Today in History

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 1, the 245th day of 2016. There are 121 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 1, 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

On this date:

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

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

In 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.)

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 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: Mexican President Vicente (vih-SEN'-tay) Fox was forced to forego delivering his final state-of-the-nation address in person after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage of Congress to protest disputed July elections; Fox instead gave his speech on television. An Iranian passenger plane caught fire on landing in Mashhad, killing 28 of the 148 people on board. Nellie Connally, the former Texas first lady who was riding in President John F. Kennedy's limousine when he was assassinated, died in Austin, Texas, at age 87.

Five years ago: In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Libya's Moammar Gadhafi warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle. Leaders and envoys from 60 countries and the U.N. met in Paris for talks with Libya's rebel-led National Transitional Council to map the country's future.

One year ago: President Barack Obama stared down a melting glacier in Alaska in a dramatic use of his presidential pulpit to sound the alarm on climate change. Invoking "God's authority," Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to gay couples again in direct defiance of the federal courts, and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail. Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, a police officer for Fox Lake, Illinois, was found shot to death after reporting he was pursuing a group of men; authorities eventually concluded that Gliniewicz's death was a suicide. Actor Dean Jones, 84, died in Los Angeles.

Today's Birthdays: Former Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird is 94. Actor George Maharis is 88. Conductor Seiji Ozawa is 81. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 78. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 77. Actor Don Stroud is 73. Conductor Leonard Slatkin is 72. Singer Archie Bell is 72. Singer Barry Gibb is 70. Rock musician Greg Errico is 68. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 66. Singer Gloria Estefan is 59. Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is 55. Jazz musician Boney James is 55. Singer-musician Grant Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo) is 53. Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison is 52. Retired NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is 50. Rap DJ Spigg Nice (Lost Boyz) is 46. Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira is 45. Actor Maury Sterling is 45. Rock singer JD Fortune is 43. Actor Scott Speedman is 41. Country singer Angaleena Presley (Pistol Annies) is 40. Actor Boyd Holbrook is 35. Actress Zoe Lister-Jones is 34. Rock musician Joe Trohman is 32. Actress Aisling Loftus is 26.

Thought for Today: "The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth." -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German scientist (1742-1799).