September 15
1789
The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs changed its name to the Department of State.
1821
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador gained independence.
1835
Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle reached the Galapagos Islands.
1917
Alexander Kerensky proclaimed Russia a republic.
1935
The Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of their citizenship and made the Swastika the official emblem of Nazi Germany.
1963
A church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young black girls.
1989
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Penn Warren, the first poet laureate of the United States, died.
2004
The National Hockey League lockout began. The 2004-2005 season would ultimately be canceled.
Birthdays
James Fenimore Cooper
1789–1851, American novelist, born in Burlington, N.J.
François de La Rochefoucauld
writer (1613)
William Howard Taft
27th U.S. president (1857)
Bruno Walter
conductor (1876)
Agatha Christie
story writer (1890)
Jean Renoir
film director, writer (1894)
Oliver Stone
filmmaker (1946)
Dan Marino
football quarterback (1961)