On Sept. 19, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, American soldiers won the first Battle of Saratoga.
In 1796 President George Washington’s farewell address was published. In it, he advised, “Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”
In 1881 President James Garfield died of wounds inflicted by an assassin.
In 1906, Mark Twain said there were “only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe … the sun in the heavens and The Associated Press down here.”
In 1934 Bruno Hauptmann was arrested in New York and charged with the kidnap-murder of infant Charles A. Lindbergh Jr.
In 1945 Nazi propagandist William Joyce, known as “Lord Haw-Haw,” was sentenced to death by a British court.
In 1957 the U.S. conducted its first underground nuclear test, in the Nevada desert.
In 1959 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was told that for security reasons he wouldn’t be allowed to visit Disneyland.
In 1970 “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” debuted on CBS.
In 1971 the Bears opened Soldier Field by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-15.
In 1984 Britain and China completed a draft agreement on transferring Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule by 1997.
In 1985 the Mexico City area was struck by the first of two earthquakes that killed 6,000 people.
In 1986 federal health officials announced that the experimental drug AZT would be made available to thousands of AIDS patients.
In 1993 Polish voters turned left in parliamentary elections, giving the most number of seats to the Democratic Left Alliance.
In 1994 U.S. troops peacefully entered Haiti to enforce the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In 1995 The New York Times and The Washington Post published the Unabomber’s manifesto.
In 1996 IBM extended health benefits to the partners of its homosexual employees.
In 1997, in his first public comments since the death of Princess Diana, Prince Charles told the British people that he would always feel the loss of his former wife and thanked them for their support.
In 1998 Nicole Johnson of Virginia, a 24-year-old diabetic who wore an insulin pump on her hip, was crowned Miss America 1999.
In 1999 German voters handed Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s governing Social Democrats a humiliating defeat in elections in the eastern state of Saxony, giving it just 11 percent of the votes.
In 2000 the Senate approved permanent normal trade status for China.
In 2001 the parent companies of American Airlines and United Airlines announced plans to lay off 20,000 employees.
In 2002 President Bush asked Congress for authority to “use all means,” including military force if necessary, to disarm and overthrow Saddam Hussein if the Iraqi leader didn’t quickly meet UN demands to abandon all weapons of mass destruction. Also, Kansas City first base coach Tom Gamboa was attacked by two fans, a father and son, who came out of the seats at Comiskey Park. (William Ligue Jr., 34, and his 15-year-old son got probation in the incident.)
In 2003 Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s defense minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmad, surrendered to U.S. forces.
In 2004 Hu Jintao became the undisputed leader of China with the departure of former President Jiang Zemin from his top military post.
In 2005 ex-Tyco CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for looting Tyco of hundreds of millions of dollars; Tyco’s ex-finance chief, Mark Swartz, received the same sentence.
