1900 - A hurricane and tidal wave resulted in the deaths of at least 8,000 people in Galveston, Texas.
1942 - In a rare attack on the U.S. mainland, a Japanese aircraft dropped incendiary materials on Oregon.
1943 - American General Dwight Eisenhower announced Italy's unconditional surrender in World War II.
1949 - The death of Richard Strauss, a German composer known for his songs and operas, especially "Der Rosenkavalier."
2000 - The largest gathering of world leaders in history concluded at the United Nations, with the attendance of over 150 kings and presidents, adopting goals to enhance peacekeeping operations and reduce poverty.
2001 - Indian Mira Nair became the first woman and first Indian to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for her film "Monsoon Wedding."
2003 - The death of Leni Riefenstahl, a film director for Adolf Hitler and one of the last prominent German figures from the Nazi era at the age of 101.
2004 - The Genesis space capsule crashed when its parachute failed to deploy upon returning to Earth. The spacecraft was on a three-year mission to collect solar ions, which scientists recovered despite the vehicle's destruction.
2005 - Hein Wagner, a thirty-three-year-old South African, became the fastest blind driver in the world after driving a car across a remote airstrip at a speed of 269 kilometers per hour (167 miles per hour).
2017 - The death of country singer Troy Gentry in a helicopter crash.
