September 8

Events

• 1331 - Stefan Dusan declares himself king of Serbia
• 1380 - Battle of Kulikovo - Russian forces under Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols, stopping their advance.
• 1449 - Battle of Tumu Fortress - Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor.
• 1565 - The Knights of Malta lift the Turkish siege of Malta (siege started on May 18).
• 1636 - A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes Harvard College as the first college founded in the Americas.
• 1771 - In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission San Gabriel Arcangel in what is now San Gabriel, California.
• 1796 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Bassano - French forces defeat Austrian troops at Bassano.
• 1810 - The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six month journey around the tip of South America, the ship will arrive at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men will establish fur-trading town of Astoria.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Sabine Pass - On the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.
• 1888 - In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman is found.
• 1900 - 1900 Galveston Hurricane: A large hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 6,000 people.
• 1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
• 1934 - Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner Morro Castle kills 134 people.
• 1935 - US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish", is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
• 1941 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins - German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad.
• 1943 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.
• 1943 - World War II: Julius Fucik, was executed by Nazis.
• 1944 - World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
• 1944 - World War II: Menton is liberated from Germany.
• 1945 - Cold War: United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.
• 1951 - Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign Sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.
• 1954 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established.
• 1960 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).
• 1966 - The first episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek airs.
• 1971 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
• 1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
• 1994 - A Boeing 737 carrying USAir Flight 427 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport. There are no survivors.
• 1995 - Timon and Pumbaa Launches On All Major Television networks
• 1998 - At Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, Mark McGwire breaks Roger Maris' 1961 record 61 home runs hit in a single season.
• 1999 - US Attorney General Janet Reno names former US Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

Births

• 1157 - King Richard I of England (d. 1199)
• 1207 - King Sancho II of Portugal
• 1841 - Antonin Dvorak, composer (d. 1904)
• 1886 - Siegfried Sassoon, poet (d. 1967)
• 1889 - Robert Alphonso Taft, Senator from Ohio (d. 1953)
• 1897 - Jimmie Rodgers, country music singer, composer (d. 1933)
• 1910 - Jean-Louis Barrault, actor, director (d. 1994)
• 1914 - Sir Denys Lasdun, architect (d. 2001)
• 1922 - Sid Caesar, comedian
• 1925 - Peter Sellers, actor (d. 1980)
• 1930 - Nguyen Cao Ky, Premier of South Vietnam
• 1932 - Patsy Cline, country music singer
• 1934 - Peter Maxwell Davies, composer
• 1937 - Virna Lisi, actress (d. 1963)
• 1938 - Sam Nunn, Senator from Georgia
• 1945 - Ron Pigpen McKernan, musician (the Grateful Dead)
• 1945 - Jose Feliciano, singer
• 1947 - Ann Beattie, writer
• 1960 - Aimee Mann, musician
• 1970 - Neko Case, musician
• 1979 - Pink (Alecia Moore), singer
• 1981 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, actor

Deaths

• 780 - Leo IV, Byzantine Emperor
• 1637 - Robert Fludd
• 1811 - Peter Simon Pallas, German zoologist (* 1741)
• 1933 - Faysal I, king of Iraq
• 1943 - Julius Fucik, Czech communist and journalist, executed by Nazis.
• 1949 - Richard Strauss, German composer (* 1864)
• 1965 - Dorothy Dandridge, actress
• 1969 - Bud Collyer, television game show host
• 1969 - Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, buddhist and writer
• 1977 - Zero Mostel, actor
• 1979 - Jean Seberg, actress
• 1981 - Roy Wilkins, civil rights activist
• 2003 - Leni Riefenstahl, movie maker

Holidays

• Mare de Deu de Meritxell - National day of Andorra
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Izzat (Might) - First day of the tenth month of the Bahá'í Calendar

See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By