Today In History, September 19

September 19 is the 262nd day of the year. There are 103 days remaining until the end of the year.

Monument of Kostas Georgakis in Corfu

Kostas Georgakis

 Today's Highlight In History-  1970 – Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of geology, sets himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.

 by 1.00am on 19 September 1970  Kostas Georgakis,,  drove his Fiat 500 to Matteoti square and there set himself ablaze. According to eyewitness accounts by street cleaners who were working around the Palazzo Ducale there was a sudden bright flash of light in the area at around 3.00am At first they did not realize the flame was a burning man. when they approached closer they saw Georgakis burning and running ablaze, shouting "Long Live Greece", "Down with the tyrants", "Down with the fascist colonels" and "I did it for my Greece."


1676 – Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.

1778 – The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.

1796 – George Washington's Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.

1799 – French Revolutionary Wars: French-Dutch victory against the Russians and British in the Battle of Bergen.

1846 – Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.

1881 – U.S. President James A. Garfield dies of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.

1893 – Women's suffrage: in New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.

1946 – The Council of Europe is founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich.

1952 – The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.

1957 – First American underground nuclear bomb test (part of Operation Plumbbob).

1970 – Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of geology, sets himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.

1972 – A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.

1985 – A strong earthquake kills thousands and destroys about 400 buildings in Mexico City.

1989 – A terrorist bomb explodes UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing 171.

1991 – Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.

1995 – The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber's manifesto.

2011 – Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpasses Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all time saves leader with 602.