TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 1, the 244th day of 2021. There are 121 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Sept. 1, 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
1923 — The Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some 140,000 lives.
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.)
1985 — A US-French expedition located the wreckage of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off Newfoundland.
2015 — Invoking “God’s authority,” Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to gay couples again in direct defiance of the federal courts, and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail. (Davis would spend five days in jail; she was released only after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form.)
Ten years ago — In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle. Leaders and envoys from 60 countries and the UN met in Paris for talks with Libya’s rebel-led National Transitional Council to map the country’s future.
Five years ago — A massive fireball and explosion erupted at SpaceX’s main launch pad at Cape Canaveral, destroying a rocket as well as a satellite that Facebook was counting on to spread Internet service in Africa.
One year ago — Visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he toured the charred remains of a city block, President Donald Trump blamed “domestic terror” for the violence that had followed the shooting of Jacob Blake, who had been left paralyzed when he was shot in the back seven times by a police officer.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor George Maharis is 93. Conductor Seiji Ozawa is 86. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 83. Comedian-actor Lily Tomlin is 82. Actor Don Stroud is 78. Conductor Leonard Slatkin is 77.