September 1st

A law allowing gay marriage took effect in Vermont.

Chechen terrorists took about 1,200 schoolchildren and others hostage in Beslan, Russia. Commandos stormed the school on Sept. 3.

A joint U. S.-French expedition located the wreck of the Titanic 560 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

A Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace. 269 people were killed.

Albert Speer, a close associate of Adolf Hitler who ran the Nazi war machine, died at a London hospital at age 76.

Pioneer 11 makes its closest approach to Saturn. The NASA built space probe was the first probe to encounter Saturn - it flew by the planet at a distance of 13,000 miles (21,000 km). After its flyby, the probe went on a trajectory to go outside the Solar System. All contacts with it were lost a few weeks later.

American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.

A coup in Libya toppled the monarchy of King Idris and brought Muammar al-Qaddafi to power.

Life magazine publishes parts of the Old Man And The Sea. One of American author Ernest Hemingway’s best-known works, the novel tells the story of an old man and his fishing misadventures. Within a few days of the publication of the excerpt, 5 million copies of the magazine had been sold.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense pact, the ANZUS treaty.

V-J Day, formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri marks the end of WW II (US date, 2nd September in Japan).

A federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals.

Jews living in Germany are required to wear a yellow star of David.

World War II starts as Germany invades Poland by attacking the Free City of Danzig.

A devastating earthquake struck the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. Nearly 150,000 people were killed and more than two million left homeless.

Passenger Pigeons become extinct. Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon known to man, died at the Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, Ohio effectively making Passenger Pigeons extinct.

Alberta and Saskatchewan became the eighth and ninth provinces of Canada.

Former U.S. vice president Aaron Burr was found innocent of treason.

King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch.