SEPTEMBER

Sept. 1

                 –  birthdays:  1866 – “Gentleman Jim” Corbett (heavyweight boxing champ 1892-7)  /  1875 – Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of the Tarzan novels)  /  1923 –  Rocky Marciano (only heavyweight boxing champ to retire undefeated)  /   1933 – Conway Twitty (Country Music Hall of Fame)  /  1939 –  Lily Tomlin (Emmy award winning actress/comedian)  /  1946 –  Barry Gibb (one of the Bee Gees – biggest hit = “How Deep Is Your Love”)  /  1957 –  Gloria Estefan  (singer, Miami Sound Machine – biggest hit = “Anything For You”) 

               

               

                –  1807 –  Aaron Burr acquitted of treason after being accused of trying to set up an empire in the west

                –  1939 – Germany invaded Poland to start WWII

                –  1939 – George Marshall sworn in as Army Chief of Staff

                –  1942 –  federal judge upholds detention of Japanese-Americans

                –  1971 –  Pittsburgh Pirates start the first all non-white lineup in baseball history (including Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell)

                –  1972 –  in the most famous chess match in history, American Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spasky to become the first American chess grandmaster

                –  1974 –  a SR-71 Blackbird sets (and still holds) the record for a flight from NYC to London in 1 hour and 55 minutes

                –  1983 –  a Korean passenger airliner that strayed over Soviet air space was shot down with the loss of all 269 passengers and crew

                – 1985  – the wreck of the Titanic is discovered

                –  1995 –  the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland

Quote:  “If you’re not big enough to lose, you’re not big enough to win.”  (Walter Reuthers – President of the United Auto Workers 1946-`1970;  born on this day in 1907)

Sept. 2   

                –  birthdays:  1838 – Queen Liliuokalani (the last queen of Hawaii)  /  1948 –  Christa McAuliffe (teacher who died on the Challenger space shuttle)  /  1948 – Terry Bradshaw (football Hall of Fame quarterback)  /  1951 –  Mark Harmon (actor – NCIS)  /  1952 –  Jimmy Connors (tennis great)  /  1964 – Keanu Reeves (actor – The Matrix, Bill and Ted’s Great Adventure)  /  1966 –  Salma Hayek (actress)

                –  1752 –  Great Britain and the 13 Colonies adopted the Gregorian Calendar, replacing the Julian Calendar.   Eleven days vanished as the new calendar jumped from September 2 to September 14 to get into sync.

                –  1789 –  the U.S. Treasury was established

                –  1798 –  first bank robbery;  Bank of Pennsylvania;  $162,821 stolen

                –  1864 –  Union Gen. Sherman captures and burns Atlanta

                –  1898 – machine gun first used in battle

                –  1901 –  Teddy Roosevelt first says:  “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

                –  1940 –  the Destroyers for Bases deal was completed as the U.S. sold the British 50 old destroyers in exchange for some bases in the Atlantic

                –  1944 –  future President George HW Bush is shot down while attacking the island of Chichi Jima.  He is rescued by a submarine.

                –  1944 –  Anne Frank sent to Auschwitz concentration camp

                –  1945  –  Ho Chi Minh declares independence for Vietnam from French colonial rule.  He borrows from the Declaration of Independence:  “All men are born equal;  the Creator has given us inviolable rights , life, liberty, and happiness.”  (He died on this day in 1969.)

                –  1945 –  VJ- Day –  Japan surrenders on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending WWII

Quote:  At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit;  at forty, the judgment. – Ben Franklin

Sept. 3

                – birthdays:  1856 –  Louis Sullivan (architect, the Father of Skyscrapers)  /  1921 –  Margueritte Higgins (war correspondent)  /  1923 – Mort Walker (cartoonist – Beetle Bailey)  /  1965 – Charlie Sheen (actor – Platoon, Two and a Half Men)  /  1986 – Shaun White (snowboarder)

                –  1777 – the American flag with thirteen stripes and thirteen stars in a circle is flown in battle for the first time at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge in Maryland

                –  1783 – Treaty  of Paris signed , ending the Revolutionary War

                –  1838 –  Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery

                –  1855 – 700 soldiers under Gen. William Harney massacre an innocent Sioux village in Nebraska, killing over 100 Native Americans including women and children

                –  1939 –  because of the German invasion of Poland, Great Britain and France declare war.  That same day, a German u-boat sinks the passenger ship Athena killing 112 civilians.

Quote:  America is a tune.  It must be sung together.  –  Gerald Stanley Lee from “Crowds”

Sept. 4

                –  birthdays:  1802 – Marcus Whitman (missionary who helped settle Oregon)  /   1918 –  Paul Harvey (radio personalit –  The Rest of the Story)  /  1949 – Tom Watson (golfer) /  1981 – Beyonce (biggest hit = “Irreplaceable”) 

                –  1781 – Los Angeles is founded (full name:  El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula)

                –  1807 –  Robert Fulton begins operating his steamboat

               

                 –  1882 – Edison Electric Illuminating Company starts with a generator supplying energy for 800 light bulbs in NYC

                –  1886 – the last great hostile Indian leader, Geronimo, surrenders to Gen. Nelson Miles

                –  1888 – George Eastman patents the Kodak camera

                –  1940 –  a u-boat fires a torpedo at the destroyer Greer which is the first time this happens

                –  1950 –  “Beetle Bailey” comic strip debuts

                –  1957 – Governor Orval Faubus orders the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock

                –  1972 –  Swimmer Mark Spitz wins a record seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics

                –  1972 – The Price is Right debuts (it is the longest running game show)

Quote:  Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.  –  Douglas MacArthur

Sept. 5

                –  birthdays:  1847 – Jesses James (outlaw/bank robber) /  1929 – Bob Newhart (comedy actor – The Bob Newhart Show)  /   1940 – Raquel Welch (actress/sex symbol)  /  1946 –  Freddie Mercury (singer – Queen – biggest hit = “Bohemian Rhapsody”)  /  1951 –  Michael Keaton (movie star –  Batman, Bettlejuice)  /  1973 – Rose McGowan (actress, sexual harassment advocate)

                –  1774 – the First Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia to respond to the Coercive Acts

                –  1836 –  Sam Houston is elected the first President of the Republic of Texas

               

                 –  1877 –  Crazy Horse is stabbed while resisting arrest;  he dies the next day

                –  1905 –  the Treaty of Portsmouth ends the Russo-Japanese War (Pres. Teddy Roosevelt wins the Nobel Prize for negotiating it)

                –  1914 –  the First Battle of the Marne begins outside Paris;  the six day counterattack by the British and French throws the Germans back and leads to trench warfare

                –  1939 – FDR declares the U.S. neutral after WWII begins

                – 1957  –  Jack Kerouac publishes On the Road which becomes the bible of the beat movement;  a chronicle of a road trip, Kerouac type it on a twelve foot roll of paper in one sitting

                –  1960 –  Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins the light heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Rome Olympics

                –  1966 – Jerry Lewis’ first Muscular Dystrophy Telethon raises $1 million

                –  1969 –  Lt. William Calley is charged with murdering South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre

                –  1975 –  Charles Manson follower Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate Pres. Ford

Quote:  American liberty is a religion.  It is a thing of the spirit.  It is an aspiration on the part of the people for not only a free life  but a better life.  –  Wendell Willkie

Sept. 6

                –  birthdays:  1757 – Lafayette (French nobleman who served with Gen. Washington)  /  1860 – Jane Addams (social worker and Nobel Peace Prize winner)  /  1893 –  Claire Chennault (leader of the Flying Tigers)  /  1959 – Jeff Foxworthy

                –  1716 – first lighthouse in America (Boston)

                –  1901 –  President McKinley is mortally wounded by an anarchist while shaking hands at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo

                –  1915 – the British test the first tank

                –  1916 –  first supermarket, a Piggly Wiggly, is opened by Clarence Saunders in Memphis

                –  1943 –  Carl Scheib becomes the youngest played in an American League baseball game –  16 years old

                –  1969 –  The Brady Bunch premieres

                –  1995 – Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive baseball games started at 2,131 straight games

Quote:  Physical bravery is an animal instinct;  moral bravery is much higher and truer courage.  –  Wendell Phillips

Sept. 7

                –  birthdays:  1860 – Grandma Moses (folk artist)  /  1914 – James Van Allen (scientist who discovered the radiation belts named after him)  /  1936 – Buddy Holly (early rock n’ roll star – biggest hit = “That’ll Be the Day”)  /  1951 – Chrissie Hynde (rock star – The Pretenders – biggest hit = “Back on the Chain Gang”)

                –  1776 –  the first submarine called the Turtle is used by Americans in the Revolutionary War;  it fails in attaching an explosive to a British warship in New York harbor

                –  1813 –  “Uncle Sam” appears for the first time in a newspaper;  named after a contractor that provided supplies to the government whose workers called him “Uncle Sam”

                –  1888 –  Edith Eleanor McLean becomes the first baby put in an incubator in a New York hospital

                –  1921 –  Margaret Gorman becomes the first Miss America in a beauty contest at Atlantic City, New Jersey

                –  1936 –  Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) begins operation

                –  1940 – the “Blitz” begins when three hundred German bombers hit London in the first of 57 straight nights of bombings

                –  1977 –  Pres. Carter signs the Panama Canal Treaty

                –  1979 –  ESPN debuts

                –  1996 – rapper Tupac Shakur shot several times in drive-by shooting (dies six days later)

Quote:  Be courteous to all, but intimate with few;  and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.  –  Washington

Sept. 8

                –  birthdays:  1925 – Peter Sellers (movie actor – the Pink Panther series)  /  1932 – Patsy Cline (country music singer – biggest hit = “Crazy”)  /  1941 – Bernie Sanders  /  1979 – Pink ( singer – biggest hit = “So What”)

                –  1565 – first permanent European settlement at St. Augustine , Florida

                –  1664 – New Amsterdam is surrendered to the British and renamed New York

               

               

                –  1760 – the British capture Montreal from the French thus winning the French and Indian War and acquiring Canada

                –  1892 –  the Pledge of Allegiance, written by Francis Bellamy, is published for the first time; it did not include “under God”

                –  1900 –  the worst natural disaster in American History occurs when a hurricane kills over 8,000 in Galveston, Texas

                –  1928 – first transcontinental air mail service from San Francisco to NYC

                –  1930 – Blondie comic strip debuts

                –  1944 – the V-2 rocket is used for the first time, to bomb Paris

                –  1950 –  the North Koreans reached their farthest advance in the Korean War

                –  1952 –  Ernest Hemingway publishes The Old Man and the Sea

                –  1966 –  Star Trek debuts on TV

                –  1974 –  President Ford pardons Nixon

                –  1974 – Evel Knievel fails to jump Snake River Canyon

                –  1986 –  The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts nationally

                –  1998 –  Mark McGwire hits his 62^nd home run, breaking Roger Maris’ single season record (McGwire ends up with 70)

Quote:  All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.  – Alfred E. Smith

Sept. 9

                – birthdays:  1890 – Colonel Harland Sanders (founder – Kentucky Fried Chicken)  /  1923 – Cliff Robertson (movie actor – Spiderman)  /  1966 – Adam Sandler  /  1980 – Michelle Williams  (actress – Dawson’s Creek)

                –  1499 – Vasco da Gama returns to Portugal after the first of this three voyages around Africa to India

                –  1850 – California becomes the 31^st state

                –  1863 – a Union army under Gen. Rosecrans captures the strategic city of Chattanooga

                –  1883 –  the first hot dog stand opens up in St. Louis

                –  1893 –  Pres. Cleveland’s wife Frances gives birth in the White House to daughter Esther

                –  1901 –  start of a car race from NYC to Buffalo, it will take five days and the winner averaged 15 miles per hour

                –  1908 – Orville Wright makes the first one hour plane flight

                –  1924 –  Leopold and Loeb found guilty of the murder of Robert Franks in the “crime of the century”

                –  1943 –  American and British forces invade Italy at Salerno

                –  1956 –  Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” singing “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog”

                –  1966 – the National Safety Act is signed into law by President Johnson;  response to Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed which criticized the auto industry’s poor record on safety

                –  1971 –  inmates at Attica Prison in New York riot and take 39 hostages

                –  1976 –  Mao Zedong dies          

Quote:  I believe in democracy because it releases the energies of every human being.  –  Woodrow Wilson

Sept. 10

                –  birthdays:  1857 –  James E Keeler  (astronomer – rings of Saturn)  /  1918 – Rin Tin Tin (movie star)  /  1929 – Arnold Palmer (golfer)  /  1934 – Roger Maris (famous home run hitter)  /  1950 – Joe Perry (Aerosmith guitarist – biggest hit = “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”)

                –  1608 – John Smith is elected counsel president of Jamestown after leading the colonists through the difficult first year

                –  1813 –  the turning point in the War of 1812 occurs when Commodore Oliver Perry defeats a British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie.  Perry famously reported:  “We have met the enemy and they are ours”.

                –  1846 –  Elias Howe patents the first hand-cranked sewing machine

                –  1942 –  wartime rationing of gasoline begins

                –  1945 –  Mike the Headless Chicken gets decapitated, yet lives another eighteen months

                –  1955 –  Gunsmoke premieres

                –  1975 – Kiss releases “Alive”

                –  1984 – Alex Trebek debuts as host of Jeopardy

                –  1991 –  Nirvana releases “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

                –  1993 –  X-Files debuts

Quote:    Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.  –  Lincoln

Sept. 11

                –  birthdays:  1862 – O. Henry (short story writer, “The Gift of the Magi”, “The Ransom of Red Chief”)  /  1902 –  Jimmie Davis (Governor of Louisiana, Country Music Hall of Fame – “You Are My Sunshine”)  /  1965 –  Moby  /  1967 – Harry Connick, Jr.  (singer)  /  1977 – Ludacris (rapper – biggest hit = “Stand Up”)

                –  1777 – the British defeat Washington in the Battle of Brandywine

                –  1789 – President Washington appoints Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury

                –  1814 – an American fleet led by Thomas MacDonough defeats a British fleet on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812

                –  1847 – “Oh! Susanna” by Stephen Foster is performed for the first time

                –  1857  –  the Mountain Meadows Massacre – Mormons murder a wagon train of settlers in Utah

                –  1914 –  WC Handy, the Father of the Blues, publishes “St. Louis Blues”

                –  1945 –  Hideki Tojo unsuccessfully attempts suicide to avoid his war crimes trial

                –  1985 –  Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb’s record for most hits in a career with his 4,192 hit

                –  1998 – the Starr Report is released chronicling Pres. Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky

                –  2001 –  the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are hit by airliners hijacked by terrorists from Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaida terrorist organization

Quote:  There never was a good war or a bad peace. –  Benjamin Franklin

Sept. 12

                –  birthdays:  1818 – Richard Jordan Gatling (inventor of the machine gun)  /  1880 – H.L. Mencken (journalist)  /  1913 – Jesse Owens (track star)  /  1944 – Barry White (singer – biggest hit = “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”)  /  1973 – Paul Walker (actor – Fast and the Furious)  /  1981 –  Jennifer Hudson (actress – Dreamgirls)

 

                –  1935 – Howard Hughes sets an air speed record of 352.46 miles per hour in a plane of his own design

                –  1943 – Mussolini is rescued from imprisonment by Hitler’s favorite commando – Otto Skorzeny

                –  1953 –  John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Bouvier

                –  1959 –  Bonanza premieres

                –  1974 –  violence breaks out in Boston over court ordered busing to integrate public schools

                –  1981 – The Smurfs premieres

                –  1992 – Mae Jemison becomes the first African-American in space on the space shuttle Endeavor

Quote:   Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.  –  Emerson

Sept. 13

                –  birthdays:  1847 – Milton Hershey (candy maker)  /  1851 – Walter Reed (doctor and bacteriologist who discovered mosquitoes cause yellow fever)  /  1860 – John J. Pershing (commanding general in WWI)  /  1886 – Alain Locke (first African-American Rhodes Scholar; author of The New Negro)  /  1911 –  Bill Monroe (father of Blue Grass music)  /  1969 – Tyler Perry (Medea movies)  /  1977 – Fiona Apple (singer – biggest hit =  “Criminal”)

                –  1814 –  during the War of 1812, the British bombardment of Fort McHenry inspires Francis Scott Key to write the “Star Spangled Banner”

                –   1826 –  first exhibition of a rhinosaurus in the U.S.

                –  1899 –  the first traffic fatality occurs in New York City when a pedestrian is run over

                –  1940 – Italy invades Ethiopia

                –  1942 – Battle of Stalingrad begins

                –  1948 –  Margaret Chase Smith is elected Senator, making her the first female to serve in both houses of Congress

                –  1965 –  Louis Armstrong wins a Grammy for “Hello, Dolly”

                –  1965 – the Beatles release “Yesterday”

                –  1969 – Scooby Doo cartoon debuts

                –  1985 – Super Mario Brothers game debuts

                –  1990 – Law and Order premieres

Quote:  I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.  –  Patrick Henry

Sept. 14

                –  birthdays:  1879 – Margaret Sanger (birth control advocate) 

                –  1847 – the Mexican War ends with Gen. Winfield Scott’s army capturing Mexico City

                –  1901 –  Pres. McKinley dies from the assassins bullet and Teddy Roosevelt becomes President

                –  1942 –  Marines defeat a Japanese attack on Guadalcanal in the Battle of Bloody Ridge

                –  1968 –  Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McClain wins his thirtieth game (he ended with thirty one)

                –  1975 –  Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American saint

                –  1982 –  actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Ranier of Monaco

                –  1984 –  at the first MTV Awards, the Cars win best video for “You Might Think”

                –  1985 – The Golden Girls premieres

Quote:  Falsehoods not only disagree with truths, but usually quarrel among themselves.  –  Daniel Webster

Sept. 15

                –  birthdays:  1789 – James Fenimore Cooper (author of The Last of the Mohicans)  /  Claude McKay (author and poet of the Harlem Renaissance) /  1857 –  William Howard Taft  /  1914 – Creighton Abrams (commanding general in Vietnam 1968-72)  /  1961 – Dan Marino (Hall of Fame quarterback)   

                –  1776 – in the Revolutionary War, the British occupy New York City

                –  1794 – future president James Madison marries Dolley Todd

                –  1916 –  the British use tanks for the first time in the Battle of the Somme

                –  1935 – Nuremberg Laws are passed in Nazi Germany to restrict Jewish rights

                –  1949 – The Lone Ranger premieres on TV

                –  1950  –  the Inchon landing in the Korean War

                –  1963 –  four African-American girls are killed in a church bombing by the KKK

                –  1971 – Columbo debuts

Quote:  The only way to have a friend is to be one.  –  Emerson

Sept. 16

                –  birthdays:  1875 – James Cash Penney (founder of JC Penney department stores)  /  1925 –  BB King (blues guitarist)  /  1927 – Peter Falk (actor – Colombo)  /  1956 – David Copperfield (magician)  /  1971 – Amy Poehler (actress – Parks and Recreation)  /  1992 –  Nick Jonas (one of the Jonas Brothers – biggest solo hit = “Jealous”) 

                –  1620 –  the Mayflower leaves Plymouth, England with 102 passengers

                –  1893 –  the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma is opened for land grabbing

                –  1908 – William Durant founds General Motors

                –  1920 –  the “Wall Street Bombing” –  a horse-drawn wagon full of explosives detonates killing 33 people, the terrorist(s) are never found

                –  1940 –  FDR signs the Selective and Training Act initiating the first peacetime draft

                –  1974 –  Pres. Ford offers conditional amnesty to Vietnam War draft evaders

                –  1991 – trial of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega begins

Quote:  Every life has its actual blanks, which the ideal must fill up, or which else remain bare and profitless forever.  –  Julia Ward Howe

Sept. 17

                –  birthdays:  1730 –  Baron von Steuben (trainer of the Continental Army at Valley Forge)  /  1907 – Warren Burger (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 1969-86)  /  1923 – Hank Williams, Sr. (country music legend; “Your Cheatin’ Heart”)  /  1928 –  Roddy McDowell (actor – Planet of the Apes)  /  1935 – Ken Kesey (counter-culture author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)  /  1945 – Phil Jackson (basketball coach)  /  1948 – John Ritter (actor – Three’s Company)  /  1949 – Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (“Fast and Furry-ous”)  /  1995 – Patrick Mahomes (quarterback)

                –  1787 – the Constitution is signed by 38 of 41 delegates in Independence Hall in Philadelphia

                –  1849 –  Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery

                –  1862 –  in the bloodiest day in American History, the Union and Confederacy battle to a tie in the Battle of Antietam

                –  1944 – the British launched the failed Operation Market Garden, an attempt to capture several bridges leading into Germany

                –  1972 – MASH premieres on TV

                –  1978 – Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to become the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship three times

                –  1978 – Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel sign the Camp David Accords

Quote:  I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.  –  Patrick Henry

Sept. 18

                –  birthdays:  1905 –  Greta Garbo (actress/sex symbol)  /  1939 –  Frankie Avalon (pop singer/teen idol)  /  1951 –  Ben Carson (neurosurgeon, politician, Secretary of HUD)  /  1961 – James Gandolfini (actor – The Sopranos)  /  1971 – Lance Armstrong (disgraced five-time winner of the Tour de France)  /  Jada Pinkett Smith (actress – The Nutty Professor)

                –  1793 – Pres. Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol Building

                –  1830 – the first American locomotive, Tom Thumb, loses a race to a horse (excuse:  boiler leak)

                –  1850 – the Fugitive Slave Act is passed

                –  1889 – Jane Addams opens Hull House, a settlement house, in Chicago

                –  1895 –  Booker T. Washington gives his “Atlanta Compromise” speech

                –  1947 –  the CIA is created

                –  1964 –  The Addams Family debuts on TV

                –  1965 – Get Smart and I Dream of Jeannie debut

                –  1975 –  Patty Hearst, the newspaper heiress, is arrested for bank robbery.  Hearst had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, but ended up joining them.

Quote:  Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it. – Greta Garbo

Sept. 19

                –  birthdays:  1905 – Leon Jaworski (Watergate special prosecutor)  /  1928 –  Adam West (TVs Batman)  /  1949 –  Twiggy (model)  / 1964 – Trisha Yearwood (country singer – biggest hit = “She’s in Love With the Boy”)  /  1967 – Jim Abbott (one armed baseball pitcher who threw a no-hitter)  /  1974 –  Jimmy Fallon

                –  1777 – Continental Army forces defeat British Gen. Burgoyne in the first Battle of Saratoga

                –  1796 –  Pres. Washington publishes the Farewell Address

                –  1865 – George Pullman is granted a patent for the railroad sleeping car

                –  1900 –  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rob their first bank

                –  1902 – the Wright Brothers begin a series of almost 1,000 glider flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

                –  1934 –  Bruno Hauptman arrested for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping/murder

                –  1952 –  The Adventures of Superman premieres on TV

                –  1959 –  Soviet Premier Khrushchev is told he cannot visit Disneyland during his trip to America

                –  1960 –  Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” reaches #1

                –  1968 –  Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McClain wins his 31^st game

                –  1970 –  The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuts

                –  1994 –  ER debuts

Quote:  Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.  –  Franklin 

Sept. 20

                –  birthdays:  1878 – Upton Sinclair (author and socialist;  wrote The Jungle)  /  1885 – Ferdinand (Jelly Roll) Morton (jazz pianist and composer)  /  1948 –  George R.R. Martin (author – Game of Thrones)

                –  1519 – Magellan begins his circumnavigation of the globe

                –  1853 – Elisha Otis sells his first “safety hoist” (elevator)

                –  1863 –  Confederate forces win the bloody Battle of Chickamauga

                –  1881 –  Chester Arthur sworn in after the death of Garfield

                –  1926 –  Bugs Moran’s attempted drive-by shooting of Al Capone fails

                –  1970 –  Jim Morrison of the Doors is found guilty of “obscenity and indecent exposure” for allegedly exposing himself in a concert

                –  1972 –  police find marijuana growing on Paul and Linda McCartney’s farm

                –  1976 –  Playboy releases interview where presidential candidate Jimmy Carter admits to lusting in his heart for women

                –  1984 –  The Cosby Show debuts

                –  2013 –  Grand Theft Auto becomes the first entertainment product to reach $1 billion in sales

Quote:  Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.  –  Franklin

Sept. 21

                –  birthdays:  1737 –  Frances Hopkinson (creator of the first American flag)  /  1912 – Chuck Jones (cartoonist – creator of Road Runner, Pepe Le Pew, and Wile E. Coyote)  /  1932 – Larry Hagman (actor – I Dream of Jeanie, Dallas)  /  1947 – Stephen King  /  1950 – Bill Murray  /  1967 – Faith Hill (country singer – biggest hit = “Breathe”)

                –  1776 –  Nathan Hale is arrested for spying on the British in NYC

                –  1780 –  Gen. Benedict Arnold secretly meets with a British agent to arrange the betrayal of West Point

                –  1827 –  Joseph Smith claims the angel Moroni leads him to golden plates that he translates into the “Book of Mormon”

                –  1897 –  the New York Sun prints the “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial

                –  1938 – the Great New England Hurricane kills almost 600 people and sinks 3,000 ships

                –  1970 – first Monday Night Football game – Browns beat the Jets 31-21

Quote:  You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.  –  Lincoln

Sept. 22

                –  birthdays:  1956 – Debby Boone (Grammy award winning singer – “You Light Up My Life”  /  1958 – Joan Jett (rock musician – biggest hit = “I Love Rock n’ Roll”)

                –  1692 – six women and one man are executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts

                –  1776 – Nathan Hale is hanged as a spy by the British – last words:  “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

                –  1862 –  Pres. Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation

                –  1893 –  the first American automobile, built by Charles and Frank Duryea, appears for the first time

                –  1911 – Cy Young wins his last baseball game, finishing with 511 wins

                –  1927 –  Gene Tunney defeats Jack Dempsey for the second time in the famous “Long Count” fight

                –  1949 –  the Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb

                –  1969 – Willie Mays becomes the second baseball player to hit 600 home runs

                –  1975 –  Sarah Jane Moore takes a shot at Pres. Ford

                –  1986 – Fernando Valenzuela becomes the first Mexican baseball player to win 20 games

                –  1994 –  Friends premieres

                –  2004 –  Lost debuts

Quote:  Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation;  for it is better to be alone than in bad company.  –  Washington

Sept. 23

                –  1838 – Victoria Woodhull (women’s rights advocate, presidential candidate)   /  1869 –  Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)  /  1920 – Mickey Rooney (actor – Andy Hardy series)  /  1930 – Ray Charles (blind singer – “Georgia On My Mind”)  /  1949 –  Bruce Springsteen (rock singer –  biggest hit = “Dancing in the Dark”)  /  1959 – Jason Alexander (actor – Seinfeld)

                –  1779 – during the Revolutionary War, the American ship the Bonhomme Richard, captained by John Paul Jones, defeats the HMS Serapis after Jones answers a surrender demand with the immortal words:  “I have not yet begun to fight”

                –  1806 – Lewis and Clark end their expedition by returning to St. Louis

                –  1875 –  William Bonney, the future Billy the Kid, is arrested for the first time, for stealing a bag of clothes from a laundry

                –  1926 – Gene Tunney defeats Jack Dempsey in their first fight to become heavyweight champion

                –  1950 – Ralph Bunche becomes the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize

                –  1952 –  Nixon gives his “Checkers Speech” on national TV

                –  1957 – white mob forces the Little Rock Nine to withdraw from Central High

                –  2003 –  NCIS premieres

                –  2009 –  Modern Family debuts

Quote:  Equal rights for all, special privileges for none. –  Jefferson

Sept. 24

                –  birthdays: 1755 – John Marshall (Chief Justice)  /  1896 –   F. Scott Fitzgerald (author – The Great Gatsby)  /  1936 –  Jim Henson (creator of The Muppets)  /  1948 – Phil Hartman (comedian – Saturday Night Live)

                –  1789 –  the Judiciary Act is passed establishing the Supreme Court

                –  1908 –  the first Model T Ford rolls off the assembly line

                –  1918 –  Lt. David Ingalls becomes the first Navy ace

                –  1924 – aviator Jimmy Doolittle becomes the first pilot to take off and land using just instruments (the plane had no windows)

                –  1952 –  first KFC franchise opens in Salt Lake City, Utah

                – 1955 –  Pres. Eisenhower suffers a heart attack while on vacation in Denver

                –  1957 –  Elvis Presley releases “Heartbreak Hotel”

                –  1964 – the Warren Commission finishes its investigation of the Kennedy assassination concluding that Oswald acted alone and there was no conspiracy

                –  1968 –  60 Minutes debuts

                –  2007 –  The Big Bang Theory premieres

Quote:  The ballot is stronger than the bullet.  –  Lincoln 

Sept. 25

                –  birthdays:  1897 –  William Faulkner (author – The Sound and the Fury)  /  1915 –  Ethel Rosenberg (executed for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets)  /  1931 – Barbara Walters (television reporter)  /  1944 –  Michael Douglas (actor – Fatal Attraction)  /  1951 –  Mark Hamill (actor – Star Wars)  / 1952 –  Christopher Reeve (actor – Superman)    /  1968 – Will Smith (actor – Independence Day)  /  1969 – Catherine Zeta-Jones (actress, wife of Michael Douglas)  /  1983 –  Donald Glover (actor, writer, singer – Atlanta, Childish Gambino)

                –  1513 –  Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crosses the Isthmus of Panama to become the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the east

                –  1789 –  the Bill of Rights is passed and sent to the states for ratification

                –  1919 –  on a tour supporting the League of Nations, Pres. Wilson collapses.  One week later, he suffers a paralyzing stroke

                –  1957 –  the U.S. Army escorts nine African-American students into Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas

                –  1981 –  Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first woman on the Supreme Court

                –  1991 – Nirvana releases “Nevermind”

Quote:  Wish not so much to live long as to live well.  –  Franklin

Sept. 26

                –  birthdays:  1774 – Johnny Chapman (Appleseed)  /    1898 – George Gershwin (composer – “Rhapsody in Blue”, Porgy and Bess)  /   1915 – Jack LaLanne (fitness expert)  /  1925 – Marty Robbins (Hall of Fame country singer – “El Paso”, “Streets of Laredo”)  /  Olivia Newton-John (pop singer – Grease, biggest hit = “Physical”)  /  1972 – Beto O’Rourke (politician)  /  1981 – Serena Williams

                –  1580 – Sir Francis Drake becomes the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe in his ship the Golden Hind 

                –  1777 –  the British capture Philadelphia

                –  1789 –  Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first Secretary of State and John Jay is appointed first Chief Justice

                –  1892 –  John Philip Sousa’s band performs for the first time 

                –  1918 –  the Meuse-Argonne Offensive begins

                –  1944 –  Operation Market Garden ends in failure

                –  1960 –  Kennedy and Nixon face off in the first televised debate

                –  1964 –  Gilligan’s Island debuts

                –  1969 –  the Beatle’s Abbey Road is released

                –  1986 –  Run-DMC becomes the first rap group to have a top ten hit (“Raisin’ Hell”)

Quote:  When a man does all he can, though it succeeds not well, blame not him that did it.  –  Washington 

Sept. 27

                –  birthdays:  1722 – Samuel Adams (Father of the American Revolution)  /  1817 – Hiram Revels (first African-American senator)  /  1840 – Thomas Nast (political cartoonist)  /  1840 –  Alfred Thayer Mahan (naval strategist – The Influence of Seapower on History)  / 1896 –  Sam Ervin (Senator who headed the Watergate committee)  /  1941 –  Don Cornelius (TV host of “Soul Train”)  /  1947 – Meatloaf (rock singer – biggest hit = “I’d Do Anything For Love”)  /  1972 – Gwyneth Paltrow (actress – Iron Man)  /  1984 –  Avril Lavigne (singer – biggest hit = “Girlfriend”)

                –  1864 – Jesse James gang robs train and 150 people die

                –  1869 – in his first job as sheriff of Hays County in Kansas, “Wild Bill” Hickok ends a bar fight by shooting one of the participants in the head

                –  1892 –  book matches are patented

                –  1912 –  W.C. Handy publishes the first blues song – “Memphis Blues”

                –  1939 –  Warsaw falls to the Germans

                –  1940 –  the Tripartite Pact unites the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan

                –  1941 –  the first Liberty ship is completed

                –  1950 –  American forces recapture Seoul, weeks after the Inchon landing

                –  1959 –  Soviet Premier Khrushchev leaves the U.S. after his two week tour

                –  1962 –  Rachel Carson starts the environmental movement by publishing Silent Spring

                –  1964 –  the Warren Commission is released

Quote:   There are no gains without pains.  –  Franklin

Sept. 28

                –  birthdays:  1902 –  Ed Sullivan (variety show host)  /  1987 –  Hillary Duff

                –  1918 – Corporal Adolf Hitler’s life is spared by British Private Henry Tandey

                –  1941 –  Ted Williams finishes the baseball season with a .406 average (the last major leaguer to hit .400)

                –  1968 –  the Beatles’ “Hey, Jude” reaches #1;  at over 7 minutes long, it holds the record for longest #1 hit

Quote:  Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.  –  Jefferson 

Sept. 29

                –  birthdays:  1907 –  Gene Autry (“The Singing Cowboy”)  /  1935 –  Jerry Lee Lewis (rock n’ roller, “Great Balls of Fire”)  .  1988 – Kevin Durant

                –  1916 – John D. Rockefeller becomes the world’s first billionaire

                –  1938 – the Munich Conference

                –  1988 –  Stacy Allison becomes the first American woman to climb Mount Everest

Quote:  The diffusion of knowledge is the only true guardian of liberty.  –  Madison

Sept. 30

                –  birthdays:  1861 –  William Wrigley, Jr. (gum maker)  /  1924 –  Truman Capote (author – In Cold Blood )  /  1928 –  Elie Wiesel (Holocaust survivor/author – Night) 

                –  1868 – Louisa May Alcott publishes the first volume of Little Women

                –  1882 –  world’s first hydroelectric plant opens up on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin

                –  1889 –  Wyoming becomes first state with women’s suffrage

                –  1927 –  Babe Ruth hits his record-setting 60^th home run of the season

                –  1938 –  the Munich Pact is signed giving Hitler the Sudetenland

                –  1946 –  the Nuremberg Trials ends with 22 Nazi leaders being found guilty

                –  1949 –  the Berlin Airlift ends after 15 months and more than 250,000 flights

                –  1953 –  Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice

                –  1955 –  teen idol/movie star James Dean dies in a car accident

                –  1960 –  The Flintstones becomes the first animated sitcom on TV

                –  1962 –  riots break out at Mississippi University as James Meredith attempts to become the first African-American to attend a major southern university

                –  1962 –  Cesar Chavez founds the United Farm Workers union

                –  1975 –  in the “Thrilla in Manila”, Ali defends his heavyweight crown against Joe Frazier  

Quote:  Facts are stubborn things.  – John Adams