In 1957, the New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1. The Giants moved to San Francisco for the next season.
 

In 1924, two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
 

In 1960, the first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago.
 

In 1952, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the ``Checkers'' speech as he denied allegations of improper campaign financing.
 

In 1973, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match.
 

In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died of wounds inflicted by an assassin.
 

In 1947, the National Security Act, which unified the Army, Navy and newly formed Air Force, went into effect.
 

In 1862, Union forces hurled back a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War Battle of Antietam. During the battle, 23,100 were killed, wounded or captured, making it the bloodiest day in United States military history.
 

In 1963, four children were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama.
 

In 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface.
 

In 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
 

In 1977, South African black student leader Steven Biko died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.
 

In 2001, suicide hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, causing the 110-story twin towers to collapse. Another hijacked airliner hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
 

In 1919, New York City welcomed home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who had served in the United States 1st Division during World War I.
 

In 1976, Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung died in Beijing at age 82.
 

In 1974, President Ford granted an unconditional pardon to former President Nixon.
 

In 1940, Nazi Germany began its initial blitz on London during World War II.
 

In 1901, President McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y.
 

In 1976, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the planet's surface.
 

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

In 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.