September 20
U.S. military spokesmen defend the use of defoliants, such as Agent Orange in Vietnam. Years later the Vietnamese citizens exposed to the compounds were subject to abnormally high incidence of miscarriage and congenital malformation. – 1968.
September 21
During the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word traitor. – 1780.
September 22
The Emancipation Proclamation is signed by United States president Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War to outlaw slavery. – 1862.
Long-standing border disputes and political turmoil in Iran prompt Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to launch an invasion of Iran’s oil-producing province of Khuzestan. After initial advances, the Iraqi offense was repulsed. In 1982, Iraq voluntarily withdrew and sought a peace agreement, but the Ayatollah Khomeini renewed fighting. Stalemates and the deaths of thousands of young Iranian conscripts in Iraq followed. Population centers in both countries were bombed, and Iraq employed chemical weapons. In 1988, Iran agreed to a cease-fire. – 1980.
September 23
Amid much public excitement, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return to St. Louis, Mo., from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast and back. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had set off more than two years earlier to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. – 1806.
September 24
The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by president George Washington, which established the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. – 1789.
September 25
The first Congress of the United States approves 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and sends them to the states for ratification. The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens. – 1789.
Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice in history when she is sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger. – 1981.
September 26
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and committees in the Soviet legislature pass a bill to allow the publication of books, newspapers, and magazines without government approval. – 1989.
Sources: History.com, Toil and Trouble, by Thomas R. Brooks; American Labor Struggles, by Samuel Yellen; IWW calendar, Solidarity Forever; Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, edited by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan; Southwest Labor History Archives/George Meany Center; Geov Parrish’s Radical History; workday Minnesota; Andy Richards and Adam Wright, AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council.