September 6th, 2008

Today in History

2005:
The California Legislature becomes the first legislative body in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage without a pre-emptive judicial order to do so.

1976:
Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido in Japan and requests political asylum in the United States.

1939:
World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.

1901:
Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

394:
Battle of Frigidus: The Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills the pagan usurper Eugenius and his Frankish general Arbogast.