Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

September 2

2005
Hurricane Katrina: Pres. Bush commends FEMA director Michael Brown, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

1993
Robocop: A five-hour standoff between Maryland police and a man who had killed his girlfriend is ended when a 3-foot tall remote-controlled robot enters the armed man's home and disables him with a water blast, allowing the police to enter.

1993
5½-year horseback ride: Two men complete their horseback journey from the southern tip of South America to the Arctic Circle. They had started out in February of 1988.

1992
Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky begin their controversial $5,000,000 chess rematch. Fischer won a month later, 10 games to 5.

1991
The U.S. recognizes the independence of the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

1974
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation is established.

1957
World's shortest professional boxing match: Teddy Barker of England TKO's Nigeria's Bob Roberts seven seconds into their welterweight match.

1945
World War II: Japan signs the surrender terms aboard the battleship Missouri.

1945
Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam an independent republic naming himself as president.

1901
Speak softly and carry a big stick: Expressing his desire for a strong foreign policy, Theodore Roosevelt makes his famous proclamation.

1864
Civil War: Gen. Sherman (Union) takes Atlanta, after four weeks of fighting. (Source: The Civil War Day by Day)

1837
Telegraph: Samuel F.B. Morse exhibits his telegraph apparatus.

1789
U.S. Department of Treasury is established.

1752
Gregorian calendar is adopted by Great Britain: This included the American colonies. The following day became September 14. Also, New Year's Day was moved from March 25th to January 1st.

1666
Great Fire of London: More than 13,000 homes were destroyed along with St. Paul's Church.

1964
Keanu Reeves, actor. Film: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989, Ted) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993, Jonathan).

1955
Linda Purl, American actress. TV: Matlock (Charlene).

1952
Jimmy Connors, American tennis player, ranked #1 in world (1974-78). He has won the U.S. Open five times and Wimbledon twice.

1951
Mark Harmon, American actor. TV: St. Elsewhere (AIDS victim Dr. Caldwell).

1948
Terry Bradshaw, American football quarterback, Hall-of-Famer, two-time Super Bowl MVP (1979-80). He led Pittsburgh to four Super Bowl titles.

1948     d. 1986
Christa McAuliffe, American high school teacher. She died in the Challenger explosion. She was to have been the first ordinary citizen in space.

1929     d. 1988
Hal Ashby, American Oscar-winning editor, director. Film: In the Heat of the Night (1967, Oscar for Film Editing), Harold and Maude (1971), and Shampoo (1975).

1917
Cleveland Amory, American author, conservationist. Writings: The Cat Who Came for Christmas.

1877     d. 1956
Frederick Soddy, English chemist, formed the theory of isotopes and won the 1921 Nobel Prize for chemistry.

1850     d. 1915
Albert Goodwill Spalding, American baseball player. As manager of the Chicago club, he won the first National League Pennant (1876). He and his brother founded the sporting goods company bearing their name (1876).

1838     d. 1917
Lydia Kamehameha Liliuokalani (Lydia Kalakahua), Hawaiian Queen (1891-93). She was the last Hawaiian monarch. She also wrote the song Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee)

2005     b. 1935
Bob Denver, American actor. TV: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (beatnik Maynard G. Krebs) and Gilligan's Island (Willy Gilligan).

1973     b. 1892
J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien), British author. Writings: The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954).

1969     b. 1890
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader, founder and first president of North Vietnam (1954-69).

1964     b. 1887
Sgt. York (Alvin Cullun York), American World War I hero. In 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he singlehandedly killed 25 members of a German machine-gun battalion and captured 132 others. He was originally a conscientious objector.

1937     b. 1863
Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He revived the Olympic games in 1896.

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