TODAY’S HISTORY

1945: U.S. military forces declared the island of Iwo Jima secure after 25 days of fighting.

1968: U.S. Army soldiers massacred more than 300 civilians in the My Lai village in South Vietnam.

1988: Lt. Col. Oliver North and Vice Adm. John Poindexter were indicted on charges of conspiracy during the Iran-contra affair. 1998: Mass trials began in Rwanda for roughly 125,000 suspected perpetrators of the country’s 1994 genocide.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

James Madison (17511836), fourth U.S. president; Henny Youngman (1906-1998), comedian;

Pat Nixon (1912-1993), U.S. first lady; Jerry Lewis (19262017), comedian; Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), U.S. senator; Chuck Woolery (1941-), game show host; Nancy Wilson (1954-), singer-songwriter; Ozzie Newsome (1956-), football player/executive; Patty Griffin (1964-), singer-songwriter; Gore Verbinski (1964-), filmmaker; Lauren Graham (1967-), actress; Joel Embiid (1994-), basketball player.

TODAY’S FACT: James Madison was the shortest U.S. president, at 5 feet 4 inches tall. He is estimated to have weighed 100 lbs.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1994, figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation into the conspiracy to attack rival Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I love distracting myself, just like anyone else. But I also feel a more urgent need in myself to make an effort, to be present and to try to be something that is in favor of life. Of human life.” — Patty Griffin

TODAY’S NUMBER: $2.5 billion — total donations raised for the Muscular Dystrophy Association through entertainer Jerry Lewis’ annual telethon, a nearly 24-hour event that aired every Labor Day from 1966 to 2010.