September 2 marks several consequential moments in American history, including major changes in timekeeping, federal administration, and global warfare. The date is associated with Britain and its colonies’ adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, the establishment of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1789, and Japan’s formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri in 1945, which brought World War II’s fighting to an end. Taken together, these events reflect the ways policy, institutions, and military conflict have shaped the American experience across centuries.
The Instrument of Surrender
On September 2, 1945, World War II formally came to an end in Tokyo Bay. Aboard the battleship USS Missouri, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Emperor and ...
The Rolling Auto House of Texas
In September 1924, an extraordinary homemade-looking vehicle appeared in Washington, D.C.: the “auto house” of Will A. Harris of Texas. A National Photo Company photograph, now held by the Library ...
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The Architecture of Grief and Healing
On September 2, 1820, American writer and editor Lucretia Peabody Hale was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Best remembered today for the absurdly comic misadventures collected in The Peterkin Papers, Hale ...
The Rebel Prophet of the Gilded Age
On September 2, 1839, American economist and social philosopher Henry George was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1879, George published Progress and Poverty, a book that became a global publishing ...
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The Union General Who Left No Sanctuary
Library of Congress On September 2, 1837, future Union cavalry commander James Harrison Wilson was born in the frontier town of Shawneetown, Illinois. A West Point graduate who initially served ...
The Matriarch of the Living Desert
On September 2, 1908, Ruth Bancroft was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. She would go on to become one of America’s most influential advocates for dry gardening, creating the celebrated Ruth ...
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The Day Britain’s American Colonies Skipped Eleven Dates
On September 2, 1752, people across Britain’s American colonies ended the day under the Julian calendar. The next physical day was officially dated September 14. By act of Parliament, the dates September 3 through ...
The Fall of the South’s Industrial Engine
On September 2, 1864, Atlanta—the strategic heart of the Confederacy—fell into Union hands. After four grueling months of campaigning, General William T. Sherman had forced the city’s evacuation by cutting ...
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A California Campaign Moment—and Reagan’s Ranch Retreat
On September 2, 1984, President Ronald Reagan spoke to a crowd from his limousine at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Orange County, California—an image that captured the highly ...
The Hurricane That Shattered the Iron Horse
On September 2, 1935, the Labor Day Hurricane—one of the most intense hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States—struck the Florida Keys as a Category 5 storm. It ...
The Line Behind Eric Dickerson’s 2,105-Yard Record
On September 2, 1960, Eric Dickerson was born in Sealy, Texas. Twenty-four years later, the Los Angeles Rams running back produced the most prolific rushing season in NFL history: 2,105 ...
The Rescue of a Future President
On September 2, 1944, USS Finback rescued a young U.S. Navy aviator who would later become President of the United States: George H. W. Bush. Bush, then 20 and serving ...
Building the Treasury From Scratch
On September 2, 1789, President George Washington approved the act establishing the United States Department of the Treasury. The new department faced one of the young republic’s most urgent problems: how to turn ...
The Dawn of the Rock Springs Terror
On September 2, 1885, a dark chapter in American labor and racial history unfolded in the coal-mining town of Rock Springs in the Wyoming Territory. After a workplace conflict at ...
The Blonde Bomber of the Steel Curtain
On September 2, 1948, Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He would grow into one of the defining figures of professional football’s most dominant dynasties. Selected first ...
The Whisper That Helped Define an American Empire
On September 2, 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt stood before a crowd at the Minnesota State Fair and delivered an address that would help define his public image—and later, his ...
The Silk Stockings March to War
On September 2, 1814—nine days after British troops burned the White House—a predecessor organization of New York’s famed 7th Regiment entered federal service during the War of 1812. The unit ...
