Aug. 27. 1928: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact for renunciation of war as national policy signed by 60 major nations, Paris, France.

Aug. 28. 1990: Marine reservist Erik Glen Larsen declares conscientious objection at press conference in San Francisco.

Aug. 29. 1957: Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, the first since 1875. The bill establishes a Civil Rights Commission and a Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice. In a futile attempt to block it, Democratic Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina sets the all-time filibuster record: 24 hours, 19 minutes.

Aug. 30. 1959: Elections held in South Vietnam give parties loyal to President Diem unanimous control of the National Assembly, when all opposition candidates are forbidden to take their seats. CIA will later OK his assassination when he forgets who owns him.

Aug. 31. 1954: US government orders British novelist Graham Greene, visiting Puerto Rico, to leave. The reason: he briefly joined the Communist Party, as a prank, at the age of 19.

Sep. 1. 1989: White House staffers decide to purchase some crack cocaine so Pres. Bush can hold the illegal drug in his hands during a national address. But on the first attempt, the drug dealer didn't show up. On the second try, an undercover drug agent's body microphone didn't work. Today, trying for the third time, Bush's team scores the crack, but the camera operator videotaping the deal misses the action as a homeless person assaults him. (Bush should have just asked his son.)

Sep. 2. 1963: Alabama governor George C. Wallace prevents the racial integration of Tuskegee High School in Huntsville, Alabama, by encircling the building with state troopers. Eight days later, President Kennedy federalizes the Alabama National Guard, forcing Wallace to abandon his attempt to block the desegregation of Alabama public schools.

Sep. 3. 1752: This day never happened--nor the next 10--as England adopts the Gregorian Calendar. People riot, thinking the government stole 11 days of their lives. True, but it was more days than that.

Sep. 4. 1982: 10,000 dance on nuclear reactor site, Gorleben, West Germany.

Sep. 5. 1882: 30,000 workers march in the first US Labor Day parade in New York City.

Sep. 6. 1993: Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar says gypsies constitute a "socially unadaptable population." Persecution against the Roma (gypsies), who emigrated to Europe from India in the 11th Century, has increased markedly in Eastern Europe since the fall of communism. Jozef Pacai, mayor of the Czech city Medzev, has suggested selectively killing gypsies.

Sep. 7. 1968: For the first time, feminist protesters interrupt the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, NJ.

Sep. 8. 1925: Birth of film comic Peter Sellers. His role in "Being There" (1979) anticipated George W. Bush to near perfection.

Sep. 9. 1942: In a rare raid against the US mainland, Japan drops incendiaries over Oregon in an attempt to set fire to the forests of Oregon and Washington. The forests failed to ignite. By contrast, well over two million Japanese citizens died in their homeland during the war.