September 2

September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 120 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
• 44 BC – Cicero launches the first of his Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months.
• 31 BC – Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium – off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
• 1649 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
• 1666 – The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St Paul's Cathedral.
• 1752 – Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.
• 1789 – The United States Department of the Treasury is founded.
• 1792 – During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic Church bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.
• 1807 – The Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.
• 1833 – Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio is founded by John Jay Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.
• 1856 – The Tianjing Incident takes place in Nanjing, China.
• 1859 – A solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service.
• 1862 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta, Georgia a day after the Confederate defenders flee the city.
• 1867 – Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijō. The Empress consort is thereafter known as Lady Haruko. Since her death in 1914, she is called by the posthumous name Empress Shōken.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan – Prussian forces take Napoleon III of France and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner.
• 1885 – Rock Springs massacre: in Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers killing 28, wounding 15 and forcing several hundred more out of town.
• 1898 – Battle of Omdurman – British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.
• 1901 – Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
• 1925 – The U.S. Zeppelin USS Shenandoah crashes, killing 14.
• 1935 – Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: a large hurricane hits the Florida Keys killing 423.
• 1939 – World War II: following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.
• 1945 – World War II: Combat ends in the Pacific Theater: the Instrument of Surrender of Japan is signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
• 1945 – Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
• 1946 – The Interim Government of India is formed with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice President with the powers of a Prime Minister.
• 1957 – President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.
• 1958 – United States Air Force C-130A-II is shot down by fighters over Yerevan in Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.
• 1960 – The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in history of Tibet. The Tibetan community observes this date as the Democracy Day.
• 1963 – CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
• 1967 – The Principality of Sealand is established, ruled by Prince Paddy Roy Bates.
• 1970 – NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
• 1990 – Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
• 1991 – The United States recognize the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
• 1992 – An earthquake in Nicaragua kills at least 116 people.
• 1998 – Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.
• 1998 – The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.

Births

• 1661 – Georg Böhm, German organist (d. 1733)
• 1675 – William Somervile, English poet (d. 1742)
• 1753 – Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy, Italy-born queen consort of France and wife of King Louis XVIII of France (d. 1810)
• 1778 – Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland (d. 1846)
• 1805 – Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (d. 1851)
• 1810 – William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (d. 1897)
• 1830 – William P. Frye, American politician (d. 1911)
• 1838 – Liliuokalani of Hawaii, Queen of Hawaii (d. 1917)
• 1839 – Henry George, American economist (d. 1897)
• 1847 – Roger Wolcott, 39^th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1900)
• 1850 – Albert Spalding, American baseball player and co-founder of the A.G. Spalding sporting goods company (d. 1915)
• 1850 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (d. 1919)
• 1852 – Paul Bourget, French novelist and critic (d. 1935)
• 1853 – Wilhelm Ostwald, Baltic German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1932)
• 1854 – Hans Jæger, Norwegian writer and political activist (d. 1910)
• 1857 – Thomas Groube, Australian cricketer (d. 1927)
• 1862 – Franjo Krežma, Croatian violinist (d. 1881)
• 1866 – Charles Vintcent, South African cricketer (d. 1943)
• 1877 – Frederick Soddy, British chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Ion Dragoumis, Greek diplomat, writer and revolutionary (d. 1920)
• 1878 – Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (d. 1946)
• 1879 – An Jung-geun, Korean assassin of Ito Hirobumi (d. 1910)
• 1883 – Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria, "The Red Archduchess" (d. 1963)
• 1884 – Dr. Frank Laubach, American Christian missionary (d. 1970)
• 1894 – Joseph Roth, Austrian novelist (d. 1939)
• 1901 – Andreas Embirikos, Greek surrealist poet (d. 1975)
• 1901 – Adolph Rupp, American college basketball coach (d. 1977)
• 1911 – Romare Bearden, African American painter (d. 1988)
• 1912 – Ernest Bromley, Australian cricketer (d. 1967)
• 1913 – Bill Shankly, Scottish football manager (d. 1981)
• 1913 – Israel Gelfand, Russian mathematician (d. 2009)
• 1914 – Tom Glazer, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 2003)
• 1915 – Meinhardt Raabe, American actor (d. 2010)
• 1915 – Benjamin Aaron, American labor law expert (d. 2007)
• 1917 – Cleveland Amory, American author (d. 1998)
• 1917 – Laurindo Almeida, Brazilian guitarist (d. 1995)
• 1923 – Rene Thom, French mathematician (d. 2002)
• 1924 – Daniel arap Moi, 2nd President of Kenya
• 1925 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
• 1927 – Milo Hamilton, American Hall of Fame sports broadcaster
• 1928 – Horace Silver, American jazz pianist and composer
• 1929 – Hal Ashby, American film director (d. 1988)
• 1931 – Clifford Jordan, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1993)
• 1933 – Victor Spinetti, Welsh actor
• 1934 – Grady Nutt, American humorist (d. 1982)
• 1935 – D. Wayne Lukas, American horse trainer
• 1936 – Andrew Grove, American computer chip manufacturer
• 1937 – Peter Ueberroth, American sport executive
• 1937 – Derek Fowlds, British actor
• 1937 – Len Carlson, Canadian voice actor (d. 2006)
• 1938 – Mary Jo Catlett, American actress
• 1938 – Clarence Felder, American actor
• 1938 – Giuliano Gemma, Italian actor
• 1939 – Sam Gooden, American singer (The Impressions)
• 1940 – Jimmy Clanton, American singer
• 1941 – David Bale, South African–born American animal rights activist (d. 2003)
• 1941 – Graeme Langlands, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1941 – John Thompson, Jr., American college basketball coach
• 1943 – Rosalind Ashford, American singer (Martha and the Vandellas)
• 1943 – Glen Sather, Canadian ice hockey player and executive
• 1943 – Joe Simon, American singer
• 1946 – Billy Preston, American keyboardist (d. 2006)
• 1946 – Dan White, American assassin (d. 1985)
• 1946 – Luis Avalos, Cuban actor
• 1946 – Walt Simonson, American comic book artist and writer
• 1947 – Richard Coughlan, English drummer and percussionist (Caravan)
• 1948 – Terry Bradshaw, American football player
• 1948 – Christa McAuliffe, American schoolteacher and astronaut (d. 1986)
• 1948 – Nate Archibald, American basketball player
• 1950 – Rosanna DeSoto, American actress
• 1950 – Michael Rother, German guitarist and keyboardist (Neu!, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Cluster)
• 1950 – Yuen Wah, Chinese actor and stuntman
• 1951 – Jim DeMint, American politician
• 1951 – Mark Harmon, American actor
• 1951 – Michael Gray, American actor
• 1951 – Jon Feltheimer, American film executive
• 1952 – Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
• 1953 – Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghan commander (d. 2001)
• 1953 – John Zorn, American composer, arranger and saxophonist
• 1956 – Mario Tremblay, Canadian hockey player and coach
• 1956 – Angelo Fusco, Northern Irish Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• 1957 – Tony Alva, American skateboarder
• 1958 – Olivier Grouillard, French racing driver
• 1959 – Guy Laliberté, Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil
• 1960 – Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian politician
• 1960 – Rex Hudler, American baseball player
• 1960 – Eric Dickerson, American football player
• 1960 – John S. Hall, American poet and spoken-word artist
• 1960 – Hideo Yoshizawa, Japanese video game designer and executive, General Manager at Namco Bandai Holdings
• 1961 – Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
• 1962 – Prachya Pinkaew, Thai film director
• 1962 – Eugenio Derbez, Mexican comedian and actor
• 1962 – Jon Berkeley, Irish author and illustrator
• 1963 – Sam Mitchell, American basketball player and coach
• 1964 – Keanu Reeves, Canadian actor
• 1965 – Lennox Lewis, British-born Canadian boxer
• 1965 – Partho Sen-Gupta, Indian filmmaker
• 1966 – Dino Cazares, Mexican-born American guitarist (Fear Factory)
• 1966 – Marcello Cuttitta, Italian rugby player
• 1966 – Massimo Cuttitta, Italian rugby player and coach
• 1966 – Salma Hayek, Mexican actress
• 1966 – Olivier Panis, French race car driver
• 1966 – Tuc Watkins, American actor
• 1967 – Andreas Möller, German footballer
• 1968 – Cynthia Watros, American actress
• 1968 – Kristen Cloke, American actress
• 1969 – Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, American singer
• 1969 – Stéphane Matteau, French-Canadian ice hockey player
• 1969 – Stephen Peall, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1971 – Kjetil André Aamodt, Norwegian alpine skier
• 1971 – Pawan Kalyan, Indian actor
• 1971 – César Sánchez, Spanish footballer
• 1971 – Shauna Sand, American actress and Playboy Playmate
• 1971 – Tommy Maddox, American football player
• 1971 – Tom Steels, Belgian cyclist
• 1972 – Matthew Dunn, Australian swimmer
• 1972 – Robert Coles, English professional golfer
• 1973 – Katt Williams, American comedian, actor and rapper
• 1973 – Jason Blake, American ice hockey player
• 1973 – Indika de Saram, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1974 – Inari Vachs, American adult film actress
• 1974 – Steven Johnson, Australian racing driver
• 1975 – MC Chris, American rapper
• 1976 – Phil Lipscomb, American bassist (Taproot)
• 1976 – Erin Hershey Presley, American actress
• 1976 – Aziz Zakari, Ghanaian sprinter
• 1977 – Amanda Marcotte, American feminist blogger
• 1977 – Ramiro Muñoz, Colombian composer
• 1977 – Frédéric Kanouté, Malian footballer
• 1979 – Tomer Ben Yosef, Israeli footballer
• 1979 – Alex Chu, Korean singer
• 1979 – Ron Ng, Hong Kong actor
• 1979 – Brian Westbrook, American football player
• 1980 – Dany Sabourin, French-Canadian ice hockey goaltender
• 1980 – Hiroki Yoshimoto, Japanese racing driver
• 1981 – Chris Tremlett, English cricketer
• 1981 – Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress
• 1981 – Fariborz Kamkari, Iranian film director-producer
• 1982 – Joey Barton, English footballer
• 1982 – Mandy Cho, Hong Kong actress
• 1982 – Jason Hammel, American baseball player
• 1983 – Mark Foster, English rugby player
• 1983 – Aimee Osbourne, English singer, actress and columnist
• 1984 – Danson Tang, Taiwanese actor, model and singer
• 1984 – Jack Peñate, English singer
• 1984 – Udita Goswami, Indian model and actress
• 1986 – Kyle Hines, American basketball player
• 1987 – Scott Moir, Canadian ice dancer
• 1988 – Ishant Sharma, Indian cricketer
• 1989 – Alexandre Pato, Brazilian footballer
• 1989 – Ishmeet Singh Sodhi, Indian playback singer (d. 2008)
• 1990 – Marcus Ericsson, Swedish racing driver

Deaths

• 490 BC – Pheidippides, Greek hero (b. c. 530 BC)
• 421 – Constantius III, Roman Emperor (birth year unknown)
• 1031 – Saint Emeric of Hungary (born between 1000 and 1007)
• 1274 – Prince Munetaka, Japanese shogun (b. 1242)
• 1397 – Francesco Landini, Italian composer (b. 1325 or 1335)
• 1540 – Emperor Dawit II of Ethiopia (b. 1501)
• 1680 – Per Brahe, Swedish soldier and statesman (b. 1602)
• 1688 – Sir Robert Viner, 1st Baronet, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1631)
• 1690 – Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (b. 1615)
• 1764 – Nathaniel Bliss, English Astronomer Royal (b. 1700)
• 1765 – Henry Bouquet, Swiss-born British army officer (b. 1719)
• 1768 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (b. 1703)
• 1790 – Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (b. 1701)
• 1813 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1763)
• 1820 – Jiaqing Emperor of China (b. 1760)
• 1832 – Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian astronomer (b. 1754)
• 1834 – Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer (b. 1757)
• 1865 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (b. 1805)
• 1872 – Nicolai Grundtvig, Danish writer and philosopher (b. 1783)
• 1877 – Constantine Kanaris, Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician (b. 1793)
• 1896 – Nat Thomson, Australian cricketer (b. 1839)
• 1898 – Wilford Woodruff, American fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1807)
• 1910 – Henri Rousseau, French painter (b. 1844)
• 1921 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
• 1921 – Anthony Francis Lucas Croatian-born American oil pioneer (b. 1855)
• 1927 – Umegatani Tōtarō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 20^th Yokozuna (b. 1878)
• 1934 – Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinetist (b. 1884)
• 1934 – Russ Columbo, American singer, violinist and actor (b. 1908)
• 1934 – James Allan, New Zealand rugby union player (b. 1860)
• 1937 – Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games (b. 1863)
• 1941 – Lloyd Seay, American stock car driver (b. 1919)
• 1942 – Tom Williams, Irish republican (b. 1924)
• 1944 – Bella Rosenfeld, Russian-born American wife of Marc Chagall and subject of many of his paintings (b. 1895)
• 1948 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and spy (b. 1883)
• 1953 – Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, U.S. general (b. 1883)
• 1962 – William Wilkerson, American founder of the Hollywood Reporter and the Flamingo Hotel and nightclub owner (b. 1890)
• 1964 – Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
• 1964 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, 13^th President of Portugal (b. 1894)
• 1964 – Alvin York, American soldier (b. 1887)
• 1965 – Johannes Bobrowski, German writer (b. 1917)
• 1969 – Ho Chi Minh, President of Vietnam (b. 1890)
• 1973 – Carl Dudley, American film director (b. 1910)
• 1973 – J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (b. 1892)
• 1976 – Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish writer (b. 1934)
• 1978 – Fred G. Meyer, American businessman, founder of Fred Meyer, Inc. (b. 1886)
• 1979 – Otto P. Weyland, American military figure (b. 1903)
• 1984 – Manos Katrakis, Greek actor (b. 1908)
• 1985 – Abe Lenstra, Dutch footballer (b. 1920)
• 1985 – Jay Youngblood, American professional wrestler (b. 1955)
• 1991 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1911)
• 1992 – Barbara McClintock, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
• 1994 – Roy Castle, British entertainer (b. 1932)
• 1996 – Paddy Clift, Zimbabwean cricketer (b. 1953)
• 1997 – Rudolf Bing, Austrian-born British opera manager (b. 1902)
• 1997 – Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b. 1905)
• 1998 – Jackie Blanchflower, Irish footballer (b. 1933)
• 1998 – Allen Drury, American novelist (b. 1918)
• 2000 – Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (b. 1905)
• 2000 – Curt Siodmak, German-born American screenwriter (b. 1907)
• 2001 – Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Troy Donahue, American actor (b. 1936)
• 2002 – Dick Reynolds, Australian rules footballer and coach (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Joan Oró, Catalan biochemist (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Eleni Zafeiriou, Greek actress (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Bob Denver, American actor (b. 1935)
• 2006 – Bob Mathias, American athlete and congressman (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Willi Ninja, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1961)
• 2007 – Max McNab, Canadian National Hockey League executive (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Franz-Benno Delonge, German game designer (b. 1957)
• 2007 – Rajae Belmlih, Moroccan singer (b. 1962)
• 2008 – Bill Meléndez, American character animator (b. 1916)
• 2009 – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India (b. 1949)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Acepsimas of Hnaita and companions (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • Agricola of Avignon
  • Antoninus of Pamiers
  • Castor of Apt
  • Nonnosus
  • San Esteban del Rey (Acoma Pueblo)
  • September 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Independence day (Transnistria, unrecognized)
• National Day, celebrates the independence of Vietnam from Japan and France in 1945.
• Sedantag (German Empire)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada