Sept. 12 history: Voyager 1

Sept. 12 history 

In 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system. 

In 1913, Olympic legend Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama.

In 1914, during WWI, the First Battle of the Marne ended in an Allied victory against Germany. 

In 1940, near Montignac, France, a collection of prehistoric cave paintings - known as the Lascaux cave paintings - are discovered by four teenagers who stumbled upon the ancient artwork after following their dog down a narrow entrance into a cavern. The 15,000- to 17,000-year-old paintings, consisting mostly of animal representations, are among the finest examples of art from the Upper Paleolithic period.

In 1953, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy, the future 35th president of the United States, marries Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island. Seven years later, the couple would become the youngest president and first lady in American history. 

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1959, the TV Western series “Bonanza” premiered on NBC.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” 

In 1974, in Boston, Massachusetts, opposition to court-ordered school “busing” turns violent on the opening day of classes. School buses carrying African American children were pelted with eggs, bricks, and bottles, and police in combat gear fought to control angry white protesters besieging the schools. 

In 1987, reports surfaced that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden borrowed, without attribution, passages of a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock for one of his own campaign speeches. (The Kinnock report, along with other damaging revelations, prompted Biden to drop his White House bid.) 

In 1992, Dr. Mae Carol Jemison, a native of Decatur, Ala., became the first Black woman to travel in space, going into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour with six other astronauts. 1992: Mae Carol Jemison was first Black woman to travel in space - Mississippi Today

In 1995, the Belarusian military shot down a hydrogen balloon during an international race, killing its two American pilots, John Stuart-Jervis and Alan Fraenckel.

In 2001, President George W. Bush, branding the 9/11 terrorist attacks in NYC and Washington “acts of war,” spoke of “a monumental struggle of good versus evil” and said that “good will prevail.”

In 2005, Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown resigned, three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. 

In 2009, thousands of protesters participate in the “Taxpayer March on Washington,” one of the earliest and biggest Tea Party movement events. Marchers in the nation’s capital clogged streets near the Capitol, railing against President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform proposals, federal spending, taxes and support for women's reproductive rights, among other issues. Organizers touted the protest as the largest outpouring of political conservatives. 

In 2021, Max Scherzer of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the 19th pitcher in major league history with 3,000 career strikeouts. (The AP 09/12/23)