September 21

454 – Roman Imperial General Flavius Aetius, victor over the forces of Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, is murdered by Emperor Valentinian in Ravenna, Italy.

1776 – Part of New York City is burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.

1780 – Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.

1938 – A category 3 power hurricane hits Long Island in New York, causing some 500-700 deaths and over $300 million in damage.

1942 – In Seattle, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its first flight.

1953 – North Korean pilot Lieutenant No Kum Sok, the late Kenneth H. Rowe, defects to South Korea with his MiG-15 jet fighter and is awarded a $100,000 bounty.

1964 – In Palmdale California, the North American XB-70 Valkyrie makes its first flight

1974 – Actor Walter Brennan dies at his ranch in Ventura County, California.

1976 –  Former Chilean Marxist government official Orlando Letelier is assassinated by a car bomb in Washington D.C

1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor is unanimously approved by the Senate as the first female Supreme Court Justice.

1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends the Russian parliament and scraps the existing soviet era constitution causing widespread violence lasting over a week.

1996 – The Defense of Marriage Act is passed by the United States Congress.

2001 – America: A Tribute to Heroes, is broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over $200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks.

2003 – NASA’s Galileo orbiter is purposefully crashed into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

2013 – Al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya, killing at least 67 people.