“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.”- James Baldwin

August 27

Birthday – Charles Dawes (1865-1951) was born in Marietta, Ohio. He served as U.S. Vice President from 1925-29, and is best remembered for his “Dawes Plan” for German reparations following World War I. He received the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize.

Birthday – Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) the 36th U.S. President was born near Stonewall, Texas. He ascended to the presidency upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Johnson served until January 20, 1969.

Birthday – Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was born (as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) in Skopje, Yugoslavia. She founded a religious order of nuns in Calcutta, India, called the Missionaries of Charity and spent her life working to help the poor and sick of India.

August 28

August 28, 1963 – The March on Washington occurred as over 250,000 persons attended a Civil Rights rally in Washington, D.C., at which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his now-famous I Have a Dream speech.

Birthday – German author-philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is best known for the dramatic poem Faust, completed in 1831.

Birthday – The first American-born Roman Catholic saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) was born (as Elizabeth Ann Bayley) in New York. She founded the first American Catholic religious order, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph. In 1809, she opened an elementary school in Baltimore, marking the beginning of the parochial school system in the U.S.

August 29

August 29, 1792 – In one of the worst maritime disasters, 900 men drowned on the British battleship Royal George. As the ship was being repaired, a gust of wind allowed water to flood into open gun ports. The ship sank within minutes.

August 29, 1991 – Following the unsuccessful coup of August 19-21, the Soviet Communist Party was suspended, thus ending the institution that ruled Soviet Russia for nearly 75 years.

Birthday – Physician and author Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He once wrote, “A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” His poem Old Ironsides aroused popular sentiment in the 1830’s which helped to save the historic frigate USS Constitution from destruction.

Birthday – British philosopher and pioneer in modern political thinking, John Locke (1632-1704) was born in Wrington, England. His ideas greatly influenced American colonists, namely that rulers derive their power only from the consent of the governed – and the doctrine that men naturally possess certain rights, the chief being life, liberty, and property.

August 30

Birthday – Frankenstein author Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was born in London.

Birthday – Civil rights leader Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The grandson of a Mississippi slave, he was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

August 31

August 31, 1786 – Shays’ Rebellion began in Massachusetts as ex-Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays led an armed mob. The rebellion prevented the Northampton Court from holding a session in which debtors, mostly poor ex-soldier farmers, were to be tried and likely put in prison. Following this, in September, Shays’ troops prevented Supreme Court sessions at Springfield, Massachusetts. Early in 1787, they attacked the Federal arsenal at Springfield, but were soon routed and fled. Shays was sentenced to death but was pardoned in 1788.

August 31, 1980 – Solidarity, the Polish trade union, was formed at Gdansk, Poland. Led by Lech Walesa, Solidarity opposed Communist rule and was outlawed in 1981. Seven years later, the re-legalization of Solidarity occurred and the government agreed to hold partially free parliamentary elections. Solidarity candidates scored stunning victories in the elections that followed, gaining power in Poland and paving the way for the downfall of Communism there.

August 31, 1997 – Britain’s Princess Diana died at age 36 from massive internal injuries suffered in a high-speed car crash, reportedly after being pursued by photographers. The crash occurred shortly after midnight in Paris inside a tunnel along the Seine River at the Pont de l’Alma bridge, less than a half mile north of the Eiffel Tower. Also killed in the crash were Diana’s companion, Dodi Fayed, 42, and chauffeur Henri Paul. A fourth person in the car, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured.

September 1

September 1, 1715 – The “Sun King” (King Louis XIV of France) died. He had ruled since the age of five and was succeeded by his 5-year-old great-grandson Louis XV.

September 1, 1939 – At 5.30 a.m., Hitler’s armies invaded Poland starting World War II in Europe.

September 1, 1969 – Military officers overthrew the Libyan government. The Libyan Arab Republic was then proclaimed under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

September 1, 1983 – Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Russian fighter jet while on route from New York to Seoul, killing all 269 persons on board. The Boeing 747 reportedly strayed 100 miles off course over secret Soviet Russian military installations on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island. It crashed in the Sea of Japan.

Birthday – Tarzan of the Apes creator Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) was born in Chicago. Before becoming a novelist, he was as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

Birthday – Boxing champ Rocky Marciano (1923-1969) was born in Brockton, Massachusetts (as Rocco Francis Marchegiano). He fought Jersey Joe Walcott for the heavyweight title on September 23, 1952 and knocked him out. In 1956, he retired as the only undefeated heavyweight champion. He died in a plane crash in 1969.

September 2

September 2, 31 B.C. – Roman legions under Augustus Caesar defeated Mark Anthony’s naval force at Actium.

September 2, 1666 – The Great Fire of London began in a bakery in Pudding Lane near the Tower. Over the next three days more than 13,000 houses were destroyed, although only six lives were believed lost.

September 2, 1752 – The British ended their use of the Julian calendar, switching instead to the Gregorian calendar, resulting in a major adjustment as Wednesday, September 2, was followed by Thursday, September 14. The correction resulted in rioting by people who felt cheated and demanded the missing eleven days back.

September 2, 1789 – The third Presidential cabinet department, the U.S. Treasury, was established by Congress.

September 2, 1864 – During the American Civil War, Atlanta was captured by Sherman’s Army. “Atlanta is ours, and fairly won,” General William T. Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln.

September 2, 1870 – Napoleon III surrendered to the Prussians during the Battle of Sedan, resulting in the fall of the Second French Empire.

September 2, 1923 – The first elections were held in the Irish Free State after achieving independence from Britain.

September 2, 1930 – French aviators Dieudonne Coste and Maurice Bellonte made the first non-stop flight from Europe to the USA.

September 2, 1945 – President Harry Truman declared V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) commemorating the formal Japanese surrender to the Allies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

September 2, 1945 – Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

September 2, 1962 – Soviet Russia agreed to send arms to Cuba, leading to the October Missile Crisis after the shipments were discovered by the U.S.

September 2, 1963 – Alabama Governor George Wallace forcibly halted public school integration by encircling Tuskegee High School with state troopers.

Birthday – Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986) was born in Boston (as Sharon Christa Corrigan). On January 28, 1986, the 37-year-old high-school teacher, the first “ordinary citizen” in space, died with six crew members in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.