| September 21, 1938 | September 21, 1989 |
| • A powerful Category 3 huricane slams into Long Island and southern New England. All told 700 people were killed, 9,000 buildings destroyed and nearly 3,000 ships sunk or wrecked. The storm created 12 new inlets on Long Island. | • The Senate Armed forces Committee unanimously confirms President George H. Bush's nomination of Army General Colin Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Powell was the first African American to achieve the United States highest military post. |
| September 22, 1776 | September 22, 1980 |
| • In New York City, Nathan Hale, a Connecticutt schoolteacher and captain in the continental army, is executed by the British for spying. Before being hanged, legend holds that Hale said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country". | • Long standing border disputes and political turmoil in Iran prompt Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to launch an invasion of Iran's oil producing province of Khuzestan. |
| September 23, 1779 | September 23, 1806 |
| • During the Revolutionary War, the American warship Bon Homme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones , defeated the HMS Serapis after Jones reportedly declared: "I have not yet begun to fight!". | • Amid much public excitement, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return to St. Louis, Mo., from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast and back. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had set off more than two years before to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. |
| September 24, 622 | September 24, 1906 |
| • The prophet Muhammad completes his Hegira, or "flight", from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution. In Medina, Muhammad set about building the followers of his religion, Islam, into an organized community and Arabian power. | • President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill designating the natural rock formation Devils Tower (located in the black Hills of Wyoming), as the United States first National Monument. |
| September 25, 1789 | September 25, 1944 |
| • The first U.S. Congress, meeting in New York, adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification (10 of the amendments became the Bill of Rights). The amendments were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens. | • The Allies Operation Market Garden ended in failure with German troops still holding the northern bank of the Rhine River: 2,400 of the British paratroopers who tried to take Arnhem escaped to the south bank, leaving behind 1,100 dead and 6,400 prisoners. |
| September 26, 1957 | September 26, 1960 |
| • "West Side Story", composed by Leonard Bernstein, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. For the groundbreaking musical, Berstein provided a rhapsodic score that many celebrate as his greatest achievement as a composer. | • Massachusetts Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy and Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon face each other in the first nationally televised presidential campaign debate. |
| September 27, 1540 | September 27, 1964 |
| • In Rome, the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic missionary organization, receives its charter from Pope Paul III . The Jesuit order played an important role in the Counter Reformation and eventually succeeded in converting millions around the world to Catholicism. | • After a 10 month investigation, the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was released, concluding that there was no conspiracy in the assassination, either domestic or international, and that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin acted alone. |