This Day in History: Sept. 5

Palestinian group Black September attacks Israeli Olympic delegation at the Summer Olympics in Munich

On this day, Sept. 5 ...

1972: The Munich Massacre: The Palestinian group Black September attacks the Israeli Olympic delegation at the Summer Olympics in Munich; 11 Israelis, five guerrillas and a police officer are killed in a siege.

Also on this day ...

  • 1698: Russia's Peter the Great levies a tax on bearded men.
  • 1774: The first Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
  • 1882: The nation's first Labor Day is celebrated with a parade in New York City.
  • 1905: The Treaty of Portsmouth, which ends the Russo-Japanese War, is signed at the Portsmouth naval base in New Hampshire.
  • 1960: At the Summer Olympics in Rome, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) defeats Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland to win the light-heavyweight gold medal for the United States; Wilma Rudolph wins the second of her three gold medals with the 200-meter sprint.
  • 1961: President John F. Kennedy signs legislation making aircraft hijackings a federal crime.
  • 1975: President Gerald R. Ford escapes an attempt on his life by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, in Sacramento, Calif.
  • 1984: The space shuttle Discovery ends its inaugural flight as it lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Mother Teresa  (AP Photo, file)

  • 1997: Mother Teresa, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor, dies in Calcutta, India, at age 87.
  • 2017: President Trump announces that he is phasing out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program protecting young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally, but says he is giving Congress six months to come up with an alternative.
  • 2018: The New York Times publishes an opinion piece from an anonymous senior administration official claiming to be part of an internal "resistance" working to thwart President Trump's "worst inclinations. The identity of this official remains a mystery. 
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