In 1778, "Molly Pitcher" (Mary Ludwig Hays) carried water to American soldiers at the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey.
In 1836, the fourth president of the United States, James Madison, died in Montpelier, Virginia.
In 1894, Labor Day was established as a holiday for federal employees on the first Monday of September.
In 1914, Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist. The event triggered World War I.
In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending World War I.
In 1919, Harry S. Truman married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace in Independence, Missouri.
In 1934, President Roosevelt signed into law the National Housing Act, which established the Federal Housing Administration.
In 1950, North Korean forces captured Seoul, South Korea.
In 1951, a TV version of the radio program "Amos 'N' Andy" began a two-year run on CBS. (Although criticized for racial stereotyping, it was the first network TV series to feature an all-black cast).
In 1978, the Supreme Court ordered the University of California at Davis Medical School to admit Allan Bakke, a white man who argued he'd been a victim of reverse racial discrimination.
In 1986, President Reagan used his weekly radio address to blast sweeping trade legislation passed by the House, saying it would "jeopardize our hard-won economic prosperity."
In 1991, two people were killed when an earthquake measuring six on the Richter scale shook southern California.
In 1995, the House overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from desecration (however, the amendment was later defeated in the Senate). Webster Hubbell, the former number-three official at the Justice Department, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for bilking clients of the law firm where he and Hillary Rodham Clinton were partners.
|