By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 2, the 246th day of 2020. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 2, 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

On this date:

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces occupied Atlanta.

In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, “Speak softly and carry a big stick” in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.

In 1930, the first nonstop airplane flight from Europe to the U.S. was completed in 37 hours as Capt. Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte of France arrived in Valley Stream, New York, aboard their Breguet 19 biplane, which bore the symbol of a large question mark.

In 1944, during World War II, Navy pilot Lt. (jg) George Herbert Walker Bush was shot down by Japanese forces as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands. (Bush was rescued by the crew of the submarine USS Finback; his two crew members died.)

In 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

In 1960, Wilma Rudolph of the United States won the first of her three gold medals at the Rome Summer Olympics as she finished the 100-meter dash in 11 seconds.

In 1963, “The CBS Evening News” with Walter Cronkite was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes, becoming network television’s first half-hour nightly newscast.

In 1969, in what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable. The first automatic teller machine to use magnetic-striped cards was opened to the public at Chemical Bank in New York. (Called a “Docuteller,” it was developed by Donald C. Wetzel.)

In 1993, the United States and Russia formally ended decades of competition in space by agreeing to a joint venture to build a space station.

In 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jetliner crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard.

In 2005, a National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina. Scorched by criticism about sluggish federal help, President George W. Bush toured the Gulf Coast and met with state and local officials, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; at one point, Bush praised FEMA Director Michael Brown, telling him, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

In 2018, Sen. John McCain was laid to rest on a grassy hill at the U.S. Naval Academy, after a horse-drawn caisson carrying the senator’s casket led a procession of mourners from the academy’s chapel to its cemetery.

Ten years ago: Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged in a first round of renewed peace talks in Washington to keep meeting at regular intervals. Seattle Storm forward Lauren Jackson was selected the WNBA’s most valuable player for the third time in her career.