Advertisement

UPI Almanac for Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014

World War II officially ends, a Swissair jetliner crashes, George W. Bush nominated for re-election ... on this date in history.

By United Press International
U.S. Adm. Chester Nimitz signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay Sept. 2, 1945, officially ending World War II. (UPI Photo/U.S. NAVY/Files)
1 of 8 | U.S. Adm. Chester Nimitz signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay Sept. 2, 1945, officially ending World War II. (UPI Photo/U.S. NAVY/Files) | License Photo

Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 2, the 245th day of 2014 with 120 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn.

Advertisement


Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include poet Eugene Field and sporting goods entrepreneur Albert Spalding, both in 1850; inventor Hiram Maxim, who invented the first portable automatic machine gun, in 1869; basketball Hall of Fame Coach Adolph Rupp in 1901; authors Cleveland Amory in 1917 and Allen Drury in 1918; dancer Marge Champion in 1919 (age 95); Snapple co-founder Arnold Greenberg in 1932; horse racing Hall of Fame member D. Wayne Lukas in 1935 (age 79); basketball Hall of Fame member John Thompson Jr. in 1941 (age 73); Christa McAuliffe, the schoolteacher who became an astronaut and died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, basketball Hall of Fame member Nate Archibald (age 66) and football Hall of Fame member and broadcaster Terry Bradshaw (age 66), all in 1948; actor Mark Harmon in 1951 (age 63); tennis Hall of Fame member Jimmy Connors in 1952 (age 62); Cirque de Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberte in 1959 (age 55); football Hall of Fame member Eric Dickerson in 1960 (age 54); actors Keanu Reeves in 1964 (age 50) and Salma Hayek in 1966 (age 48).

Advertisement


On this date in history:

In 1666, the Great Fire of London began.(It destroyed 13,000 houses in four days).

In 1935, a hurricane hit the Florida Keys, killing more than 350 people.

In 1945, Japan signed an unconditional surrender aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, formally ending World War II.

In 1992, earthquake-spawned tidal waves killed more than 100 people in Pacific coast villages in Nicaragua.

In 1998, a Swissair jetliner en route from New York to Geneva, Switzerland, crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. All 229 people aboard were killed.

In 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush accepted the GOP nomination for re-election, promising to build a "safer world and a more hopeful America."

In 2010, BP warned the U.S. Congress the company might be unable to pay compensation for its massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill if barred from new offshore drilling permits.

In 2011, the U.S. State Department warned American travelers the security threat in Yemen was "extremely high" and urged those already there to leave.

In 2012, several hundred people upset with corporate America marched in Charlotte, N.C., two days before the Democratic National Convention, chanting: "Banks got bailed out. We got sold out."

Advertisement

In 2013, American Diana Nyad, 64, completed a 53-hour swim from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Fla., becoming the first swimmer to make the crossing without a shark cage.


A thought for the day: "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." -- Ernest Hemingway.

Latest Headlines