Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What Happened Whensday: September 24, 2008

This is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 98 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events:

622 - Prophet Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina.

1180 - Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.

1664 - The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam to England.

1789 - The office of the Attorney General of the United States of America, and the United States Post Office Department, are established.

1841 - The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to Britain.

1852 - The first airship powered by (a steam) engine, created by Henri Giffard, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.

1869 - "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.

1877 - Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion

1890 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.

1903 - Edmund Barton steps down as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by Alfred Deakin.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower the nation's first National Monument.

1935 - Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi

1946 - Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong

1947 - Majestic 12 is allegedly established by secret executive order of President Harry Truman

1948 - The Honda Motor Company is founded.

1950 - Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A Blue moon (in the astronomical sense) is seen as far away as Europe.

1957 - Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1957 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

1962 - United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.

1973 - Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.

1990 - Periodic Great White Spot observed on Saturn

1994 - National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.

1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.

2005 - Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.


Births

1725 - Sir Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (d. 1803)
1755 - John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1835)
1921 - Jim McKay, American sportscaster (d. 2008)
1936 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer (d. 1990)
1941 - Linda McCartney, American singer (d. 1998)
1945 - Lou Dobbs, American journalist
1946 - "Mean" Joe Greene, American football player
1961 - Allen Bestwick, Nascar broadcaster
1965 - Sean McNabb, American bassist (Quiet Riot, Great White, Rough Cutt, House of Lords)
1976 - Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, American professional wrestler


[edit] Deaths

366 - Pope Liberius
1143 - Pope Innocent II

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