Hurricane Elena, an unpredictable and damaging tropical cyclone that affected eastern and central portions of the United States Gulf Coast, made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, as a Category 3 major hurricane.
Paddy Roy Bates proclaimed HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk, England, as an independent sovereign state: the Principality of Sealand (pictured).
On the deck of the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, representatives from the Empire of Japan and the Allied powers signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender , formally ending World War II.
U.S. vice president Theodore Roosevelt first publicly used the phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick" (cartoon pictured) at the Minnesota State Fair, describing his philosophy of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening to use military force.