Sept 1st

1945 - The United States received official word of Japan's formal surrender that ended World War II. In Japan, it was actually September 2nd.
1972 - Robert "Bobby" Fischer, United States chess player, defeated Soviet player Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, becoming the United States' first player to officially win the World Chess Championship. Fisher's strange demands during tournaments, off-the-wall antics, and unexplained forfeiture of his world title brought him an uncharacteristic notoriety than most chess champions.

1985 - A joint United States-French expedition located the wreck of the Titanic roughly 560 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. The "unsinkable" ocean-liner sunk in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Twelve years after the wreck's location, the movie Titanic went on to break box office records.

1997 - In France, the prosecutor's office said the driver of the car in which Princess Diana was killed, was over the legal alcohol limit.