1792 – The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

1784 – “The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser” was published for the first time in Philadelphia. It was the first daily paper in America.

1893 – Frank Duryea took what is believed to be the first gasoline- powered automobile for a test drive. The “horseless carriage” was designed by Frank and Charles Duryea.

1897 – The New York Sun ran the “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial. It was in response to a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon.

1931 – Britain went off the gold standard.

1931 – Japanese forces began occupying China’s northeast territory of Manchuria.

1937 – J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” was first published.

1941 – “The Second Mrs. Burton” premiered to the entire CBS Radio Network.

1948 – Milton Berle debuted as the host of “The Texaco Star Theater” on NBC-TV. The show later became “The Milton Berle Show.” Berle was the regular host until 1967.

1948 – “Life With Luigi” debuted on CBS Radio.

1949 – Communist leaders proclaimed The People’s Republic of China.

1957 – “Perry Mason”, the television series, made its debut on CBS-TV. The show was on for 9 years.

1961 – Antonio Abertondo swam the English Channel (in both directions) in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

1964 – Malta gained independence from Britain.

1966 – The Soviet probe Zond 5 returned to Earth. The spacecraft completed the first unmanned round-trip flight to the moon.

1970 – “NFL Monday Night Football” made its debut on ABC-TV. The game was between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. The Browns won 31-21.

1973 – Henry Kissinger was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become 56th Secretary of State. He was the first naturalized citizen to hold the office of Secretary of State.

1981 – The U.S. Senate confirmed Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. 

1981 – Belize gained full independence from Great Britain.

1982 – National Football League (NFL) players began a 57-day strike. It was their first regular-season walkout.

1982 – Amin Gemayel was elected president of Lebanon. He was the brother of Bashir Gemayel who was the president-elect when he was assassinated.

1984 – General Motors and the United Auto Workers union reached an agreement that would end the previous six days of spot strikes. 

1985 – North and South Korea opened their borders for their family reunion program.

1993 – Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin announced that he was ousting the Communist-dominated Congress. The action was effectively seizing all state power.

1996 – The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.

1996 – John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, GA.

President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor, an Arizona court of appeals judge, to be the first woman Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. The 1981 Senate confirms Sandra Day O’Conner to Supreme Court (99-0)

On September 21, the Senate unanimously approved her appointment to the nation’s highest court, and on September 25 she was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Sandra Day was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1930. She grew up on her family’s cattle ranch in southeastern Arizona and attended Stanford University, where she studied economics. A legal dispute over her family’s ranch stirred her interest in law, and in 1950 she enrolled in Stanford Law School. She took just two years to receive her law degree and was ranked near the top of her class. Upon graduation, she married John Jay O’Connor III, a classmate.

Because she was a woman, no law firm she applied to would hire her for a suitable position, so she turned to the public sector and found work as a deputy county attorney for San Mateo, California. In 1953, her husband was drafted into the U.S. Army as a judge, and the O’Connors lived for three years in West Germany, with Sandra working as a civilian lawyer for the army. In 1957, they returned to the United States and settled down in Phoenix, Arizona, where they had three children in the six years that followed. During this time, O’Connor started a private law firm with a partner and became involved in numerous volunteer activities.

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