September 5 has witnessed terrorist attacks at the Olympics, religious councils, and political milestones.
Palestinian terrorists from the Black September group took eleven Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics. A botched rescue attempt resulted in the deaths of all eleven hostages, five terrorists, and one police officer.
Delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia to coordinate a response to the Intolerable Acts. The Congress laid the groundwork for American independence and the Continental Army.
The Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt, ended the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy, the first American to receive the honor.
Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards as part of his campaign to modernize Russia along Western European lines. Men who kept their beards had to carry a special token proving payment.
Sam Houston was elected the first president of the Republic of Texas after its independence from Mexico. The hero of San Jacinto led the young republic through its early years.
The first Labor Day parade was held in New York City with an estimated 10,000 workers marching. The holiday eventually became a national celebration of the American labor movement.
NASA launched the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which would become the most distant human-made object in space. It explored Jupiter and Saturn before heading into interstellar space, still transmitting data decades later.