September 14
1814
Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner.
1901
President McKinley died of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him.
1927
Modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan died in Nice, France.
1940
Congress passed the Selective Service Act, providing for the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
1959
The Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the Moon when it crashed onto the lunar surface.
1982
Princess Grace of Monaco died from injuries sustained in a car crash the previous day.
1994
Acting commissioner Bud Selig announced the cancellation of the 1994 baseball season on the 34th day of a strike by players.
Birthdays
Alexander von Humboldt
1769–1859, German naturalist and explorer.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
physiologist (1849)
Alice Stone Blackwell
feminist (1857)
Charles Dana Gibson
illustrator (1867)
Margaret Sanger
feminist (1879)
Constance Baker Motley
lawyer and jurist (1921)
Amy Winehouse
singer, songwriter (1983)