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In 1698, Russia’s Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.

In 1774, the first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.

In 1882, the nation’s first Labor Day was celebrated with a parade in New York. (Labor Day now takes place on the first Monday of September.)

In 1939, four days after war had broken out in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation declaring U.S. neutrality in the conflict.

In 1945, Japanese-American Iva Toguri D’Aquino, suspected of being wartime broadcaster ” Tokyo Rose,” was arrested in Yokohama.

In 1960, at the Rome Olympics, American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland to win the light-heavyweight gold medal; Wilma Rudolph of the United States won the second of her three gold medals with the 200-meter sprint.

In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford escaped an attempt on his life by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme.

The Associated Press

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