Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Sept. 8. It was on this date in 1974 that President Ford granted former President Nixon a "free, full and absolute" pardon for any and all offenses he may have committed during his years in office. It had been only a month since Nixon announced he was resigning rather than face impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives as a result of the Watergate scandal and cover-up. Advertisement Nixon was the ultimate survivor. In the years following his fall from grace, he redeemed himself and became somewhat of an elder statesman -- consulted by his successors, including President Clinton -- prior to his death in 1994. Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returned to Spain on this date in 1522, three years after explorer Ferdinand Magellan left with five ships in a bid to sail around the world. Only one ship and a handful of men would complete the first circumnavigation of the globe -- Magellan having been killed in the Philippines. More than 6,000 people were killed when a hurricane and tidal wave struck Galveston, Texas, on this date in 1900. Remember, they didn't have weather satellites or sophisticated computer models in those days. Advertisement An assassin shot autocratic Louisiana Sen. Huey P. Long at the Capitol building in Baton Rouge, La., on this date in 1935. Long died two days later. The first permanent European settlement in what is now the continental United States was founded at what is now St. Augustine, Fla., on this date in 1565. And it was on this date in 1966 that the first of 79 episodes of "Star Trek" premiered on NBC-TV. Although the science-fiction series lasted only three seasons, it became a hit in syndication -- spawning perhaps the most successful television and movie franchise in history. There have been several spin-off series including "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" and "Star Trek: Voyager", a Saturday morning animated series, and nine motion pictures. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
