On September 20 in history …
  • 0368 - Emperor Valentinianus visits Nijmegen
  • 0451 - General Aetius defeats Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne
  • 0622 - Prophet Mohammed/Abu Bakr arrives in Jathrib (Medina)
  • 1258 - Cathedral of Salisbury inaugurated
  • 1378 - Robert de Genٹve, "butcher of Cesena" crowned anti-pope Clemens VII
  • 1519 - Ferdinand Magellan starts 1st successful circumnavigation of world
  • 1530 - Luther advises protestant monarch compromise
  • 1565 - Spaniards capture Fort Caroline Fla & massacre the French
  • 1604 - Spanish army under Spinola recaptures Oostende
  • 1620 - Battle at Jassy: Turks beat king Sigismund III of Poland
  • 1643 - 1st battle at Newbury: King Charles I vs Robert Devereux' armies
  • 1664 - Maryland passes 1st anti-amalgamation law to stop intermarriage of English women & black men
  • 1674 - 2nd West Indie Company forms
  • 1688 - French troops occupies Palts
  • 1697 - Peace of Saki (ends 9 years war)
  • 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie flees to France from Scotland
  • 1777 - Paoli massacre
  • 1787 - Prince Willem V returns to Hague
  • 1792 - French defeat Prussians at Valmy
  • 1793 - British troops under maj-gen Williamson lands on (French) Haiti
  • 1797 - US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
  • 1828 - Gioacchino Rossini's opera "Le Comte Ory," premieres in Paris
  • 1830 - 1st Negro Convention of Free Men agree to boycott slave-produced goods
  • 1833 - Charles Darwin rides horse to Buenos Aires
  • 1839 - 1st railroad in Netherland opens (Amsterdam-Haarlem)
  • 1850 - Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue
  • 1854 - Battle at Alma Krim: 1,000 British soldiers died
  • 1854 - British & French defeat Russians at Alma, in Crimea
  • 1859 - George Simpson patents electric range
  • 1860 - 1st British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII)
  • 1861 - Battle of Lexington, MI-captured by Union
  • 1863 - Battle of Shepardstown VA
  • 1863 - Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga Tenn, ends
  • 1870 - Italian army under Victor Emmanuel II seizes Rome from the French
  • 1870 - Mayor William Tweed accused of robbing NY treasury
  • 1870 - Pope Pius IX surrenders to King Victor Emmanuel
  • 1873 - Panic sweeps NY Stock Exchange (railroad bond default/bank failure) NY shut banks for 10 days due to a bank scandal
  • 1876 - Ottawa Football Club forms
  • 1877 - Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan)
  • 1879 - US Grants come to SF for elaborate extended visit
  • 1881 - Chester A Arthur sworn in as 21st president
  • 1884 - 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria
  • 1884 - Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for Pres & VP
  • 1896 - John Mcdermott wins 1st US marathon (NYC)
  • 1902 - Chic White Sox Jim Callahan no-hits Detroit Tigers, 3-0
  • 1904 - George Ade's "College Widow," premieres in NYC
  • 1904 - Orville & Wilbur Wright fly a circle in their Flyer II
  • 1905 - Cleveland makes AL record 7 errors in an inning
  • 1907 - Pitts Nick Maddox no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 2-1
  • 1908 - Chic White Sox Frank Smith 2nd no-hitter, beats Phila 1-0
  • 1911 - Yanks set team record 12 errors in a double header
  • 1913 - 19th US Golf Open: Francis Ouimet shoots a 304 at The Country Club MA
  • 1917 - British assault on Polygon-forest, France
  • 1918 - Royal Dutch Blast furnace & Steel factory opens in Hague
  • 1919 - 2nd PGA Championship: Jim Barnes at Engineers CC Roslyn NY
  • 1919 - Babe Ruth ties Ned Williamson's major league mark of 27 HRs
  • 1919 - Booth Tarkington's "Clarence," premieres in NYC
  • 1922 - Goodman & Atteridge's musical "Passing Show," premieres in NYC
  • 1922 - Rogers Hornsby ends hitting streak of 33 games
  • 1924 - Carl Mays is 1st pitcher to win 20 games seasons for 3 different teams
  • 1924 - Cub's Grover Cleveland Alexander beats NY Giants to win 300th game
  • 1927 - NY Yankee Babe Ruth hits record 60th HR of season off Tom Zachry
  • 1931 - Lou Gehrig's 4 RBIs break his old RBI mark of 175 en route to 184
  • 1932 - Chicago Cubs clinch the NL pennant
  • 1932 - Dutch South Seas rebaptized in IJsselmeer
  • 1932 - Gandhi begins hunger strike against treatment of untouchables
  • 1933 - Pittsburgh Steelers (as Pirates) play 1st NFL game, lose 23-2
  • 1935 - Pitts Crawfords beat NY Cubans to win Negro NL Championship, 3-0
  • 1938 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's Suite for jazz orchestra, premieres
  • 1938 - Emlyn Williams' "Corn is Green," premieres in London
  • 1939 - British fleet takes German U-27 boat
  • 1939 - Joe Louis KOs Bob Pastor in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
  • 1942 - Gunther Hagg becomes world champ of all records from 1500m to 5000m
  • 1943 - Liberator bombers sinks U-338
  • 1944 - Nijmegen free
  • 1944 - Polish forces free Terneuzen Neth
  • 1945 - German rocket engineers begin work in US
  • 1946 - Churchill argues for a "US of Europe"
  • 1948 - "Magdalena" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 48 performances
  • 1948 - Mexican Baseball league disbanded
  • 1949 - Dutch Guilder devalued 30.3%
  • 1949 - Tennis player Pancho Gonzales turns professional
  • 1951 - 1st North Pole jet crossing
  • 1951 - NL President Ford Frick elected 3rd commissioner of baseball
  • 1951 - Swiss males votes against female suffrage
  • 1952 - KPTV TV channel 12 in Portland, OR (IND) begins broadcasting
  • 1953 - Cubs Ernie Banks hits his 1st major league HR
  • 1954 - 1st FORTRAN computer program run
  • 1954 - 1st National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution
  • 1954 - KETC TV channel 9 in Saint Louis, MO (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1954 - Los Stravinsky's "In Memoriam Dylan Thomas," premieres in Angeles
  • 1954 - Roger Bannister awarded Britain's Silver Pears Trophy
  • 1955 - Willie Mays (Giants) homers off Vern Law (Pirates) in both ends of DH
  • 1955 - Willie Mays is 7th player to reach 50 HRS in a season
  • 1958 - Baltimore Oriole knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm no-hits NY Yankees 1-0
  • 1958 - Ferhat Abbas forms Algerian govt in exile (Cairo)
  • 1958 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • 1959 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Links Golf Invitation Open
  • 1960 - UN General Assembly admit 13 African countries & Cyprus (96 nations)
  • 1960 - WFSU TV channel 11 in Tallahassee, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1961 - After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls
  • 1961 - James Meredith refused access as a student in Mississippi
  • 1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • 1961 - Roger Maris hits home run # 59 & barely misses # 60 in game 154 of the season. Yanks clinch pennant #26
  • 1962 - Ben Bella wins 1st elections in independent Algeria
  • 1962 - Gov R Barnett refuses to admit a black to Miss Univ (James Meredith)
  • 1963 - JFK proposes a joint US-Soviet voyage to the moon
  • 1964 - Gپnter Grass' "Die Plebejern proben den Aufstand," premieres in Berlin
  • 1964 - Paramount Theater (NYC) presented the Beatles with Steve & Eydie
  • 1965 - WXXW (now WYCC) TV channel 20 in Chicago, IL (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1966 - Passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II launched
  • 1966 - US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept 23
  • 1967 - Benin separates from Nigeria
  • 1967 - British liner Queen Elizabeth II launched at Clydebank Scotland
  • 1967 - Hurricane Beulah hits Texas-Mexican border, kills 38
  • 1967 - WCAE TV channel 50 in St John, IN (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1967 - WCIX TV channel 6 in Miami, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1968 - Mickey Mantle hits final career homer # 536
  • 1969 - 18th Ryder Cup: Draw, 16-16 at Royal Birkdale, England
  • 1969 - Archies' "Sugar Sugar" hits #1
  • 1969 - Pitts Pirate Bob Moose no-hits NY Mets, 4-0
  • 1970 - Jim Morrison found not guilty of "lewd" behavior
  • 1970 - Luna 16 lands on Moon's Mare Fecunditatis, drills core sample
  • 1972 - Police find cannabis growing on Paul & Linda McCartney's farm
  • 1973 - Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match
  • 1973 - Willie Mays announces retirement at end of 1973 season
  • 1975 - 21st Ryder Cup: US, 21-11 at Laurel Valley GC Pa
  • 1975 - David Bowie's "Fame," single goes #1 for 2 weeks
  • 1975 - Gary Sentman draws a record 176 lb longbow to a maximum 28¬" draw
  • 1976 - Metroliner official opens in Brussels
  • 1976 - Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women
  • 1976 - Sid Berstein offers $230 million charity concert for Beatle reunion
  • 1977 - "Estrada" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 7 performances
  • 1977 - Vietnam & Djibouti ask for membership in UN
  • 1977 - Voyager 2 launched for fly-by of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
  • 1978 - "Eubie!" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 439 performances
  • 1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
  • 1978 - Yamada Mumon Roshi visits Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach Germany
  • 1979 - Coup in Central African Rep: David Dacko overthrows emperor Bokassa I
  • 1979 - Jose E dod Santos becomes president of Angola
  • 1979 - NASA launches HEAO
  • 1980 - Bronze plaque dedicated to memory of Thurman Munson at Yankee Stadium
  • 1980 - George Brett goes 0-for-4 dropping his avg below .400 for good
  • 1980 - Plaque dedicated in Thurman Munson's memory at Yankee Stadium
  • 1980 - Spectacular Bid runs in Belmont alone as 3 horses drop out
  • 1981 - 24th Ryder Cup: US, 18«-9« at Walton Heath GC, England
  • 1981 - Belize declares independence
  • 1981 - Joe Danelo kicks then NY Giant record 55 yard field goal
  • 1981 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Henredon Golf Classic
  • 1982 - Jalaluddin takes a one-day hat-trick Pakistan v Australia
  • 1982 - NFL players begin a 57 day strike
  • 1983 - 3,112 turn out to see Pirates play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
  • 1983 - Cryptographic Communications System & Method (RSA) patented
  • 1984 - "Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV
  • 1984 - Cubs break 2 million in home attendance for 1st time
  • 1984 - Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut, kills 23
  • 1985 - Curtis Strong is convicted for selling cocaine to pro baseball players
  • 1985 - Walt Disney World's 200-millionth guest
  • 1986 - Wichita State Shockers blow a 35-3 lead; lose 36-35 to Morehead State
  • 1987 - "Big River" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 1005 perfs
  • 1987 - 39th Emmy Awards: LA Law, Bruce Willis & Sharon Gless wins
  • 1987 - Alain Prost wins record 28th Formula one auto race
  • 1987 - Dwight Clark ends NFL streak of 105 consecutive game receptions
  • 1987 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
  • 1987 - Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown
  • 1988 - Darrell Evans hits his 400th career home run
  • 1988 - Greg Louganis wins Olympic gold medal in springboard diving
  • 1988 - Wade Boggs is 1st player to get 200 hits for 6 consecutive seasons
  • 1989 - FW De Klerk sworn in as president of South Africa
  • 1989 - Musical "Miss Saigon," premieres in London
  • 1989 - USAir overshoots runway at LaGuardia Airport in NYC, 2 people die
  • 1990 - Both Germanys ratify reunification
  • 1990 - Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message
  • 1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1991 - Lion's Terry Taylor reinstated after 1 year drug related suspension
  • 1992 - Colleen Walker wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
  • 1992 - Frances votes in favor of Maastricht treaty
  • 1992 - Leanza Cornett (Florida), 21, crowned 66th Miss America 1993
  • 1992 - Phils' Mickey Moradini makes an unassisted triple play
  • 1992 - Space shuttle STS-47 (Endeavour 2) lands
  • 1994 - Space shuttle STS-64 (Discovery 20), lands
  • 1995 - Cincinnati Reds becomes 1st team to clinch NL Central
  • 1997 - Yanks clinch 37th appearance in post season, 3rd consecutive
  • 1998 - Solheim Cup
  • 2000 - Patent on RSA cryptograph algorithm ends