September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 120 days remain until the end of the year.
1901–present
1901 – Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick' at the Minnesota State Fair.
1912 – Arthur Rose Eldred is awarded the first Eagle Scout award of the Boy Scouts of America.
1923 – Kantō Massacre: Amid rumors that Koreans had been conducting acts of sabotage in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, lynch mobs of Japanese begin massacring thousands of civilians over the course of several weeks, mainly ethnic minorities such as Koreans and Chinese.[13][14][15] 1935 – The Labor Day Hurricane, the most intense hurricane to strike the United States, makes landfall at Long Key, Florida, killing at least 400.
1939 – World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.
1944 – The last execution of a Finn in Finland takes place when soldier Olavi Laiho is executed by shooting in Oulu.[16] 1945 – World War II: The Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed by Japan and the major warring powers aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thus marking the official end to the war.
1945 – Communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam after the end of the Nguyễn dynasty.
1946 – The Interim Government of India is formed, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru as vice president with the powers of a Prime Minister.
1957 – President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.
1958 – A USAF RC130 is shot down by fighters over Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.
1960 – The first election of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
1963 – CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first halfhour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
1968 – Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War.
1970 – NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is reused by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
1970 – Aeroflot Flight 3630, a Tupolev Tu-124 en route from southern Russia to Lithuania, crashes after the pilots lost control of the aircraft at cruise altitude between Rostovon- Don Airport and Vilnius Airport, on the second leg of the flight; all 37 passengers and crew are killed.[17] 1984 – Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in the Milperra massacre, a shootout between the rival motorcycle gangs Bandidos and Comancheros in Sydney, Australia.
1985 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politicians and former MPs M. Alalasundaram and V. Dharmalingam are shot dead.
1987 – In Moscow, the trial begins for 19-yearold pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.
1990 – Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
1992 – The 7.7 Mw Nicaragua earthquake affected the west coast of Nicaragua. With a Ms– Mw disparity of half a unit, this tsunami earthquake triggered a tsunami that caused most of the damage and casualties, with at least 116 killed. Typical runup heights were 3–8 meters (9.8– 26.2 ft).
1998 – Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia; all 229 people on board are killed.
1998 – The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.
2008 – Google launches its Google Chrome web browser.[18] 2009 – The Andhra Pradesh, India helicopter crash occurred near Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles (74 km) from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India. Fatalities included Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
2010 – Israel-Palestinian conflict: the 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are launched by the United States.[19] 2013 – The Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens at 10:15 pm at a cost of $6.4 billion, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the old span.
2018 – National Museum of Brazil fire, A massive fire destroys most of the Paço de São Cristóvão, which houses the National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. The museum holds important archaeοlogical and anthropological objects, including the remains of the Luzia Woman, Marajoara vases and Egyptian mummies.[20] 2019 – Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, devastates the Bahamas, killing at least five.[21] 2019 – The dive boat MV Conception catches fire and sinks near Santa Cruz Island, killing 34.[22] 2022 – Eighteen people are killed and 23 others are injured by a suicide bombing at a Sunni mosque in Herat, Afghanistan.[23] 2023 – India's first solar observation mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan space centre.[ 24][25] 2024 – Four people are killed in a mass shooting targeting homeless people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, United States.[26] 2024 – A suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 6 people and injures 13.[27] 2024 – At least 129 inmates are killed and 59 more injured in an attempted prison break at Makala Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.[28]1926 – Anahit Tsitsikian, Armenian violinist and educator (died 1999) 1926 – Robert Vickrey, American painter and author (died 2011) 1928 – Om Prakash Munjal, Indian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Hero Cycles (died 2015) 1929 – Reuben Kamanga, Zambian soldier and politician, 1st Vice President of Zambia (died 1996) 1930 – Joe Solomon, Guyanese cricketer and coach (died 2023)