Today in History

Today is Sunday, Sept. 1, the 244th day of 2019. There are 121 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

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

In 1942, U.S. District Court Judge Martin I. Welsh, ruling from Sacramento, Calif., on a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Fred Korematsu, upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals.

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 1961, the Soviet Union ended a moratorium on atomic testing with an above-ground nuclear explosion in central Asia. A TWA Lockheed Constellation crashed shortly after takeoff from Chicago's Midway Airport, killing all 78 people on board.

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

In 1972, American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, as Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned before the resumption of Game 21. An arson fire at the Blue Bird Cafe in Montreal, Canada, claimed 37 lives.

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 2004, more than 1,000 people were taken hostage by heavily armed Chechen militants at a school in Beslan in southern Russia; more than 330 people, more than half of them children, were killed in the three-day ordeal.

In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued a "desperate SOS" as his city descended into anarchy amid the flooding left by Hurricane Katrina.

Ten years ago: Vermont's law allowing same-sex marriage went into effect. Poland held ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. Death claimed award-winning conductor Erich Kunzel at age 74 and Wycliffe Johnson, a major figure in Jamaican music, at age 47.

Five years 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.

One year ago: At a nearly three-hour memorial service for the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain in Washington, McCain's daughter and two former presidents led a public rebuke of President Donald Trump's divisive politics and called for a return to civility among the nation's leaders.

Today's Birthdays: Actor George Maharis is 91. Conductor Seiji Ozawa is 84. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 81. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 80. Actor Don Stroud is 76. Conductor Leonard Slatkin is 75. Singer Archie Bell is 75. Singer Barry Gibb is 73. Rock musician Greg Errico is 71. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 69. Singer Gloria Estefan is 62. Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers is 58. Jazz musician Boney James is 58. Singer-musician Grant Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo) is 56. Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison is 55. Retired NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is 53. Rap DJ Spigg Nice (Lost Boyz) is 49. Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira is 48. Actor Maury Sterling is 48. Rock singer JD Fortune is 46. Actor Scott Speedman is 44. Country singer Angaleena Presley (Pistol Annies) is 43. Actor Boyd Holbrook is 38. Actress Zoe Lister-Jones is 37. Rock musician Joe Trohman is 35. Actress Aisling Loftus is 29.

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

Copyright 2019, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.