September 8
September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). There are 114 days remaining.
Events
- 1331 - Stefan Dusan declares himself king of Serbia
- 1380 - Battle of Kulikovo - Russian forces under Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols, stopping their advance.
- 1449 - Battle of Tumu Fortress - Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor.
- 1514 - Battle of Orsha - In one of the biggest battles of the century Belarusians and Poles defeat Russian army.
- 1565 - The Knights of Malta lift the Turkish siege of Malta (siege started on May 18).
- 1636 - A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes Harvard College as the first college founded in the Americas.
- 1771 - In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission San Gabriel Arcangel in what is now San Gabriel, California.
- 1796 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Bassano - French forces defeat Austrian troops at Bassano.
- 1810 - The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six month journey around the tip of South America, the ship will arrive at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men will establish fur-trading town of Astoria.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Sabine Pass - On the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.
- 1888 - In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman is found.
- 1888 - In England the first 6 Football League matches ever were played.
- 1900 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
- 1923 - Honda Point Disaster: Seven US Navy destroyers ran aground off the California coast.
- 1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
- 1934 - Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner Morro Castle kills 134 people.
- 1935 - US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish", is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
- 1941 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins - German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad.
- 1943 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.
- 1943 - World War II: Julius Fucik was executed by the Nazis.
- 1944 - World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
- 1944 - World War II: Menton is liberated from Germany.
- 1945 - Cold War: United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.
- 1951 - Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign Sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.
- 1954 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established.
- 1960 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).
- 1966 - The first episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek airs.
- 1971 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
- 1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
- 1986 - General Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile, escapes attempted assasination.
- 1994 - A Boeing 737 carrying USAir Flight 427 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport. There are no survivors.
- 1995 - Timon and Pumbaa launches on all major television networks
- 1998 - At Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, Mark McGwire breaks Roger Maris' 1961 record of 61 home runs hit in a single season.
- 1999 - US Attorney General Janet Reno names former US Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
- 2004 - The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands as its parachute fails to open.
Births
- 828 - Ali al-Hadi, Shia Imam (d. 868)
- 1157 - King Richard I of England (d. 1199)
- 1207 - King Sancho II of Portugal
- 1828 - Margaret Slocum Sage, philanthropist
- 1841 - Antonin Dvorak, composer (d. 1904)
- 1857 - Ida Henrietta Hyde, physiologist
- 1859 - Mary Morton Kimball Kehew, reformer
- 1863 - Jessie Willcox Smith, painter, illustrator
- 1881 - Harry Hillman, American athlete
- 1886 - Siegfried Sassoon, poet (d. 1967)
- 1889 - Robert Alphonso Taft, Senator from Ohio (d. 1953)
- 1897 - Jimmie Rodgers, country music singer, composer (d. 1933)
- 1910 - Jean-Louis Barrault, actor, director (d. 1994)
- 1914 - Sir Denys Lasdun, architect (d. 2001)
- 1922 - Sid Caesar, comedian
- 1925 - Peter Sellers, actor (d. 1980)
- 1930 - Nguyen Cao Ky, Premier of South Vietnam
- 1932 - Patsy Cline, country music singer
- 1934 - Peter Maxwell Davies, composer
- 1937 - Virna Lisi, actress (d. 1963)
- 1938 - Sam Nunn, Senator from Georgia
- 1945 - Ron Pigpen McKernan, musician (the Grateful Dead)
- 1945 - Jose Feliciano, singer
- 1947 - Ann Beattie, writer
- 1960 - Aimee Mann, musician
- 1964 - Michael Johns, business executive and former White House speechwriter to President of the United States George H.W. Bush
- 1970 - Neko Case, musician
- 1971 - Brooke Burke, model
- 1979 - Pink (Alecia Moore), singer
- 1981 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, actor
Deaths
- 780 - Leo IV, Byzantine Emperor
- 1613 - Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer.
- 1637 - Robert Fludd
- 1780 - Enoch Poor, Brigadier General in the Continental Army (b. 1736)
- 1784 - Ann Lee, Shaker leader
- 1811 - Peter Simon Pallas, German zoologist (b. 1741)
- 1933 - Faysal I, king of Iraq
- 1943 - Julius Fucik, Czech communist and journalist, executed by Nazis.
- 1949 - Richard Strauss, German composer (b. 1864)
- 1965 - Dorothy Dandridge, actress
- 1969 - Bud Collyer, television game show host
- 1969 - Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, buddhist and writer
- 1977 - Zero Mostel, actor
- 1979 - Jean Seberg, actress
- 1981 - Bill Shankly, football manager
- 1981 - Roy Wilkins, civil rights activist
- 2003 - Leni Riefenstahl, movie maker
- 2004 - Frank Thomas, Disney animator (b. 1913)
Holidays
- Mare de Deu de Meritxell - National day of Andorra
- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Izzat (Might) - First day of the tenth month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Catholicism - Feast of the Birth of Mary
September 7 - September 9 - August 8 - October 8 - more historical anniversaries
