.
1862 - American Civil War : President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George McClellan to full command after General John Pope 's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Second Bull Run .
1864 - American Civil War: Union forces under General William T. Sherman enter Atlanta, Georgia a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.
1870 - Franco-Prussian War : Battle of Sedan - Prussian forces defeat the French armies and take emperor Napoleon III and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner at Sedan .
1885 - In Rock Springs, Wyoming , 150 white miners attack their Chinese coworkers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.
1898 - Battle of Omdurman - British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi , thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan .
1901 - Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick " at the Minnesota State Fair .
1935 - Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 : A large hurricane hit the Florida Keys killing 423.
1939 - Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gdańsk , Poland ) ruled by Nazi leader Forster is annexed to Nazi Germany.
1944 - Holocaust : Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz . They arrive three days later.
1945 - World War II ends: The final official surrender of Japan was accepted by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
1945 - Vietnam declares its independence forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam ).
1963 - CBS Evening News television 's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
1967 - The microstate Principality of Sealand unilaterally declared its independence.
1969 - The first automatic teller machine in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York .
1987 - In Moscow , the trial of 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust , who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May 1987, begins.
1991 - The United States recognizes the independence of the Baltic states : Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania .
1995 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio .
1998 - In Canada , pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history.
1998 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner carrying Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia after taking off from New York City en-route to Geneva . All 229 people on board are killed.
1998 - A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu , the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda , guilty of nine counts of genocide , marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced.
Births
1830 - William P. Frye , American politician
1838 - Liliuokalani of Hawaii , Queen of the Hawaiian Islands (d. 1917 )
1850 - Albert Spalding , American baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer
1853 - Wilhelm Ostwald , German chemist
1866 - Hiram Johnson , former Governor of California and political activist
1877 - Frederick Soddy , British chemist
1884 - Dr. Frank C. Laubach , Christian missionary and founder of Laubach Literacy
1917 - Cleveland Amory , author
1923 - Rene Thom , French mathematician
1924 - Daniel arap Moi , longtime president of Kenya .
1929 - Hal Ashby , film director
1934 - Dominic Chianese , actor
1936 - Andrew Grove , co-founder and chairman of Intel
1944 - Al Matthews , American actor (d. 2002 )
1948 - Terry Bradshaw , American football player
1948 - Christa McAuliffe , American teacher , astronaut (d. 1986 )
1951 - Mark Harmon , actor
1952 - Jimmy Connors , American tennis player
1961 - Eric Dickerson , American football Hall of Famer
1961 - Carlos Valderrama , Colombian football player
1964 - Keanu Reeves , American actor
1965 - Lennox Lewis , Canadian /British boxer
1966 - Salma Hayek , Mexican actress
1969 - Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey , R&B singer
1971 - Tommy Maddox , American football quarterback
1972 - Sergei Zholtok , professional ice hockey player
Deaths
421 - Constantius III , Roman Emperor
1274 - Prince Munetaka , 6th Kamakura shogun in Japan (b. 1242 )
1540 - Lebna Dengel , Emperor of Ethiopia
1764 - Revd Nathaniel Bliss , Astronomer Royal
1832 - Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach , Scientific Editor, Astronomer
1834 - Thomas Telford , British civil engineer
1898 - Wilford Woodruff , president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1807 )
1921 - Anthony Francis Lucas Croatian-American oil exploration pioneer (b.1855 )
1921 - Henry Austin Dobson , poet (b. 1840 )
1934 - Alcide Nunez , jazz musician (b. 1884 )
1937 - Pierre de Coubertin , French founder of the modern Olympic Games
1953 - US General Jonathan Wainwright , Medal of Honor recipient
1964 - Alvin York , most decorated American soldier of World War I
1981 - Andrija Maurovic , Croat illustrator (b.1901 )
1973 - J. R. R. Tolkien , British writer (b. 1892 )
1973 - Carl Dudley ,American movie director (b. 1910 )
1976 - Stanisław Grochowiak , Polish poet and dramatist (b. 1934 )
1992 - Barbara McClintock , American geneticist
1997 - Rudolph Bing , opera manager
1998 - Allen Drury , author
2000 - Elvera Sanchez , Puertorican dancer
2000 - Curt Siodmak , science fiction author
2001 - Christiaan Barnard , South African heart surgeon
2001 - Troy Donahue , actor
2004 - Joan Oró , Scientist.
Holidays and observances
External links
September 1 - September 3 - August 2 - October 2 - more historical anniversaries
