By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 2, the 246th day of 2020. There are 120 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On Sept. 2, 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

On this date:

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Shermanís forces occupied Atlanta.

In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, ìSpeak softly and carry a big stickî in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.

In 1930, the first nonstop airplane flight from Europe to the U.S. was completed in 37 hours as Capt. Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte of France arrived in Valley Stream, New York, aboard their Breguet 19 biplane, which bore the symbol of a large question mark.

In 1944, during World War II, Navy pilot Lt. (jg) George Herbert Walker Bush was shot down by Japanese forces as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands. (Bush was rescued by the crew of the submarine USS Finback; his two crew members, however, died.)

In 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

In 1960, Wilma Rudolph of the United States won the first of her three gold medals at the Rome Summer Olympics as she finished the 100-meter dash in 11 seconds.

In 1963, ìThe CBS Evening Newsî with Walter Cronkite was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes, becoming network televisionís first half-hour nightly newscast.

In 1969, in what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable. The first automatic teller machine (ATM) to utilize magnetic-striped cards was opened to the public at Chemical Bank in New York. (Called a ìDocuteller,î it was developed by Donald C. Wetzel.)

In 1993, the United States and Russia formally ended decades of competition in space by agreeing to a joint venture to build a space station.

In 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jetliner crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard.

In 2005, a National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina. Scorched by criticism about sluggish federal help, President George W. Bush toured the Gulf Coast and met with state and local officials, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; at one point, Bush praised FEMA Director Michael Brown, telling him, ìBrownie, youíre doing a heck of a job.î

In 2018, Sen. John McCain was laid to rest on a grassy hill at the U.S. Naval Academy, after a horse-drawn caisson carrying the senatorís casket led a procession of mourners from the academyís chapel to its cemetery.

Ten years ago: Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged in a first round of renewed peace talks in Washington to keep meeting at regular intervals. Seattle Storm forward Lauren Jackson was selected the WNBAís most valuable player for the third time in her career.

Five years ago: Overcoming ferocious opposition, President Barack Obama secured a legacy-defining foreign policy victory as Senate Democrats clinched the necessary votes to ensure the Iran nuclear agreement survived in Congress. President Obama crossed the Arctic Circle in a first by a sitting U.S. president, telling residents in the far-flung Alaska village of Kotzebue that their plight resulting from climate change should be the worldís wake-up call on global warming. In one of the most haunting images from the Syrian migrant crisis, the lifeless body of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi was photographed lying on a Turkish beach after he, his 5-year-old brother and their mother died when their rubber boat capsized as it headed for Greece.