Also on this date
In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.
In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.
In 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued rules prohibiting racial discrimination on interstate buses.
In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed.
In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.
In 1989, the Irish Republican Army bombed the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, Kent, England, killing 11 band members.
In 1993, 47 people were killed when an Amtrak passenger train fell off a bridge and crashed into Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama. (A tugboat pilot lost in fog pushed a barge into the railroad bridge, knocking the tracks 38 inches out of line just minutes before the train arrived.)
In 1995, an AWACS plane carrying U.S. and Canadian military personnel crashed on takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, killing all 24 people aboard.
In 2014, the United States and five Arab nations launched airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, sending waves of planes and Tomahawk cruise missiles against an array of targets.
Ten years ago: Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after an intimate gay encounter in his dormitory room was captured by a webcam and streamed online by his roommate without his knowledge. (Dharun Ravi was convicted of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and other counts and served less than a month in jail.)
Five years ago: Volkswagen AG acknowledged putting emissions cheating software in millions of vehicles worldwide.
One year ago: “Game of Thrones” won the best drama series Emmy Award for its final season, tying its record of 12 years in a single year for the third time, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “Fleabag” was comedy’s big winner, winning best comedy series and best actress for its star and creator.