William Howard Taft is born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15, 1857. Taft was born into a politically active family; his father had served as President Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary of war. He attended college at Yale University, graduating second in his class. He then attended Cincinnati Law School earning his law degree in 1880. […]

Mary Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, is born on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England. Raised and educated at Ashfield, her parents’ comfortable home, Christie began making up stories as a child. Her mother and her older sister Madge also made up stories: Madge told especially thrilling tales about a fictional, […]

During the Battle of the Somme, the British launch a major offensive against the Germans, employing tanks for the first time in history. At Flers Courcelette, some of the 40 or so primitive tanks advanced over a mile into enemy lines but were too slow to hold their positions during the German counterattack and subject […]

On September 15, 1935, German Jews are stripped of their citizenship, reducing them to mere “subjects” of the state. After Hitler’s accession to the offices of president and chancellor of Germany, he set about the task of remaking his adopted country (Hitler had to pull some strings even to be eligible for office, as he […]

On September 15, 1944, the U.S. 1st Marine Division lands on the island of Peleliu, one of the Palau Islands in the Pacific, as part of a larger operation to provide support for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was preparing to invade the Philippines. The cost in American lives would prove historic. The Palaus, part of […]

The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent, is shot on September 15, 1954 during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist, and the couple divorced shortly afterward. Monroe, born Norma […]

Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita is published in Paris on September 15, 1955. The novel, about a man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl, had been rejected by four publishers before G.P. Putnam’s Sons accepted it. The novel became a bestseller that allowed Nabokov to retire from his career as college professor. Nabokov was born in […]

On September 15, 1962, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ “Sherry” hits the top of the pop music charts. It was the start of a remarkable run of hits. Valli (born Francis Casteluccio) had been hard at work trying to become a star for the better part of a decade before the Four Seasons achieved […]

On September 15, 1971, a group of activists sets sail from Vancouver aboard a repurposed fishing boat that they have named the Greenpeace. Their mission is to stop the United States from testing a nuclear bomb beneath the Alaskan island of Amchitka. Though they will eventually lose the fight, the environmentalist organization Greenpeace will emerge […]

On September 15, 1972, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVM) forces recapture Quang Tri City after four days of heavy fighting, with the claim that over 8,135 NVA (North Vietnamese Army) had been killed in the battle. The North Vietnamese forces had launched a massive offensive, called the Nguyen Hue or “Easter Offensive,” […]

Thirteen-year-old Melissa Benoit disappears in her hometown of Kingston, Massachusetts, on her way home from a friend’s house. Although the town detective talked to everyone who lived on the path between the two houses, no one admitted to having seen Benoit. Soon afterward, the FBI joined the search. Yet, despite their use of tracking dogs, […]