The first Labor Day observance happened on September 5, 1882, on a Tuesday
at that time, when thousands of workers of the Central Labor Union of New York
marched from Fifth Avenue to Union Square (above), where picnics, fireworks,
and rallies were held, all in support of an 8-hour workday.

It became a national holiday in 1894, following the deaths of a number of striking
Railway Union workers as they were confronted by troops of the Illinois National
Guard during the Pullman Strike. After reaching an agreement with the labor
movement, President Grover Cleveland rushed legislation through Congress
designating the first Monday of September as “National Labor Day”. This was
six days after the end of the strike.

Striking  Railway Union members confront National Guard troops in Chicago
during the Pullman Strike  

Theodore Roosevelt, then U.S. Vice President, delivered a speech at the
Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 1901 in which included the famous phrase…”Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far”. He was referring
to the idea of negotiating peacefully, but carry a “big stick”, or the military, for
political power. The speech was made twelve days before the assassination
of President William McKinley, which subsequently thrust Roosevelt into  
the Presidency.

The global military conflict known as World War II, or the Second World War began
on September 1, 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany, and the subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the British Empire. It officially ended on September 2, 1945.

Richard Gere began his acting career in the 1970s, playing a supporting role 
in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977),  and he had a starring role in Days of 
Heaven (1978). He became well known for his role in American Gigolo
(1980), which established him as a leading man. Gere then stared in
several hit films including An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Pretty
Woman (1990), Primal Fear (1996), and the musical film Chicago
(2002), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor,
as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Best Cast.

2007

Actor Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray  appeared in more than 100
movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned
nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s. MacMurray is well known
for his role in the 1944 film noir Double Indemnity with costar Barbara
Stanwyck. He later became known as Steve Douglas, the widowed head
of the family on My Three Sons,which ran on ABC-TV from 1960 – 1965 
and then on the CBS television network from 1965 – 1972.