This Day In History: Japan surrenders, bringing an end to WWII

Japan surrenders, bringing an end to WWII

Born on This Day

Christa McAuliffe, American NASA Astronaut & Teacher

Christa McAuliffe

1948 - 1986

Teacher selected to be the first nonscientist in space who died in the tragic 1986 explosion of NASA's space shuttle Challenger.

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Keanu Reeves

1964 -

Actor who brought laid-back charisma to blockbusters like "Speed" and "The Matrix."

2024 WSJ Innovators

Salma Hayek

1966 -

Mexican-American actress best known for "Desperado," "From Dusk Till Dawn" and the Frida Kahlo biopic "Frida."

Christa McAuliffeGetty Images

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Salma HayekGetty Images

2014

SEP2

Underwater archeologists locate the wreck of the HMS Erebus, one of two ships in the ill-fated Franklin Expedition, which vanished in the Arctic in the 1840s. The other ship, HMS Terror, is found in 2016, almost to the day.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on September 2nd

The Battle of Actium

At the Battle of Actium, off the western coast of Greece, Roman leader Octavian wins a decisive victory against the forces of Roman Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Before their forces suffered final defeat, Antony and Cleopatra broke though the enemy lines and fled to Egypt, where they would commit suicide the following […]

Great Fire of London begins

In the early morning hours of September 2, 1666, the Great Fire of London breaks out in the house of King Charles II’s baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. It soon spread to Thames Street, where warehouses filled with combustibles and a strong easterly wind transformed the blaze into an inferno. When the Great […]

Congress founds U.S. Treasury

The United States Treasury Department is founded on September 2, 1789. The institution’s roots can be traced to 1775, when America’s leaders were looking for ways to fund the Revolutionary War. Their solution–issuing cash that doubled as redeemable “bills of credit”—raised enough capital to fuel the revolution. but also led to the country’s first debt. […]

2:14m read read

Union general George B. McClellan is restored to full command

President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope’s disaster at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, on August 29 and 30. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, saw much of his army transferred to Pope’s Army of Virginia after his failure to capture […]

1:40m read read

Chinese miners are massacred in Wyoming Territory

On September 2, 1885, 150 white miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, brutally attack their Chinese coworkers, killing 28, wounding 15 others, and driving several hundred more out of town. The miners working in the Union Pacific coal mine had been struggling to unionize and strike for better working conditions for years. But at every juncture […]

1:52m read read

Navy aviator George H.W. Bush and his squadron attacked

On September 2, 1944, future President George Herbert Walker Bush is serving as a torpedo bomber pilot in the Pacific theater of World War II when his squadron is attacked by Japanese anti-aircraft guns. Bush was forced to bail out of the plane over the ocean. According to the Navy’s records, Bush’s squadron was conducting a […]

1:50m read read

Vietnam declares its independence from France

Hours after Japan’s surrender in World War II, Vietnamese communist Ho Chi Minh declares the independence of Vietnam from France. The proclamation paraphrased the U.S. Declaration of Independence in declaring, “All men are born equal: the Creator has given us inviolable rights, life, liberty, and happiness!” and was cheered by an enormous crowd gathered in […]

First U.S. ATM opens for business

On September 2, 1969, America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely […]

2:04m read read

Vietnamese president and communist icon Ho Chi Minh dies

President Ho Chi Minh of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam dies of a heart attack in Hanoi. North Vietnamese officials announced his death the next day. Ho Chi Minh had been the heart and soul of Vietnamese communism since the earliest days of the movement. Born in 1890, he was the son of a Vietnamese […]

2:38m read read

Michael Jackson earns his 12th and final solo #1 with “You Are Not Alone”

On September 2, 1995, pop star Michael Jackson’s song “You Are Not Alone” reaches no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—his 12th #1 hit. Jackson’s incredible run of chart-topping hits began in 1972 with the release of his fifth single, “Ben,” from the motion picture of the same name. A touching ballad about a sensitive boy’s devotion […]

1:24m read read

Diana Nyad, 64, makes record swim from Cuba to Florida

On September 2, 2013, 64-year-old Diana Nyad becomes the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the use of a shark cage for protection. Nyad completed the 110-mile swim from Havana to Key West, through the jellyfish-and shark-infested waters of the Straits of Florida, in approximately 53 hours. Born on August 22, 1949, […]

2:16m read read

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