TODAY IN HISTORY

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

Today’s Highlight in History:

On September 1, 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:

■ In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was found not guilty of treason. (Burr was then tried on a misdemeanor charge, but was again acquitted.)

■ In 1923, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some 140,000 lives.

■ In 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

■ In 1981, Albert Speer, a close associate of Adolf Hitler who ran the Nazi war machine, died at a London hospital at age 76.

Ten years ago: Hurricane Gustav slammed into the heart of Louisiana’s fishing and oil industry with 110 mph winds, delivering only a glancing blow to New Orleans. John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, revealed that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. Jerry Lewis raised a record $65 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in his annual Labor Day telethon. Country singer-actor Jerry Reed died in Nashville at age 71.

Thought for Today: “The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.”— Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German scientist (1742-1799).