CAMILLE BOHANNON

It was announced by President Truman on this day in 1945, Japan
had surrendered unconditionally. The surrender ended World War II.

Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the 
their  Instrument of Surrender on board USS Missouri as General
Richard K. Sutherland watches, September 2, 1945.

It was on this day in 2003.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into
law on this day in 1935. The act created unemployment insurance
and pension plans for the elderly.

On this day in 1969, British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to
intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman
Catholics.

Lech Walesa

Stephen Glenn Martin is 73 years old today. Born in Waco, Texas.

Comedian, actor and musician Steve Martin is best known films include 
The Jerk (1979), Father of the Bride (1991), Roxanne (1987), Three Amigos
(1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles 
(1987). He hosted the Academy Awards in 2001, 2003 and 2010 and he has
hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live on a number of occasions. 

While he has played banjo since an early age, and included music in his
comedy routines from the beginning of his professional career, he has
increasingly dedicated his career to music since the 2000s, acting less
and spending much of his professional life playing banjo, recording,
and touring with various bluegrass acts, including Earl Scruggs.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Christopher Columbus left Palos, Spain with three ships on this day
in 1492. The voyage led him to what is now known as the Americas.

On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on France. The next day World War I began when Britain declared war on Germany.

Alger Hiss (above) was a government official who was accused
of being a Soviet spy on this day in 1948. His case became one 
of the defining – and still highly controversial – episodes of the
Cold War.

Whittaker Chambers is seated on the left in the above photo.

On this day in 1981, U.S. traffic controllers with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), went on strike. They were
fired just as President Ronald Reagan had warned.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) was founded on this day
in 1949.

Singer Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto) is 92 today.

Tony Bennett is known for his renditions of show tunes, jazz, and popular
songs like "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and "Rags to Riches."

He dropped out of school to work as a copy boy in order to help support
his family. He was a painting and music student at New York’s School of
Industrial Art.

MIKE GRACIA

During the U.S. Civil War on this day in 1862, about 14,000 soldier’s 
of the Confederate army surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at
Fort Donelson, TN.

The operator of a crematory in Noble, GA, was arrested on this day in 2002, after dozens of corpses were found stacked in storage sheds
and scattered around in the surrounding woods.

Ray Brent Marsh addresses the court during sentencing proceedings
in Walker County Court in LaFayette, Ga.

John Demjanjuk (above) went on trial in Jerusalem on this day in
1987. He was accused of being "Ivan the Terrible", a guard at the Treblinka concentration camp. He was convicted, but the Israeli
Supreme Court overturned the ruling.

Former prison camp guard John Demjanjuk. 

On this day in 1968, America’s first 911 emergency telephone
system was inaugurated in Haleyville, AL.

Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite (right) went to City Hall
and called U.S. Representative Tom Bevill at the local police station
for the first 911 call.  

On this day in 2005, The NHL announced the cancellation
of the 2004-2005 season due to a labor dispute. It was the
first time a major sports league in North America lost an
entire season to a labor dispute.

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman
announced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season.

ED DANAHUE

Saddam Hussein was executed on this day in 2006.

About 600 people died on this day in 1903 when fire broke out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, IL.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed on this
day in 1922. Vladimir Lenin (above) proclaimed the establishment.

The United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, MI. on this day in 1936.

On this day in 1948, the musical "Kiss Me Kate" opened at the New Century Theatre in New York City. Cole Porter composed the music
for the classic play that ran for 1,077 performances.

Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, and Julie Wilson.

Bo Diddley  (Ellas Otha Bates)  (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008)

Singer, guitarist, songwriter and music producer Bo Diddley  who played a
key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many
artists, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones with his 
use of African rhythms and a signature beat.

TIM MAGUIRE

Several thousand people gather in the Daley Center Plaza in downtown Chicago on Sept. 14, 2001, for a memorial service to honor those killed
in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Cities across the country held similar
events after President George W. Bush declared Sept. 14 a day of
prayer.

President George W. Bush’s Remarks At Ground Zero September 14, 2001.

After President William McKinley died of gunshot wounds inflicted
by an assassin, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42,
succeeded him on this day in 1901.

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled
Banner," a poem originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry,"
after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, MD,
during the War of 1812 (above). The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.

On this day in 1982.

It was announced on this day in 1994, that the season was over for
the National Baseball League on the 34th day of the players strike
and the final days of the regular season were canceled.

Margaret Higgins Sanger (Margaret Louise Higgins)
(September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) 

Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex
educator, eugenicist, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized
the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in
the United States, and established organizations that evolved
into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.