On this date in history:

In 1901, U.S. President William McKinley died of wounds inflicted by an assassin eight days earlier. He was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1920, the first live radio dance music was broadcast, carried by a Detroit station and featuring Paul Specht and his orchestra.

In 1959, the Soviet probe Lunik-2 became the first Earth-launched space vehicle to land on the moon.

In 1960, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded.

In 1975, Pope Paul VI canonized Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint.

In 1982, Princess Grace of Monaco -- American film actress Grace Kelly -- was killed when her car plunged off a mountain road by the Cote D'Azur. She was 52.

In 1984, Joe Kittinger, 56, left Caribou, Maine, in a 10-story-tall helium balloon to make the first solo trans-Atlantic balloon crossing. He reached the French coast in three days and landed in Italy another day later.

In 1991, the South African government, ANC, Inkatha Freedom Party and 20 other anti-apartheid groups signed a peace accord to end black factional violence.

In 1996, Bosnians elected a three-person collective presidency: one Muslim, one Serb and one Croat.

In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush proclaimed this to be a day of national mourning and remembrance for those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The FBI identified the hijackers and said several had taken flying lessons in Florida.

In 2003, authorities said an estimated 124 people were dead or missing after South Korea was struck by the most powerful typhoon to hit the country in a century.

In 2005, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, the third and fourth largest U.S. air carriers, filed for bankruptcy as the industry reeled under record high jet fuel costs.

In 2008, the U.S. brokerage firm Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for $50 billion and Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy after it failed to find a buyer.

In 2010, U.S. hiker Sarah Shourd, imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage for more than a year after she and two male companions were accused of illegally crossing into Iranian territory, was released on $500,000 bail. The men -- Shane Bauer, her fiance, and Josh Fattal -- were freed just over a year later.

In 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., as a Category 1 storm, inundating the coast with a 6-foot storm surge. The storm directly caused 24 deaths in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Florida.

Copyright 2019 by United Press International