1777: The city of Philadelphia is occupied by the British Army, in an eight-month stand-off that ends when France and America sign the Franco-American Alliance, opening the door for French troops to defend Philadelphia.
1789: America’s fledgling government continues to take shape 13 years after its formation, with the appointment of Edmund Randolph as the first-ever attorney general, John Jay as the first-ever Chief Justice, and Thomas Jefferson as the first-ever Secretary of State.
1815: The Holy Alliance was meant to preserve unity – but its forced Christianity kicked off rebellion throughout Europe. The three countries that signed it on this day – Russia, Prussia and Austria – went on to lose power throughout Europe by the late 1800s.
1914: Brussels Mayor Adolphe Max is imprisoned after refusing to cede control of his city to German troops. just two months after the assassination of Austria-Hungary Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He escapes from prison and returns four years later as a hero, serving more than 30 years as a Belgian diplomat.
1944: In this battle that inspired the 1977 Sean Connery movie “A Bridge Too Far,” about 9,000 British, Polish and American soldiers are defeated by German forces, while trying to build bridges that would have enabled a path through the Netherlands and into Germany.
1971: U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm becomes the first Black woman to run for President of the United States.
1978: New York District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley, renowned for her career contributions to Black and women’s civil rights, rules that female Sports Illustrated reporter Melissa Ludtke should have the same locker room access as her male counterparts. “After her ruling, girls realized they could perform jobs in sports media that previously had seemed out of reach. Since then, tens of thousands of women have worked in sports media, leading to many firsts for women as in-booth broadcasters in baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer, to name a few,” Ludtke writes in her book “Locker Room Talk.
1983 Soviet military officer Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov saves the world when he instinctively refuses to act on what appear to be radar indications of a missile attack from the United States. The radar signals are later determined to be caused by solar reflections.
2019: “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America” begins in earnest when President Donald J. Trump appoints Harold J. Phillips to lead the group and strive to end HIV as a public health threat by the year 2030.
2021: Switzerland voters approve the “Marriage for All” amendment that legalizes same-sex marriage, with 64 percent of voters saying “yes.”
2023: Then former president Donald Trump is found guilty of fraud for inflating his assets in a civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, whom Trump is now seeking to indict.
2024: Hurricane Helene, the Category 4 storm that ends up claiming 250 lives across 10 states, makes landfall in Perry, Fl., near Tallahassee.
References for this collection include On This Day in History, Historynet.net, and the Centers for Disease Control. Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
