Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
Sep 30, 1399: Henry IV proclaimed
Henry Bolingbroke is proclaimed King Henry IV of England upon the abdication of King Richard II.
Henry was the eldest surviving son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. While his father was away in Spain, Henry joined other lords in opposing King Richard II's rule. Richard later regained the upper hand and in 1398 banished Henry from the kingdom. When John of Gaunt died in February 1399, Richard seized the Lancastrian estates, thus depriving Henry of his inheritance. Claiming to be defending the rights of the nobility, Henry invaded England in July 1399, and Richard surrendered to him without a fight in August.
Upon becoming king of England, Henry imprisoned Richard in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire, where the former king died of undetermined causes in February 1400. After a turbulent reign, Henry was succeeded by his son Henry V, the second of England's three Lancastrian kings.
Sep 30, 1928: Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and best-selling author, is born
On this day in 1928, Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel, the human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize-winning author of more than 50 books, including “Night,” an internationally acclaimed memoir based on his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, is born in Sighet, Transylvania (present-day Romania).
In May 1944, the Nazis deported 15-year-old Wiesel and his family to Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland. Wiesel’s mother and the youngest of his three sisters died at Auschwitz, while he and his father later were moved to another camp, Buchenwald, located in Germany. Wiesel’s father perished at Buchenwald just months before it was liberated by Allied troops in April 1945.
Following the war, Wiesel spent time in a French orphanage, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and went on to work as a journalist in France. In the early 1950s, he broke a self-imposed vow not to speak about the atrocities he witnessed at the concentration camps and penned the first version of “Night” in Yiddish, under the title “Un di Velt Hot Geshvign” (“And the World Remained Silent”). At the encouragement of Nobel laureate and prominent French writer Francois Mauriac, Wiesel reworked the manuscript in French. However, even with Mauriac’s help in trying to land a book deal, the manuscript was rejected by multiple publishers, who believed few people at the time were interested in reading about the Holocaust. The book was eventually released in 1958 as “La Nuit”; an English translation, “Night,” followed in 1960. Although initial sales were sluggish, “Night” was generally well reviewed and over the decades gained an audience, eventually becoming a classic of Holocaust literature that has sold millions of copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2006, TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey selected “Night” for her famed on-air book club, and traveled with Wiesel to Auschwitz for an episode of her show.
Since the publication of “Night,” Wiesel has written dozens of works of fiction and non-fiction, lectured widely and crusaded against injustice and intolerance around the world. A professor at Boston University since the 1970s, he was instrumental in the founding of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and has received numerous awards, including the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.
Sep 30, 1938: Hitler appeased at Munich
On this day in 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sign the Munich Pact, which seals the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace. Upon return to Britain, Chamberlain would declare that the meeting had achieved "peace in our time."
Although the agreement was to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudentenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. It also left the Czech nation open to complete domination by Germany. In short, the Munich Pact sacrificed the autonomy of Czechoslovakia on the altar of short-term peace-very short term. The terrorized Czech government was eventually forced to surrender the western provinces of Bohemia and Moravia (which became a protectorate of Germany) and finally Slovakia and the Carpathian Ukraine. In each of these partitioned regions, Germany set up puppet, pro-Nazi regimes that served the military and political ends of Adolf Hitler. By the time of the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the nation called "Czechoslovakia" no longer existed.
It was Neville Chamberlain who would be best remembered as the champion of the Munich Pact, having met privately with Hitler at Berchtesgaden, the dictator's mountaintop retreat, before the Munich conference. Chamberlain, convinced that Hitler's territorial demands were not unreasonable (and that Hitler was a "gentleman"), persuaded the French to join him in pressuring Czechoslovakia to submit to the Fuhrer's demands. Upon Hitler's invasion of Poland a year later, Chamberlain was put in the embarrassing situation of announcing that a "state of war" existed between Germany and Britain. By the time Hitler occupied Norway and Denmark, Chamberlain was finished as a credible leader. "Depart, I say, and let us have done with you!" one member of Parliament said to him, quoting Oliver Cromwell. Winston Churchill would succeed him as prime minister soon afterwards.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1199 - Rambam (Maimonides) authorizes Samuel Ibn Tibbon to translate Guide of Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew
1399 - King Richard II of England abdicates throne
1452 - 1st book published, Johann Guttenberg's Bible
1520 - Suleiman I succeeds his father Selam I as sultan of Turkey
1544 - King Henry VIII draws his armies out of France
1555 - Oxford Bishop Nicholas Ridley sentenced to death as a heretic
1619 - Remonstrant Society forms in Antwerp
1626 - Battle between king Bethlen Gabor & earl Mansfeld-Wallenstein ends
1649 - Last Swedish troops vacate Prague
1659 - Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked (according to Daniel Defoe)
1659 - Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherlands forbids tennis playing during religious services (1st mention of tennis in US)
1681 - Netherlands & Sweden sign treaty
1730 - Duke Victor Amadeus XI of Savoye resigns
1744 - France and Spain defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo.
1777 - Congress, flees to York Pa, as British forces advance
1787 - 1st US voyage around the world - Columbia leaves Boston
1791 - Mozart's opera "Magic Flute" premieres in Vienna
1791 - The National Constituent Assembly in Paris is dissolved; Parisians hail Maximilien Robespierre and Jérôme Pétion as incorruptible patriots.
1805 - Napoleons army draws into the Rhine
Fictional Character Robinson CrusoeFictional Character Robinson Crusoe 1808 - Covent Garden Theatre Royal destroyed by fire
1813 - Battle of Bárbula: Simón Bolívar defeats Santiago Bobadilla
1818 - Congress of Aken: Russia, Austria, Prussia, France & England
1841 - Samuel Slocum patented the stapler
1846 - Anesthetic ether used for 1st time (Dr Wm Morton extracts a tooth)
1857 - US occupies Sand, Baker, Howland & Jarvis Is south of Hawaii
1862 - First Battle of Newtonia (American Civil War), Newton County, Missouri
1864 - Battle of Preble's Farm VA (Poplar Springs Church)
1864 - Black Soldiers given Medal of Honor
1867 - Midway Islands formally declared a US possession
1868 - Spain's Queen Isabella is deposed, flees to France
1877 - 1st US amateur swim meet (NY Athletic Club)
1878 - 1st Portuguese immigrants arrive in Hawaii
1880 - Henry Draper takes that 1st photograph of Orion Nebula
1885 - Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate
Military and Political Leader Simon BolivarMilitary and Political Leader Simon Bolivar 1887 - Start of Sherlock Holmes Adventure "Five Orange Pips" (BG)
1887 - Volunteer (US) beats Thistle (Scotland) in 8th America's Cup
1888 - "Jack the Ripper" butchers 2 more women, Liz Stride & Kate Eddowes
1895 - France proclaims a protectorate over Madagascar
1898 - City of NY established
1903 - New Gresham's School officially opened by Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood.
1904 - White Sox lefty Doc White, pitches his 5th shutout in 18 days
1906 - Real Academia Galega, Galician language biggest linguistic authority starts working in Havana.
1907 - Cards Ed Konetchy steals home twice & Joe Delahanty also steals home for record 3 steals of home (vs Boston)
1908 - Maurice Maeterlinck's "L'oiseau Blue," premieres in Moscow
1915 - Red Sox clinch AL pennant by beating Detroit
1916 - Giants lose to Braves 8-3, ends 26 consecutive win streak
1919 - Avery Hopwood's "Gold Diggers," premieres in NYC
1919 - Race riot at Elaine Arkansas
1920 - Time Square Theater opens at 217 W 42nd St NYC
Author and Nobel Laureate Maurice MaeterlinckAuthor and Nobel Laureate Maurice Maeterlinck 1922 - Government of Alexandros Zaimis forms in Greece
1922 - Yanks clinch pennant #2, beating Boston 3-1
1923 - Canton Bulldogs win 1st on way to 17-0 season
1924 - Allies stop checking on German navy
1925 - General Pangulos disbands Greek parliament
1926 - German/French/Belgian/Luxembourg steel cartel closes
1927 - Babe Ruth hits record setting 60th HR (off Tom Zachary)
1928 - Le Sifflet publishes 1st precursor of Kuifje (Tintin)
1928 - Leon Vanderstuyft of Belgium cycles record 76 mi 604 yds in 1 hr
1929 - 1st manned rocket plane flight (by auto maker Fritz von Opel)
1931 - Start of "Die Voortrekkers" youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
1933 - Berlin/Hart/Heyman/Myers ballet "As Thousands Cheer," premieres in NYC
1934 - Babe Ruth's final game as a Yankee, goes 0 for 3
1934 - FDR dedicates Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)
1934 - St Louis Card clinch pennant as Dizzy Dean wins his 30th of year
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1935 - Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" premieres in Boston
1935 - The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated.
1936 - Intl Commission of Straits (Dardanelles & Bosphorus) ends
1936 - Pinewood Studios opens in Buckinghamshire England
1937 - 6th Ryder Cup: US, 8-4 at Southport & Ainsdale, England
1938 - British premier Chamberlain arrives in Munich
1938 - Munich Agreement-forced Czechoslovakia to give territory to Germany
1939 - 1st televised college football game (Fordham vs Waynesburg at NYC)
1939 - 41 U-boats sunk this month (153,000 ton)
1939 - Germany & Russia agree to partition Poland
1939 - White Sox reliever Clint Brown sets record of 61st relief appearance
1939 - Britain first evacuates citizens in anticipation of war.
1940 - 47 German aircrafts shot down above England
1940 - 59 U-boats sunk this month (295,000 tons)
1941 - 3,721 Jews are buried alive at Babi Yarravine (near Kiev) Ukraine
1941 - 53 U-boats sunk this month (202,000 tons)
1941 - German assault on Moscow: operation-Taifun, begins
1942 - 98 U-boats sunk this month (485,000 tons)
US Admiral Chester NimitzUS Admiral Chester Nimitz 1942 - Admiral Nimitz B-17 finds Guadalcanal using National Geographic map
1942 - SS exterminates 3,500 Jews in Zelov Lodz Poland in 6 week period
1943 - Pope Pius XII encyclical on Divine spirit
1944 - -Oct 1] Failed attack on German officers near Putten Neth
1944 - Calais reoccupied by Allies
1944 - Dutch General Mine Workers Union (ABWM) forms
1945 - Hank Greenberg's final day HR wins pennant for Tigers
1945 - Bourne End rail crash, Hertfordshire, England killed 43
1946 - 22 Nazi leaders found guilty of war crimes at Nuremberg
1946 - Von Ribbentrop & Hermann Goering sentenced to death by Nuremberg trial
1947 - Yanks beat Dodgers 5-3-largest WS crowd 73,365-1st WS televised
1949 - Berlin Airlift ends after 277,000 flights
1949 - Pirates Ralph Kiner hits his 54th HR & NL record 16th in September
1950 - 1st congress of International Astronautical Federation opens in Paris
1950 - Radio's "Grand Ole Opry" is broadcasted on TV for 1st time
Nazi Politician Hermann GoeringNazi Politician Hermann Goering 1950 - WSM TV channel 4 in Nashville, TN (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - Auguste/Jacques Piccard dives with bathosphere to 3150 m (record)
1953 - Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
1953 - Robert Anderson's "Tea & Sympathy," premieres in NYC
1953 - WICS TV channel 20 in Springfield, IL (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WMT (now KGAN) TV channel 2 in Cedar Rapids-Waterloo, IA (CBS) begins
1954 - "Boy Friend" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 483 performances
1954 - Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel (sub), commissioned by the Navy
1956 - Phillies Robin Roberts gives up a major league record 46th HR
1956 - White Sox Jim Derrington, 16, is youngest to start a game (he loses)
1957 - French government of Mauroy, resigns due to Algeria
1957 - WKYT TV channel 27 in Lexington, KY (CBS) begins broadcasting
1958 - French Guinee becomes independent republic Guinea
1958 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1960 - Flintstones premieres (1st prime time animation show)
1960 - On Howdy Doody's last show Clarabelle finally talks "Goodbye Kids"
1960 - West Germany signs trade agreement with East Germany
1961 - Bill for Boston Tea Party is paid by Mayor Snyder of Oregon who wrote a check for $196, the total cost of all tea lost
1962 - A's Bill Fischer ends 84 1/3 consec innings pitched without a walk
1962 - JFK routes 3,000 federal troops to Mississippi
1962 - James Meredith registers for classes at University of Mississippi
1962 - KCRL TV channel 4 in Reno, NV (NBC) begins broadcasting
US President John F. KennedyUS President John F. Kennedy 1962 - KMEX TV channel 34 in Los Angeles, CA (IND) begins broadcasting
1962 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA San Diego Golf Open
1962 - NY Mets lose record 120th game as Cubs turn triple play & beat NY 5-1
1962 - Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the United Farm Workers.
1963 - "Student Gypsy" opens at 84th St Theater NYC for 16 performances
1963 - 56th Postmaster General: John A Gronouski of Wis takes office
1964 - "Oh What a Lovely War" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 125 perfs
1965 - Donovan's 1st US TV appearance (Shindig)
1965 - LA Dodger Don Drysdale (23-12) wins 13th straight game, 7 by shutouts
1966 - Botswana (Bechuanaland) gains independence from Britain (Natl Day)
1966 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1967 - BBC starts their own popular music radio station
1967 - Palace of Fine Arts reopens (1st time during 1915 exposition)
1967 - USSR's Kosmos 186 & 188 complete 1st automatic docking
1968 - 1st Boeing 747 rolls out
Farm Labor Leader Cesar ChavezFarm Labor Leader Cesar Chavez 1968 - AL & NL umpires form a new Association of Major League Umpires
1968 - Sharon Miller wins LPGA Seven Lakes Golf Invitational
1968 - Supremes release "Love Child"
1969 - Atlanta's 10th straight win, clinches NL West pennant
1970 - New American Bible published
1971 - -11/6] Rome: 3rd bishop synod
1971 - Last Wash Senator home game, Yanks win career 5th forfeit game Yanks trailing 4-2 in 9th with 2 outs, fans rush field
1972 - Passenger train derails killing 48 (Rust Stasie South Africa)
1972 - Roberto Clemente, is 11th to get 3,000 hits
1973 - 3rd NYC Women's Marathon won by Nina Kuscsik in 2:57:07
1973 - 4th NYC Marathon won by Tom Fleming in 2:21:54
1973 - Mel Gray begins NFL streak of 121 consecutive game receptions
1973 - Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Cameron Park Golf Open
1973 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1973 - Yanks close 50th year at Yankee Stadium losing 8-5, Ralph Houk
Baseball Player Roberto ClementeBaseball Player Roberto Clemente 1973 - resigns as manager
1974 - Gen Francesco da Costa Gomez succeeds Gen Spinola as pres of Portugal
1975 - 5 drown in flash flood of sewer & water tunnel (Niagara Falls NY)
1975 - The Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
1977 - Dutch Antillean government-Evertsz resigns
1977 - Ringo releases "Ringo the 4th" album
1977 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1977 - Due to US budget cuts, the Apollo program's ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down.
1977 - Philippine political prisoners, Eugenio Lopez, Jr. and Sergio Osmeña III successfully escaped from Fort Bonifacio Maximum Security Prison in the Philippines
1978 - Major Indoor Soccer League grants 1st 6 franchises to Cincinnati
1978 - Phillies clinch NL East title
1978 - Cleveland, Houston, NY, Philadelphia & Pittsburgh Phillies win 3rd consecutive NL East Division title
1979 - Milwaukee Brewers lose 5-0 ending 213 straight games without a shutout
1979 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Mary Kay Golf Classic
1980 - 1,754 turn out to see Phillies play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1980 - A's Rickey Henderson sets AL stolen base record at 98 en route to 100
Iraqi President Saddam HusseinIraqi President Saddam Hussein 1980 - Iran rejects a truce call from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
1980 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - Ethernet specifications published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
1981 - Last game at Minn's Metropolitan Stadium, lose to KC 5-2
1981 - Seoul, South Korea is selected to host 1988 Summer Olympics
1982 - National railroad strike in Belgium
1984 - California Angels Michael Witt is 11th to pitch a perfect baseball game
1984 - Bowie Kuhn ends career as Baseball Commissioner
1984 - Browns set a team record for allowing most sacks (11), KC wins 10-6
1984 - California Angel Mike Witt, pitches a perfect game over Texas Rangers, 1-0
1984 - NY Yankee Don Mattingly wins AL batting crown with .343 avg
1985 - Howard Stern gets fired from WNBC AM (NY)
1986 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 - US releases soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov
1986 - Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed details of Israel covert nuclear program to British media, was kidnapped in Rome, Italy.
Radio shock jock Howard SternRadio shock jock Howard Stern 1987 - Suriname constitution ratified
1988 - Andrei A Gromyko retires
1988 - Dave Stieb, loses 2nd consecutive no hitter bid with 2 outs in 9th
1988 - IBM announces shipment of 3 millionth PS/2 personal computer
1988 - Louise Ritter, US, jumps 6'8" to win Olympic gold medal
1988 - Robin Givens & Mike Tyson appear on Barbara Walter's Show
1988 - LA Dodger Orel Herschiser breaks former Dodger Don Drysdale mark by pitching 59 consecutive scoreless innings
1989 - NASA closes down tracking stations in Hawaii & Ascension
1989 - Nolan Ryan's perfect game broken in 8th, but gets his 300th strikeout
1989 - Senegambia separates back into Gambia & Senegal
1989 - Toronto Blue Jays wins AL East title
1989 - Foreign Minister of West Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher's speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague.
1990 - Chicago White Sox beat Seattle 2-1 in last game at Comiskey Park
1990 - Pittsburgh Pirates wins NL East title
1990 - The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada's capital city of Ottawa.
1991 - Rev Jean Betrand Aristide ousted as president of Haiti
1992 - 26th Country Music Association Award: Garth Brooks wins
1992 - KC Royal George Brett gets 4 hits to become 18th to get 3,000 hits
1992 - Mariel Hemmingway appears nude on TV show Civil Wars
1993 - 6.4 earthquake at Latur, India, 28,000 killed
1993 - General Colin Powell retires at 56
1993 - MS Dos 6.2 released
1994 - NHL goes on strike
1994 - Space shuttle STS-68 (Endeavour 7), launches into orbit
1994 - Sylvestre Ntibantunganya elected president of Burundi
1994 - Vladimir Meciars HZDDS wins Slovakia parliamentary election
1995 - Cleve Indian Albert Belle hits his 50th home run of season
1997 - 1st time 3 cons HRs in post season-Raines, Jeter, O'Neill (NY Yankees)
1997 - Hooters agrees to pay $2 million in discrimination suits
1997 - Microsoft Corp releases Internet Explorer 4.0
1997 - Yanks Tim Raines, Derek Jeter & Paul O'Neill are 1st to hit 3 consecutively homers in post season (Yanks beat Indians 8-6)
1999 - Japan's worst nuclear accident at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tōkai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.
2004 - The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo.
2004 - The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat retires.
2005 - The Parliament of Catalonia passes with 120 plus votes and 15 against, the Project of New Catalan Statute of Autonomy, proclaiming in its article 1, "Catalonia is a nation".
2005 - The controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
2006 - the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Constitutional Act that proclaimed the new Constitution of Serbia.
2012 - Two opposition Venezuelan politicians are shot dead a week before the presidential election
2012 - Car bomb blasts kill at least 32 people across Iraq
Baseball Player Derek JeterBaseball Player Derek Jeter 2012 - Melbourne Storm defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs in the 2012 NRL Grand Final
2012 - Europe defeat the US 14.5-13.5 in the 39th Ryder Cup
1399 - Henry Bolingbroke became the King of England as Henry IV. 1777 - The Congress of the United States moved to York, PA, due to advancing British forces. 1787 - The Columbia left Boston and began the trip that would make it the first American vessel to sail around the world. 1846 - Dr. William Morton performed a painless tooth extraction after administering ether to a patient. 1861 - Chewing gum tycoon William Wrigley, Jr. was born. 1868 - Spain's Queen Isabella was deposed and fled to France. 1882 - In Appleton, WI, the world's first hydroelectric power plant began operating. 1927 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth hit his 60th homerun of the season. He broke his own record with the homerun. The record stood until 1961 when Roger Maris broke the record. 1930 - "Death Valley Days" was heard for the first time on the NBC Blue radio network. 1935 - "The Adventures of Dick Tracey" debuted on Mutual Radio Network. 1935 - "Porgy and Bess" premiered in Boston. 1938 - The Munich Conference ended with a decision to appease Adolf Hitler. Britain, and France allowed Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to be annexed by the Nazis. 1939 - "Captain Midnight" was heard for the first time on the Mutual Radio Network. 1946 - An international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes. 1947 - The World Series was televised for the first time. The sponsors only paid $65,000 for the entire series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees. 1949 - The Berlin Airlift came to an end. The airlift had taken 2.3 million tons of food into the western sector despite the Soviet blockade. 1951 - "The Red Skelton Show" debuted on NBC-TV. 1954 - The U.S. Navy commissioned the Nautilus submarine at Groton, CT. It was the first atomic-powered vessel. The submarine had been launched on January 21, 1954. 1954 - Julie Andrews made her first Broadway appearance in "The Boy Friend". 1962 - James Meredith succeeded in registering at the University of Mississippi. It was his fourth attempt to register. 1963 - The Soviet Union publicly declared itself on the side of India in their dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. 1966 - Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach were released at midnight from Spandau prison after completing their 20-year sentences. Speer was the Nazi minister of armaments and von Schirach was the founder of Hitler Youth. 1971 - The Soviet Union and the United States signed pacts that were aimed at avoiding an accidental nuclear war. 1971 - A committee of nine people was organized to investigate the prison riot at Attica, NY. 10 hostages and 32 prisoners were killed when National Guardsmen stormed the prison on September 13, 1971. 1976 - California enacted the Natural Death Act of California. The law was the first example of right-to-die legislation in the U.S. 1980 - Israel issued its new currency, the shekel, to replace the pound. 1983 - The first AH-64 Apache attack helicopter was rolled out by McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company. 1982 - "Cheers" began an 11-year run on NBC-TV. 1984 - Mike Witt became only the 11th pitcher to throw a perfect game in major league baseball. 1984 - "Doonesbury" by Garry Trudeau returned. The comic strip had not been printed in nearly 20 months. 1986 - The U.S. released accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Nicholas Daniloff had been released by the Soviets. 1987 - Mikhail S. Gorbachev retired President Andrei A. Gromyko from the Politburo and fired other old-guard leaders in a shake-up at the Kremlin. 1989 - Thousands of East Germans began emigrating under an accord between the NATO nations and the Soviet Union. 1989 - Non-Communist Cambodian guerrillas claimed that they had captured 3 towns and 10 other positions from the residing government forces. 1990 - The Soviet Union and South Korea opened diplomatic relations. 1991 - Haiti's first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown by Brigadier General Raoul Cedras. Aristide was later returned to power. 1992 - George Brett of the Kansas City Royals reached his 3,000th career hit during a game against the California Angels. 1992 - Moscow banks distributed privatization vouchers aimed at turning millions of Russians into capitalists. 1993 - U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell retired. 1994 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off on an 11-day mission. Part of the mission was to use a radar instrument to map remote areas of the Earth. 1997 - France's Roman Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the persecution and deportation of Jews the pro-Nazi Vichy regime. 1998 - Gov. Pete Wilson of California signed a bill into law that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity." The law went into effect January 1, 1999. 1999 - The San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the last baseball game to be played at Candlestick Park (3Com Park). The Dodgers won 9-4. 1999 - In Tokaimura, Japan, radiation escaped a nuclear facility after workers accidentally set off an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction.
1791 Mozart's opera The Magic Flute premiered in Vienna, Austria. 1927 Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run. The record stood until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. Mark McGwire beat Maris's record in 1998 by hitting 70 and Barry Bonds topped this in 2001 with 73. 1938 Britain and France surrendered to Germany's demands concerning the Sudetenland, and signed the Munich Pact. 1946 Twenty-two Nazi leaders were found guilty at the Nuremberg trials. 1949 The Berlin Airlift came to an end. 1955 Actor James Dean was killed in a car crash. 1966 Botswana gained its independence from Great Britain.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
