Today In History

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 1, the 245th day of 2020. 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, Minnesota, and five other communities, killing more than 400 people.

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

› 1941: The first municipally owned parking building in the United States opened in Welch, West Virginia.

› 1942: U.S. District Court Judge Martin I. Welsh, ruling from Sacramento, California, 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.

› 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.

› 2005: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued a “desperate SOS” as his city descended into anarchy amid the flooding left by Hurricane Katrina.

› 2009: Vermont’s law allowing same-sex marriage went into effect.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor George Maharis is 92. Conductor Seiji Ozawa is 85. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 82. Comedian-actor Lily Tomlin is

81. Rock musician Greg Errico is 72. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is

70. Singer Gloria Estefan is 63. Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is 59. Jazz musician Boney James is 59. Singer-musician Grant Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo) is 57. Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison is 56. Retired NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is 54. Rap DJ Spigg Nice (Lost Boyz) is 50. Rock singer JD Fortune is 47. Actor Scott Speedman is 45. Country singer Angaleena Presley (Pistol Annies) is 44. Actor Boyd Holbrook is

39. Actor Zoe Lister-Jones is 38. Rock musician Joe Trohman is 36. Actor Aisling Loftus is 30.