Mark The Day

On July 2, 1865, William Booth and his wife, Catherine Booth, founded the Christian Mission in London's East End. Their goal was to bring practical help and Christian teaching to people struggling with poverty and hardship. Inspired by military organization, Booth introduced ranks such as officers and recruits, believing discipline and structure would strengthen the movement. Women were given leadership roles alongside men, an uncommon practice for the time.

The Christian Mission quickly expanded its work into some of London's poorest communities, opening soup kitchens and offering both physical assistance and spiritual support. Its energetic public preaching and unusual methods were not welcomed by everyone, and members frequently faced hostility, fines, and even imprisonment as authorities attempted to curb their activities.

In 1878, the organization adopted the name the The Salvation Army, and two years later established its first branch in the United States. During the Great Depression and both World Wars, the organization became widely respected for providing food, shelter, and support to civilians and military personnel alike. Today, the Salvation Army operates in more than 130 countries, delivering disaster relief, rehabilitation programs, community services, hospitals, thrift stores, and other charitable initiatives, supported through donations and the proceeds of its retail operations.

On September 20, 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan departed Spain at the head of an ambitious Spanish expedition seeking a westward route to the valuable Spice Islands of Southeast Asia. Commanding five ships and roughly 270 men, Magellan crossed the Atlantic, reached the coast of South America and began searching for a passage through the continent. After investigating the Río de la Plata without success, the fleet continued south into the increasingly harsh waters of Patagonia. The expedition spent the winter of 1520 at Port St. Julian, where several Spanish officers rebelled against their Portuguese commander. Magellan suppressed the mutiny and resumed the voyage in August, although the expedition had already suffered the loss of one ship.

On October 21, Magellan finally found the passage he had been searching for near the southern end of South America. The difficult waterway, later named the Strait of Magellan, separates Tierra del Fuego from the continental mainland. Three ships entered the twisting passage, but one deserted and returned to Spain. After 38 difficult days, Magellan's remaining vessels emerged into an immense and unexpectedly calm ocean. He named it the Pacific, from a word meaning peaceful or tranquil. The subsequent crossing lasted more than three months and pushed the crews close to starvation as provisions disappeared and the men resorted to eating whatever they could find, including pieces of leather. They finally reached Guam on March 6, 1521, before continuing to the Philippines. At Cebu, Magellan became involved in local rivalries after forming an alliance with the island's ruler. On April 27, during fighting on nearby Mactan, Magellan was killed while his surviving men retreated to their ships.

The expedition continued without the man who had conceived and commanded it. The survivors eventually reached the Moluccas, the coveted Spice Islands that had been their original destination, and loaded their ships with valuable spices. Only the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, ultimately completed the journey. Elcano sailed westward across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and returned to Spain, reaching Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522. Of the fleet of five ships that had departed three years earlier, only the Victoria completed the voyage, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the Earth. Magellan himself never sailed completely around the world, but the expedition he launched demonstrated on an unprecedented scale that the world's great oceans were connected and that a vessel could circle the globe by sea.

On September 20, 1932, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi began a hunger strike while imprisoned at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune, protesting a British plan to establish separate electorates for India's “Depressed Classes,” the communities now generally known as Dalits. By then Gandhi had become the most internationally recognized leader of India's independence movement, promoting satyagraha—nonviolent resistance based upon truth and civil disobedience. His campaigns had repeatedly brought him into conflict with British authorities, and he had returned to prison after launching another civil disobedience movement early in 1932.

The immediate dispute arose from British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Communal Award, which proposed separate electorates for several communities, including the Depressed Classes. Gandhi believed separating Dalit voters politically from other Hindus would reinforce social divisions rather than eliminate them, and he announced that he would fast until the provision was changed. The issue, however, was deeply contentious. B. R. Ambedkar, the foremost political representative of the Depressed Classes, supported separate electorates because he believed they would allow Dalits to choose representatives independently rather than depend upon the votes and political influence of higher-caste Hindus. Gandhi's fast therefore placed enormous pressure on Ambedkar and other Dalit representatives as negotiations intensified throughout India.

The crisis ended with the Poona Pact, agreed on September 24. Separate electorates for the Depressed Classes were abandoned, but substantially more legislative seats were reserved for Dalit representatives within a system of joint electorates. Gandhi ended his fast on September 26. Ambedkar remained deeply critical of the arrangement and later continued to argue that separate electorates would have provided Dalits with greater political independence. Gandhi, meanwhile, continued campaigning against untouchability as well as British rule and later used fasting during other periods of political and communal crisis. His final fast came in January 1948 as he appealed for peace between Hindus and Muslims in Delhi; less than two weeks after ending it, he was assassinated on January 30.

On September 20, 1946, the first Cannes Film Festival opened in the glamorous French Riviera resort of Cannes, although organizers had originally expected to launch the event seven years earlier. France conceived the festival partly as an alternative to the Venice Film Festival, which during the late 1930s had become increasingly influenced by the Fascist governments of Italy and Germany. Cannes was selected as the setting for the new international celebration of cinema, and an inaugural festival was scheduled for September 1939. Filmmakers, actors and guests began arriving, with movies from several countries prepared for screening, including the American production The Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, the timing could hardly have been worse. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, the very day the festival was supposed to begin, and France mobilized for war. After only one film was shown, the festivities were abandoned, and two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany.

With World War II finally over, the idea was revived, and Cannes welcomed filmmakers from 18 nations for the festival that began on September 20, 1946. Among the notable pictures presented were Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend, Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City, René Clément's The Battle of the Rails and David Lean's Brief Encounter. The atmosphere differed considerably from the fiercely competitive festival Cannes would eventually become. Organizers emphasized international cooperation and the artistic achievements of participating countries, and instead of proclaiming a single triumphant film, several productions received the festival's highest honor, the Grand Prix. After years in which international relations had been defined by warfare, Cannes offered filmmakers and audiences the considerably more pleasant opportunity to argue about movies instead.

The festival's survival was not immediately guaranteed. Financial difficulties forced the cancellation of Cannes in 1948 and again in 1950, but the event steadily established itself as one of international cinema's most important gatherings. A permanent festival palace opened in 1952, and in 1955 Cannes introduced the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, as its principal award, its name and design reflecting the palm trees associated with the city and its famous waterfront. Cannes subsequently became as renowned for red carpets, movie stars, photographers and industry dealmaking as for the films themselves. What had begun as France's attempt to create a genuinely international cinematic showcase—and had been dramatically interrupted before it could properly begin—eventually became one of the world's most recognizable celebrations of film.

On September 20, 2011, the U.S. military officially ended the policy commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly in the armed forces. The policy had taken effect in 1994 during the administration of President Bill Clinton as a compromise between Clinton's effort to permit gay Americans to serve and opposition within Congress and the military to allowing openly gay personnel. Under the resulting system, military officials generally were not supposed to investigate a service member's sexual orientation without cause, but service members could still face discharge for openly acknowledging that they were gay or lesbian. Thousands of military personnel were discharged under the policy during the years it remained in effect.

Efforts to repeal the policy culminated in the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed on December 22, 2010. Repeal was not immediate. The law required the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to certify that the military was prepared for the change without harming readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting or retention. That certification was completed on July 22, 2011, beginning a required 60-day waiting period. At 12:01 a.m. on September 20, the old policy formally ended and gay and lesbian Americans could serve openly. People previously discharged solely under the policy could also seek to return to military service provided they otherwise met the requirements for enlistment.

The repeal marked a significant change in American military personnel policy after years of political debate, court challenges and campaigning by advocacy organizations and former service members. President Obama described the change that day by saying service members would no longer have to conceal who they were in order to serve their country, while Defense Secretary Leon Panetta emphasized removing barriers that prevented qualified Americans from serving and advancing through the ranks. The transition also demonstrated how dramatically military policy concerning sexual orientation had changed: a system originally presented as a compromise in the early 1990s had, less than two decades later, been formally removed from U.S. military practice.

On September 21, 1792, France took a decisive step away from centuries of royal rule when the newly assembled National Convention abolished the monarchy. The decision cleared the way for the establishment of the French Republic, little more than a year after King Louis XVI had accepted a constitution that sharply reduced the authority of the crown. By then, revolutionary France had moved well beyond the idea of simply limiting the king's powers; the monarchy itself had become politically untenable.

Louis XVI had inherited the throne in 1774 along with serious financial difficulties that worsened during his reign. Government debt, an unequal taxation system, rising food prices and poor harvests contributed to mounting public anger, culminating in the French Revolution in 1789. Attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy failed as distrust of Louis increased, particularly after the royal family's unsuccessful attempt to flee France in 1791. War with Austria and Prussia further intensified suspicions that the king and his supporters hoped foreign intervention would restore royal authority.

The royal family was imprisoned in August 1792, and after the monarchy was abolished the following month, Louis was tried by the National Convention on charges of conspiring against the nation. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, going to the guillotine on January 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette remained imprisoned and was tried later that year; she was executed on October 16, 1793. France had not merely replaced one ruler with another — it had entered the turbulent experiment of republican government, and the Revolution was far from finished.

On September 21, 1915, British lawyer Cecil Chubb went to an auction at the Palace Theatre in Salisbury, England, and unexpectedly came home as the owner of Stonehenge. Chubb, who had grown up only a few miles from the prehistoric monument, later said he had not intended to bid for it but decided that someone from the Salisbury area ought to own it. He paid £6,600 for Stonehenge and roughly 30 acres of surrounding land, offered as Lot 15 following the death of its previous owner, Sir Edmund Antrobus. Chubb's wife, Mary, was reportedly rather unimpressed with the purchase, which is understandable if she had been expecting him to return with furniture rather than several thousand years of British prehistory.

Chubb owned Stonehenge for only three years. In 1918, he and his wife presented the monument to the British nation, attaching conditions intended to protect it for future generations. Stonehenge was to be preserved, development around it restricted, and the public permitted access for a modest admission charge. Chubb's unusual contribution to the preservation of the monument was later recognized when he was created a baronet in 1919, becoming Sir Cecil Chubb, First Baronet of Stonehenge.

Government conservation work began soon afterward, including efforts during the 20th century to stabilize and reposition stones that were leaning or had fallen. Stonehenge is now cared for by English Heritage and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing Stonehenge, Avebury and associated prehistoric monuments. What began as an impulsive auction bid therefore ended with one of Britain's most famous archaeological sites passing from private ownership into public care — considerably more useful in the long run than whatever furniture Cecil Chubb had supposedly gone shopping for.

In the early hours of September 21, 1999, central Taiwan was struck by a devastating earthquake that became known as the 921 Earthquake or Jiji Earthquake. The magnitude 7.6 tremor struck at approximately 1:47 a.m., with its epicenter near Jiji in Nantou County. More than 2,400 people were killed, thousands were injured and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or seriously damaged. Roads and bridges collapsed, landslides swept across mountainous areas and utilities were disrupted across large parts of the island. Powerful aftershocks followed almost immediately, adding to the destruction and forcing frightened residents to remain outdoors.

The earthquake produced dramatic changes to the landscape along the Chelungpu Fault, with the ground displaced by several meters in some locations. Communities in Nantou and Taichung counties were among the hardest hit, while serious damage also occurred farther away, including in Taipei. Numerous buildings collapsed or were left dangerously unstable, and investigations afterward raised troubling questions about construction standards and whether some structures built during Taiwan's rapid development had complied with building regulations. Rescue teams from Taiwan and overseas searched collapsed buildings for survivors as temporary shelters were established for people unable or unwilling to return to their homes while aftershocks continued.

The disaster became an important turning point in Taiwan's approach to earthquake preparedness. Investigations into structural failures led to tighter enforcement and revisions of building standards, while emergency-response systems, seismic monitoring and public preparedness received greater attention. Thousands of aftershocks were recorded in the months that followed, providing scientists with extensive information about the earthquake and the fault that produced it. The human cost of the 921 Earthquake was enormous, but lessons drawn from the destruction subsequently influenced how Taiwan designs buildings, prepares communities and plans for the earthquakes that remain an unavoidable part of life on the island.

On September 21, 2008, the original Yankee Stadium hosted its final Major League Baseball game, bringing down the curtain on a ballpark that had been home to the New York Yankees since 1923. The Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7–3, with Andy Pettitte earning the victory and Mariano Rivera pitching a perfect ninth inning to finish the game. Although New York was heading toward its first season without a postseason appearance since 1993, the evening felt anything but routine. Former players returned, fans packed the stadium for one final visit, and Babe Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, threw the ceremonial first pitch before a scoreboard message promised, appropriately, “To Be Continued.”

Known as “The House That Ruth Built,” Yankee Stadium had witnessed an extraordinary collection of baseball moments during its 85-year history. Babe Ruth hit the stadium's first home run during its opening game on April 18, 1923, and generations of Yankees stars followed him onto the field. Reggie Jackson famously hit three home runs on three consecutive pitches during the deciding game of the 1977 World Series, while Aaron Boone's walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox ended Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series. The stadium underwent extensive renovation during the 1970s, but its connection with Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and generations of Yankees players ensured that the building remained inseparable from the history of the franchise.

After the final out against Baltimore, Yankees captain Derek Jeter addressed the crowd, asking fans to carry the traditions and memories of the old stadium into the team's new home across the street. The original Yankee Stadium was subsequently demolished, while the new Yankee Stadium opened for the 2009 season. The transition proved remarkably successful on the field: the Yankees won the World Series in their first season in the new ballpark, giving Jeter his fifth championship. The House That Ruth Built was gone, but after 85 years of home runs, championships, heroes and heartbreak, there was certainly no shortage of memories to carry across the road.