Today in History

Today is Tuesday, September 1, the 244th day of 2015. There are 121 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On September 1, 1715, following a reign of 72 years, King Louis XIV of France died four days before his 77th birthday.

On this date:

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was found not guilty of treason. (Burr was then tried on a misdemeanor charge, but was again acquitted.)

In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan entered Confederation as the eighth and ninth provinces of Canada.

In 1914, the last passenger pigeon in captivity, "Martha," died at the Cincinnati Zoo.

In 1923, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some 140,000 lives.

In 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

In 1945, Americans received word of Japan's formal surrender that ended World War II. (Because of the time difference, it was September 2 in Tokyo Bay, where the ceremony took place.)

In 1951, the United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense pact, the ANZUS treaty.

In 1969, a coup in Libya brought Moammar Gadhafi to power.

In 1976, U.S. Rep. Wayne L. Hays, D-Ohio, resigned in the wake of a scandal in which he admitted having an affair with "secretary" Elizabeth Ray.

In 1983, 269 people were killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace.

In 1985, a U.S.-French expedition located the wreckage of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off Newfoundland.

In 1995, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. (The hall opened to the public the next day.)

Ten years ago: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS" as his city descended into anarchy amid the flooding left by Hurricane Katrina. Al-Qaida's number-two made the terror group's first direct claim of responsibility for the July 7 bombings in London in a videotape.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama convened a new round of ambitious Mideast peace talks at the White House as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the first face-to-face negotiations in nearly two years. A man upset with the Discovery Channel's programming took two employees and a security officer hostage at the network's headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland; police shot and killed the gunman, James Jae Lee, and all three hostages escaped safely. Cammie King Conlon, 76, the former child actress who'd played the doomed Bonnie Blue Butler in "Gone with the Wind," died in Fort Bragg, California.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, addressing a union crowd in Milwaukee, renewed his push for Congress to raise the minimum wage in a buoyant accounting of the economy's "revving" performance. The U.N.'s top human rights body overwhelmingly approved the Iraqi government's request for an investigation into alleged crimes against civilians committed by the Islamic State group in its rampage across northeastern Syria and parts of Iraq. Cole Hamels and three Philadelphia Phillies relievers combined to pitch a no-hitter, the fourth of the season, beating the Atlanta Braves 7-0.

Today's Birthdays: Former Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird is 93. Actor George Maharis is 87. Conductor Seiji Ozawa is 80. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 77. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 76. Actor Don Stroud is 72. Conductor Leonard Slatkin is 71. Singer Archie Bell is 71. Singer Barry Gibb is 69. Rock musician Greg Errico is 67. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 65. Singer Gloria Estefan is 58. Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is 54. Jazz musician Boney James is 54. Singer-musician Grant Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo) is 52. Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison is 51. Retired NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is 49. Rap DJ Spigg Nice (Lost Boyz) is 45. Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira is 44. Actor Maury Sterling is 44. Rock singer JD Fortune is 42. Actor Scott Speedman is 40. Country singer Angaleena Presley (Pistol Annies) is 39. Actor Boyd Holbrook is 34. Actress Zoe Lister-Jones is 33. Rock musician Joe Trohman is 31. Actress Aisling (ASH'-ling) Loftus is 25.

Thought for Today: "There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself." -- King Louis XIV (1638-1715).

Copyright 2015, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.