September 04th
The 248th day of 2008.
There are 118 days left in the year.
On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock.
On Sept. 4, 1908, Richard Wright, whose books "Native Son" and "Black Boy" exposed the harsh effects of American racism, was born.
On this date in:
1781 - Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers.
1888 - George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera and registered his trademark: Kodak.
1917 - The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.
1951 - In the first live coast-to-coast TV broadcast, President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco.
1957 - Ford Motor Co. began selling its ill-fated Edsel line.
1967 - Michigan Gov. George Romney said during a TV interview that he had undergone a "brainwashing" by U.S. officials during a 1965 visit to Vietnam. The comment is widely believed to have derailed his campaign for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.
1972 - Swimmer Mark Spitz became the first person to win seven gold medals at a single Olympic Games when the United States won the 400-meter relay in Munich.
2002 - Singer Kelly Clarkson was voted the first "American Idol" on the Fox TV series.
2006 - "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, 44, died after a stingray's barb pierced his chest.
2007 - Toy maker Mattel Inc. recalled 800,000 lead-tainted, Chinese-made toys worldwide, a third major recall in just over a month.
info culled from Highlights in History