Today In History [8th September, 2015]

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History

September 8
1504		Michelangelo’s 13-foot marble statue of David is unveiled in Florence, Italy.
1529		The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman re-enters Buda and establishes John Zapolyai as the puppet king of Hungary.
1565		Spanish explorers found St. Augustine, Florida, the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States.
1628		John Endecott arrives with colonists at Salem, Massachusetts, where he will become the governor.
1644		The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam surrenders to the British fleet that sails into its harbor. Five years later, the British change the name to New York.
1755		British forces under William Johnson defeat the French and the Indians at the Battle of Lake George.
1760		The French surrender the city of Montreal to the British.
1845		A French column surrenders at Sidi Brahim in the Algerian War.
1863		Confederate Lieutenant Dick Dowling thwarts a Union naval landing at Sabine Pass, northeast of Galveston, Texas.
1903		Between 30,000 and 50,000 Bulgarian men, women and children are massacred in Monastir by Turkish troops seeking to check a threatened Macedonian uprising.
1906		Robert Turner invents the automatic typewriter return carriage.
1915		Germany begins a new offensive in Argonne on the Western Front.
1921		Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C., is named the first Miss America.
1925		Germany is admitted into the League of Nations.
1935		Senator Huey Long of Louisiana is shot to death in the state capitol, allegedly by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, Jr.
1944		Germany’s V-2 offensive against England begins.
1945		Korea is partitioned by the Soviet Union and the United States.
1951		Japanese representatives sign a peace treaty in San Francisco.
1955		The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand sign the mutual defense treaty that established the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
1960		Penguin Books in Britain is charged with obscenity for trying to publish the D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterly’s Lover.
1960		President Eisenhower dedicates NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
1971		The Kennedy Center opens in Washington, DC with a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.
1974		President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard M. Nixon for any crimes arising from the Watergate scandal he may have committed while in office.
1988		Wildfires in Yellowstone National Park in the US, the world’s first national park, force evacuation of the historic Old Faithful Inn; visitors and employees evacuated but the inn is saved.
1991		Macedonian Independence Day; voters overwhelmingly approve referendum to form the Republic of Macedonia, independent of Yugoslavia.
1994		USAir Flight 427 crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, killing all 132 people aboard; subsequent investigation leads to changes in manufacturing practices and pilot training.
Born on September 8
1841		Antonin Dvorak, composer and violinist.
1886		Siegfried Sassoon, British author and poet famous for his anti-war writing about World War I.
1889		Robert A. Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio who unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination from the 1940s until 1952.
1900		Claude Pepper, Democratic senator and congressman from Florida, champion of senior citizens rights.
1922		Sid Caesar, comedian and television star, best known for "Your Show of Shows," and "The Sid Caesar Show."
1925		Peter Sellers, English comic actor, famous for his role as Inspector Clouseau.
1932		Patsy Cline, country singer ("Crazy", "I Fall to Pieces").
1933		Michael Frayn, playwright (A Very Private Life, Noises Off).
1947		Ann Beattie, writer (Chilly Scenes of Winter, Picturing Will).
1954		Anne Diamond, journalist, TV host (Good Morning Britain) social activist; led Back to Sleep campaign that drastically reduced the number of cot deaths (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) among UK infants.
1954		Michael Shermer, founder of The Skeptics Society and editor of Skeptic magazine.
1963		Brad Silberling, screenwriter, director (City of Angels); wrote and directed Moonlight Mile (2002) based on the murder of his girlfriend, actress Rebecca Schaeffer, by a stalker.
1970		Yuji Nishizawa, highjacked All Nippon Airways flight, July 23, 1999.
1971		Martin Freeman, actor (The Office BBC Two TV series; Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).
1979		Pink (Alecia Beth Moore), multiple award-winning singer, including three Grammys ("Lady Marmalade," "Trouble," "Imagine."