September 9

337 Constantine’s three sons, already Caesars, each take the title of Augustus. Constantine II and Constans share the west while Constantius II takes control of the east.

1087 William the Conquerer, Duke of Normandy and King of England, dies in Rouen while conducting a war which began when the French king made fun of him for being fat.

1513 King James IV of Scotland is defeated and killed by English at Flodden.

1585 Pope Sixtus V deprives Henry of Navarre of his rights to the French crown.

1776 The term "United States" is adopted by the Continental Congress to be used instead of the "United Colonies."

1786 George Washington calls for the abolition of slavery.

1791 French Royalists take control of Arles and barricade themselves inside the town.

1834 Parliament passes the Municipal Corporations Act, reforming city and town governments in England.

1850 California, in the midst of a gold rush, enters the Union as the 31st state.

1863 The Union Army of the Cumberland passes through Chattanooga as they chase after the retreating Confederates. The Union troops will soon be repulsed at the Battle of Chickamauga.

1886 The Berne International Copyright Convention takes place.

1911 An airmail route opens between London and Windsor.

1915 A German zeppelin bombs London for the first time, causing little damage.

1926 The Radio Corporation of America creates the National Broadcasting Co.

1942 A Japanese float plane, launched from a submarine, makes its first bombing run on a U.S. forest near Brookings, Oregon.

1943 Allied troops land at Salerno, Italy and encounter strong resistance from German troops.

1948 Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

1956 Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show; cameras focus on his upper torso and legs to avoid showing his pelvis gyrations, which many Americans—including Ed Sullivan—thought unfit for a family show.

1965 US Department of Housing and Urban Development established.

1965 Hurricane Betsy, the first hurricane to exceed $1 billion in damages (unadjusted), makes its second landfall, near New Orleans.

1969 Canada’s Official Languages Act takes effect, making French equal to English as a language within the nation’s government.

1970 U.S. Marines launch Operation Dubois Square, a 10-day search for North Vietnamese troops near DaNang.

1971 Attica Prison Riot; the 4-day riot leaves 39 dead.

1976 Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung dies in Beijing at age 82.

1990 Sri Lankan Army massacres 184 civilians of the Tamil minority in the Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka.

1991 Tajikstan declares independence from USSR.

1993 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state.

2001 Two al Qaeda assassins kill Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

2001 A car bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing 10 people.

Born on September 9

1585 Duc Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, French cardinal and statesman who helped build France into a world power under the leadership of King Louis XIII.

1828 Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (War and Peace, Anna Karenina).

1887 Alfred M. Landon, Republican governor of Kansas who carried only two states in his overwhelming defeat for the presidency by Franklin Roosevelt in 1936.

1890 Colonel Harland Sanders, originator of Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food restaurants.

1900 James Hilton, British novelist who authored Lost Horizon and Goodbye Mr. Chips and created the imaginary world of "Shangri-La."

1905 Joseph E. Levine, film producer, founder of Embassy Pictures Corporation, an independent studio and distributor of films such as Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, The Graduate, A Bridge Too Far, and The Lion in Winter.

1908 Shigekazu Shimazaki, Japanese commander and pilot who led the second wave of the air attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941; posthumously promoted to admiral in 1945.

1922 Bernard Bailyn, historian, author; received Pulitzer Prize for History (1968, 1987), and National Humanities Medal (2010).

1922 Hoyt Curtin, composer and music producer; primary musical director for Hanna-Barbera animation studio (The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Smurfs).

1934 Sonia Sanchez, poet.

1941 Otis Redding, singer, songwriter, record producer, known as the "King of Soul"; "(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay," "Respect."

1949 Joe Theismann, American football player, sports announcer; member of College Football Hall of Fame; winning quarterback, Super Bowl XVII.

1949 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesian general, 6th president of Indonesia.

1960 Hugh Grant, actor, film producer; awards include Golden Globe (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and London Critics Circle’s British Actor of the Year (About a Boy)

1966 Adam Sandler, actor, comedian, screenwriter, film producer (Saturday Night Live, Happy Gilmore).

1975 Michael Buble, multiple Grammy and Juno award–winning singer, songwriter, actor (Crazy Love, It’s Time).

1980 Michelle Williams, Golden Globe–winning actress (My Week with Marilyn).

1988 Jo Woodcock, actress (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Torn TV miniseries).

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