On September 18th...

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1180 King Louis VII of France died.

1544 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and French King Francis I signed by the Peace of Crépy, ending the Fourth Hapsburg-Valois War.

1635 Emperor Ferdinand II declared war on France.

1709 Author and dictionary maker Samuel Johnson was born.

1759 Quebec, Canada, surrendered to the British.

1765 Pope Gregory XVI was born.

1769 John Harris built the first spinet piano.

1793 President George Washington laid the cornerstone for the Capitol.

1809 The Royal Opera House opened in London, England.

1810 Chile declared its independence from Spain.

1819 Physicist Jean Foucault was born.

1850 The U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law.

1851 The first issue of the New York Times was published.

1872 Oscar II became King of Sweden-Norway.

1895 John George Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada, was born.

1898 Alberto Santos-Dumont demonstrated his first dirigible.

1905 Actor Eddie Anderson was born.
1905 Actress Greta Garbo was born.
1905 Choreographer Agnes de Mille was born.

1908 Thomas Ethelon Selfridge became the first person to die as the result of injuries sustained in an airplane crash.

1914 The Irish Home Rule Bill received Royal Assent.

1920 Actor Jack Warden was born.

1922 Hungary was admitted to the League of Nations.

1927 The Columbia Broadcasting System began operations, with 16 radio stations.

1931 Japanese forces invaded Manchuria.

1932 Actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.

1933 Actor Robert Blake was born.
1933 Professional hockey coach Scotty Bowman was born.
1933 Actor Fred Warren was born.

1934 Russia was admitted to the League of Nations.
1934 Businessman Neil Clark Warren was born.

1940 Singer Frankie Avalon was born.

1946 Joe Louis KO'd Tami Mauriello in the first round for the heavyweight boxing title.

1947 The United States Air Force was established.
1947 The Department of Defense was created by act of Congress.

1949 Rock musician Kerry Livgren was born.
1949 Actor Frank Morgan died.

1951 The film A Streetcar Named Desire was released.

1957 "Wagon Train" premiered on NBC-TV.

1959 Vanguard III was launched from Cape Canaveral.

1961 Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was killed in a plane crash in Africa.
1961 Actor James Gandolfini was born.

1963 The Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets, 5-1, in the last game at the Polo Grounds.

1964 "The Addams Family" premiered on ABC-TV.
1964 Plawright Sean O'Casey died.

1965 "Get Smart" premiered on CBS-TV.
1965 "I Dream of Jeannie" premiered on NBC-TV.

1967 Yellowknife replaced Ottawa as rhe capital of the Northwest Territories, Canada.

1970 Guitarist Jimi Hendrix died.

1971 Cyclist Lance Armstrong was born.
1971 Actress Jada Pinkett Smith was born.

1972 Actor Michael Landes was born.

1975 Newspaper heiress/kidnap victim Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, California.

1977 The U. S. yacht Courageous defeated the yacht Australia to keep the America's Cup in the United States.

1981 The French National Assembly voted to abolish capital punishment.

1983 "Hardcastle and McCormick" premiered on ABC-TV.

1985 "The Equalizer" premiered on CBS-TV.

1988 General Prosper Avril seized control of the Haitian government.
1988 Burma suspended its constitution.

1990 Liechtenstein became a member of the United Nations.

1994 Ken Burns' "Baseball" premiered on PBS.
1994 Tennis player Vitas Gerulaitas died.

1996 Roger Clemens became the only player in Major League history to strike-out 20 players in one 9-inning game twice.

1997 Voters in Wales voted "yes" in a referendum on Welsh autonomy.

1998 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers was formed.
1998 The film "Rush Hour" was released.

2012 A fire at a Pemex gas facility in Reynosa, Mexico, killed 26 prsons.

2014 Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom.

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This page was last updated on September 19, 2018.