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

1929 Hal Ashby d. 1988 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 d. 1998 American author, animal rights activist, founder of Fund for Animals (1967). Writings: The Cat Who Came for Christmas and The Cat and the Curmudgeon.

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

1850 Albert Goodwill Spalding d. 1915 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 Lydia Kamehameha Liliuokalani d. 1917 (Lydia Kalakahua), Hawaiian Queen (1891-93). She was the last Hawaiian monarch. She also wrote the song Aloha Oe (Farewell to Thee)

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

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

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

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

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

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