On This Day: September 2

Updated September 2, 2014, 5:33 am

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On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II.

On Sept. 2, 1948, Christa McAuliffe, the American teacher who died in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion, was born. Following her death on Jan. 28, 1986, her obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

1666	The Great Fire of London broke out. It destroyed nearly 400 acres, including some 13,000 houses and the old St. Paul's Cathedral.
1789	The U.S. Treasury Department was established.
1864	Union Gen. William T. Sherman's forces occupied Atlanta during the Civil War.
1901	Vice President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.
1935	A hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys, claiming 423 lives.
1944	Navy pilot George H.W. Bush was shot down by Japanese forces as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands.
1945	Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent republic.
1963	"The CBS Evening News" was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
1969	North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh died.
1969	The first automatic teller machine to use magnetic-striped cards opened to the public at Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York.
1983	Tom Brokaw took over as anchor of NBC's "Nightly News."
2004	President George W. Bush accepted his party's nomination for a second term at the Republican National Convention in New York City.
2005	President George W. Bush told Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" during a tour of Hurricane Katrina damage in Alabama.

Historic Birthdays

Christa McAuliffe 9/2/1948 - 1/28/1986American teacher; died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion.Go to obituary »

81	Ernst Curtius 9/2/1814 - 7/11/1896 German archaeologist; directed the excavation of Olympia
79	Lucretia Hale 9/2/1820 - 6/12/1900 American novelist and writer of children's books
81	Giovanni Verga 9/2/1840 - 1/27/1922 Italian novelist, short story writer and playwright
65	A. G. Spalding 9/2/1850 - 9/9/1915 American baseball player and sporting-goods manufacturer
78	Wilhelm Ostwald 9/2/1853 - 4/4/1932 Russian-born German Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1909)
79	Frederick Soddy 9/2/1877 - 9/22/1956 English Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1921)
67	Werner Blomberg 9/2/1878 - 3/22/1946 German general and minister of war under Hitler
81	Cleveland Amory 9/2/1917 - 10/14/1998 American critic, historian and journalist
57	Martha Mitchell 9/2/1918 - 5/31/1976 American figure in the Watergate scandal