September 2
is the 245th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (246th in
leap years). After , there are 120 days left in the year.
*
44 BC -
Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as
Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
* 44 BC - The first of
Cicero's
Philippics (oratorical attacks) on
Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the next several months.
*
31 BC -
Roman Civil War:
Battle of Actium - Off the western coast of
Greece, forces of
Octavian defeat troops under
Mark Antony and
Cleopatra.
*
1649 - The
Italian city of
Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of
Pope Innocent X, ending the
Wars of Castro.
*
1666 - The
Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including
St. Paul's Cathedral.
*
1752 - The
United Kingdom adopts the
Gregorian Calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.
*
1789 - The
United States Department of the Treasury is founded.
*
1792 - During what became known as the
September Massacres of the
French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three
Roman Catholic Church bishops and more than two hundred
priests.
*
1807 -
British Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent
Denmark from surrendering its fleet to
Napoleon.
*
1833 -
Oberlin College is founded by
John Shipherd and
Philo P. Stewart.
*
1862 -
American Civil War: President
Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores
Union General
George McClellan to full command after General
John Pope's disastrous defeat at the
Battle of Second Bull Run.
*
1864 - American Civil War:
Union forces enter
Atlanta, Georgia a day after the
Confederate defenders flee the city.
*
1867 -
Mutsuhito, the
Meiji Emperor of
Japan marries
Ichijo Masako. The
Empress consort is thereafter known as
Lady Haruko.
*
1870 -
Franco-Prussian War:
Battle of Sedan -
Prussian forces take French Emperor
Napoleon III and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner.
*
1885 - In
Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners attack their
Chinese fellow workers, killing 28, wounding 15, and forcing several hundred more out of town.
*
1898 -
Battle of Omdurman - British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establishing British dominance in the
Sudan.
*
1901 -
Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a
big stick" at the
Minnesota State Fair.
*
1925 - The U.S.
Zeppelin the
USS Shenandoah crashes, killing 14.
*
1935 -
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: A large
hurricane hits the
Florida Keys killing 423.
*
1939 - Following the invasion of Poland,
Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now
Gdańsk,
Poland) is annexed to
Nazi Germany.
*
1944 -
Holocaust: Diarist
Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from
Westerbork to
Auschwitz, arriving three days later.
*
1945 -
World War II ends: The final official surrender of
Japan is accepted aboard the battleship
USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
* 1945 -
Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (
North Vietnam).
*
1946 -
Ayn Rand begins writing
Atlas Shrugged.
*
1958 -
U.S. Air Force C-130A-II is shot down by fighters over
Yerevan, Armenia when it strays into
Soviet airspace while conducting a
sigint mission. All crew lost.
*
1963 -
CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network
television's first half-hour weeknight
news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
*
1967 - The
microstate Principality of Sealand unilaterally declares its independence.
*
1969 - The first
automatic teller machine in the United States is installed in
Rockville Center, New York.
*
1970 -
NASA announces the
cancellation of two
Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation was re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
*
1987 - In
Moscow, the trial begins of 19-year-old pilot
Mathias Rust, who flew his
Cessna aircraft into
Red Square in May 1987.
*
1990 -
Transnistria unilaterally proclaimed as Soviet republic; the Soviet president
Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
*
1991 - The
United States recognizes the independence of the
Baltic states:
Estonia,
Latvia, and
Lithuania.
*
1995 - The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in
Cleveland, Ohio.
* 1995 -
Frank Bruno wins the
WBC World
Heavyweight Title from
Oliver McCall at
Wembley Stadium.
*
1996 - A peace agreement is signed between the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the
Moro National Liberation Front in
Malacañang Palace.
*
1998 - In
Canada, pilots for
Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history.
* 1998 -
Swissair Flight 111 crashes near
Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.
* 1998 - The
UN's
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds
Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in
Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of
genocide.
*
2001 - The adult-oriented television programming block,
Adult Swim premieres on
Cartoon Network.
*
2002 - WWE crowns its first
World Heavyweight Champion when
Eric Bischoff awarded the belt to
Triple H, who was the original Number One Contender for the
WWE Championship but his opponent
Brock Lesnar refused to defend the belt of the
Raw brand.
*
2003 - A ride accident at
Disneyland Park in
Anaheim, California claimed the life of one man that was riding the
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The coupler between the engine and the first car was rumored to have snapped and struck the man in the chest.
*
1243 -
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, English politician (d.
1295)
*
1548 -
Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (d.
1616)
*
1661 -
Georg Böhm, German organist (d.
1733)
*
1675 -
William Somervile, English poet (d.
1742)
*
1805 -
Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (d.
1851)
*
1810 -
William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian
*
1830 -
William P. Frye, American politician
*
1838 -
Liliuokalani of Hawaii, Queen of Hawaii (d.
1917)
*
1850 -
Albert Spalding, baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer (d.
1915)
* 1850 -
Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (d.
1919)
*
1853 -
Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1932)
*
1854 -
Hans Jæger, Norwegian writer and political activist (d.
1910)
*
1862 -
Franjo Krežma, Croatian violinist (d.
1881)
* 1862 -
Heinrich Knirr, German painter (d.
1944)
*
1877 -
Frederick Soddy, British chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1956)
*
1878 -
Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (d.
1946)
*
1879 -
An Jung-geun, Japanese assassin of
Ito Hirobumi (d.
1910)
*
1884 -
Dr. Frank C. Laubach, Christian missionary (d.
1970)
*
1914 -
Tom Glazer, American folk singer and songwriter (d.
2003)
*
1917 -
Cleveland Amory, American author (d.
1998)
*
1923 -
Rene Thom, French mathematician (d.
2002)
*
1924 -
Daniel arap Moi,
President of Kenya*
1929 -
Hal Ashby, American film director (d.
1988)
*
1936 -
Andrew Grove, American computer chip manufacturer
*
1938 -
Clarence Felder, American actor
*
1941 -
David Bale, South African-born activist (d.
2003)
*
1944 -
Al Matthews, American actor (d.
2002)
*
1946 -
Billy Preston, American musician (d.
2006)
*
1948 -
Terry Bradshaw, American football player
* 1948 -
Christa McAuliffe, American schoolteacher and astronaut (d.
1986)
*
1950 -
Rosanna DeSoto, American actress
* 1950 -
Yuen Wah, Chinese actor and stuntman
*
1951 -
Mark Harmon, American actor
*
1952 -
Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
*
1953 -
John Zorn, American musician
*
1960 -
Sue Foley, American writer
* 1960 -
Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian politician
* 1960 -
Rex Hudler, baseball player
*
1961 -
Eric Dickerson, American football player
* 1961 -
Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
*
1962 -
Prachya Pinkaew, Thai film director
*
1964 -
Keanu Reeves, American actor
*
1965 -
Lennox Lewis, British-born boxer
* 1965 -
Partho Sen-Gupta, Indian filmmaker
*
1966 -
Salma Hayek, Mexican actress
*
1968 -
Cynthia Watros, American actress
*
1969 -
Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, American singer
*
1971 -
Tommy Maddox, American football player
*
1973 -
Pawan Kalyan, Indian actor
*
1976 -
Phil Lipscomb, American bassist (
Taproot)
*
1977 -
Ramiro Muñoz, Colombian musician
*
1981 -
Chris Tremlett, English cricketer
* 1981 -
Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress
*
1982 -
Joey Barton, English footballer
*
421 -
Constantius III,
Roman Emperor*
1031 -
Saint Emeric of Hungary*
1274 -
Prince Munetaka, Japanese shogun (b.
1242)
*
1397 -
Francesco Landini, Italian composer
*
1540 -
Lebna Dengel,
Emperor of Ethiopia (b.
1501)
*
1680 -
Per Brahe, Swedish soldier and statesman (b.
1602)
*
1688 -
Robert Viner, Lord Mayor of London (b.
1631)
*
1690 -
Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (b.
1615)
*
1764 -
Nathaniel Bliss, English
Astronomer Royal (b.
1700)
*
1765 -
Henry Bouquet, Swiss-born British army officer (b.
1719)
*
1768 -
Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (b.
1703)
*
1790 -
Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (b.
1701)
*
1813 -
Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (mortally wounded in battle) (b.
1763)
*
1820 -
Jiaqing,
Emperor of China (b.
1760)
*
1832 -
Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian astronomer (b.
1854)
*
1834 -
Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer (b.
1757)
*
1865 -
William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (b.
1805)
*
1872 -
Nicolai Grundtvig, Danish writer and philosopher (b.
1783)
*
1898 -
Wilford Woodruff, president of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b.
1807)
*
1910 -
Henri Rousseau, French painter (b.
1844)
*
1921 -
Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b.
1840)
* 1921 -
Anthony Francis Lucas Croatian-born oil pioneer (b.
1855)
*
1934 -
Alcide Nunez, American musician (b.
1884)
*
1937 -
Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games (b.
1863)
*
1948 -
Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and spy (b.
1883)
*
1953 -
Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, U.S. general (b.
1883)
*
1964 -
Alvin York, American soldier (b.
1887)
*
1964 -
Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (b.
1900)
*
1965 -
Johannes Bobrowski, German writer (b.
1917)
*
1969 -
Ho Chi Minh,
President of Vietnam (b.
1890)
*
1973 -
Carl Dudley, American film director (b.
1910)
* 1973 -
J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (b.
1892)
*
1976 -
Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish writer (b.
1934)
*
1985 -
Abe Lenstra, Dutch footballer (b.
1920)
*
1991 -
Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1911)
*
1992 -
Barbara McClintock, American geneticist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1902)
*
1994 -
Roy Castle, British entertainer (b.
1932)
*
1997 -
Rudolph Bing, Austrian-born opera manager (b.
1902)
* 1997 -
Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b.
1905)
*
1998 -
Jackie Blanchflower, Irish footballer (b.
1933)
* 1998 -
Allen Drury, American author (b.
1918)
*
2000 -
Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (d.
1905)
* 2000 -
Curt Siodmak, German-born author (b.
1907)
*
2001 -
Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon (b.
1922)
* 2001 -
Troy Donahue, American actor (b.
1936)
*
2002 -
Dick Reynolds, Australian footballer and coach (b.
1915)
*
2004 -
Joan Oró, Catalan scientist (b.
1923)
*
2005 -
Bob Denver, American actor (b.
1935)
*Also see
September 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
RC Saints -
Saint Sophia*
Mauritius - Ganesh Chaturthi
*
Transnistria -
Independence day, note Transnistria is not an internationally recognized independent state
*Sedan Day (Sedantag) - traditional national German holiday (see
Sedan, France) that commemorates
Prussia's victory over
France in
1870, making the German Empire a reality.
*
Vietnam -
National Day (independence from France, 1945)
*
BBC: On This Day-
September 1 -
September 3 -
August 2 -
October 2 - more
historical anniversaries
