Today In History

Today is Saturday, Sept. 1, the 244th day of 2018. There are 121 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1945: Americans received word of Japan’s formal surrender that ended World War II. (Because of the time difference, it was Sept. 2 in Tokyo Bay, where the ceremony took place.)

ON THIS DATE

› 1894: The Great Hinckley Fire destroyed Hinckley, Minn., and five other communities, and killed more than 400 people.

› 1939: World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

› 1942: U.S. District Court Judge Martin I. Welsh, ruling from Sacramento, Calif., on a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Fred Korematsu, upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals.

› 1951: The United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense pact, the ANZUS treaty.

› 1972: American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, as Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned before the resumption of Game 21.

› 1985: A U.S.-French expedition located the wreckage of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off Newfoundland.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor George Maharis is 90. Conductor Seiji Ozawa is 83. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 80. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 79. Actor Don Stroud is 75. Conductor Leonard Slatkin is 74. Singer Archie Bell is 74. Singer Barry Gibb is 72. Rock musician Greg Errico is 70. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 68. Singer Gloria Estefan is

61. Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is 57. Jazz musician Boney James is 57. Singer-musician Grant Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo) is 55. Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison is 54. Retired NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is 52. Rap DJ Spigg Nice (Lost Boyz) is

48. Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira is 47. Actor Maury Sterling is 47. Rock singer JD Fortune is 45. Actor Scott Speedman is 43. Country singer Angaleena Presley (Pistol Annies) is 42. Actor Boyd Holbrook is 37. Actress Zoe Lister-Jones is 36. Rock musician Joe Trohman is 34. Actress Aisling Loftus is 28.