Hello!
Welcome to your Labor Day weekend.
As you likely noticed, it’s a toasty one out there as we flirt with record temperatures. But, we are keeping with our weekend tradition of slowing things down a bit with our “scroll down memory lane.” It’s a simple look back at events that happened on this day in history before you step out to make new memories of your own.
After a week that may have felt long, stressful, or full of back-to-school shuffling and juggling we hope you get some time to reset this weekend and possibly enjoy a relaxing dip into the first days of September. So, grab your favorite sippin’ drink and let’s scroll!
Today is Saturday, September 2nd, the 245th day of the year.
On this day:
In 1666, the Great Fire of London began. One-third of London was destroyed and about 100-thousand people were made homeless.
In 1789, the United States Treasury Department was organized by an act of Congress. The first Secretary of Treasury was Alexander Hamilton.
In 1940, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated in North Carolina.
In 1944, United States Navy Pilot and future President, George H. W. Bush, was shot down by the Japanese following a bombing run on the Bonin Islands. His two crew members on the run were killed. Bush was rescued by a United States submarine.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed this day as Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day). That’s because the official ratification of the Japanese surrender to the Allies was made aboard the USS Missouri in Japan’s Tokyo Bay. The war lasted six years and one day.
In 1945, Vietnam declared independence from France.
In 1963, the day classes were scheduled to start for the fall term, Alabama Governor George Wallace issued an executive order to shut Tuskegee High School down for a week, instructing state police to enforce his decree.
In 1969, the first ATM in America was installed and started dispensing money in New York City.
In 1969, former President of North Vietnam Ho Chi Minh died at age 79.
In 1974, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act was established.
In 1995, the Rock and Roll Hall-of-Fame opened its doors in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 2003, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned about 100 death sentences based on a Supreme Court decision that ruled that juries, not judges must decide if a criminal will receive capital punishment.
In 2005, “Gilligan’s Island” sitcom star Bob Denver passed away at the age of 70. In addition to playing the bumbling first mate on “Gilligan’s Island,” Denver also found earlier sitcom success playing Maynard G. Krebs in the 1959 series “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.”
In 2013, 64-year-old long distance swimmer Diana Nyad fulfilled her dream of becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. It was Nyad’s fifth attempt at the 110-mile swim, which took her 53 hours to complete. She summed up the experience saying “All my life I’ve dreamed big.”
In 2014, ISIS released a video that showed the beheading of American hostage Steven Sotloff.
In 2019, a boat caught on fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, California killing 34 people on board. Those who died are thought to have been trapped below deck.
In 2020, MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, became the world’s richest woman valued at 68 billion dollars.
In 2021, remnants of Hurricane Ida brought on floods, rains, and tornadoes to the northeast states.
And that brings us here to this day. Whatever plans you have for your own 9.2.2023 here’s hoping there are moments along the way to record on the pages of your own personal history books.
Thanks for stopping by!
