This week in history charts an extraordinary course from the age of exploration to the frontiers of space, marked by pivotal discoveries that reshaped the world, illustrating a timeless interplay of human achievement, crisis, and resilience.
September 23
• 1884 – American Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine, the beginning of data processing
• 1952 – Richard Nixon delivers the “Checkers Speech,” defending himself against accusations surrounding campaign funds and saving his place as Dwight Eisenhower’s running mate.
September 24
• 1493 – Christopher Columbus embarks on his second expedition to the New World, setting sail with a fleet of 17 ships
• 1957 – “Jailhouse Rock” single released by Elvis Presley (Billboard Song of the Year 1957)
September 25
• 1513 – Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa becomes the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean from the Isthmus of Panama.
• 1926 – Henry Ford announces an eight-hour, five-day workweek for workers at Ford Motor Company
September 26
• 1820 – The frontiersman Daniel Boone dies peacefully in his sleep near present-day Defiance, Missouri.
• 1914 – The United States establishes the Federal Trade Commission via the FTC Act as a means to regulate competition and protect consumers.
September 27
• 1908 – The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1964 The Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, issues its report, stating its conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman.
September 28
• 1928 – Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, eventually revolutionizing medicine as the first widely effective antibiotic.
• 2008 SpaceX launches the first private spacecraft, Falcon 1.
September 29
• 2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 777.68 points in the wake of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual bankruptcies, the largest single-day point loss in Wall Street history.
• 1954 – Willie Mays makes “The Catch,” an iconic over-the-shoulder baseball play during Game 1 of the World Series.
