On this date

1666 — The Great Fire of London broke out. 1789 — The United States Treasury Department was established. 1864 — During the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces occupied Atlanta. 1901 — Vice President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, “Speak softly and carry a big stick” in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair. 1924 — The Rudolf Friml operetta “Rose Marie” opened on Broadway. 1935 — A Labor Day hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys, claiming more than 400 lives. 1945 — Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent republic. (Ho died on this date in 1969.) 1963 — Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers. “The CBS Evening News” with Walter Cronkite was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes, becoming network television’s first halfhour nightly newscast. 1969 — In what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable. 1972 — Dave Wottle of the United States won the men’s 800-meter race at the Munich Summer Olympics. 1986 — A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Cathy Evelyn Smith to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter for her role in the 1982 drug overdose death of comedian John Belushi. (Smith served 18 months.) 1998 — A Swissair MD-11 jetliner crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard. 2000 — A 13-year-old Rome Middle School eighth-grader was bitten by a bat at the ninth hole of a local golf course. He was treated for rabies as a precaution. The bat later tested negative.