When the stock market peaked at 381 on September 3, 1929, times were good and babies were being born across the land.  (During the 1930s, however, population growth slowed dramatically.) 

In the week of the market's peak, these famous people were born (let's call it Peak Week):

September 4, 1929: Thomas Eagleton, Missouri Senator and briefly a 1972 VP candidate.

September 5, 1929: Comedian Bob Newhart.

September 6, 1929: Golfer Dow Finsterwald, winner of the 1958 PGA Championship.

September 7, 1929: Jazz tenor sax great Sonny Rollins

September 8, 1929: Christoph von Dohnyani, conductor of the Cleveland Symphony.

September 10, 1929: Arnold Palmer, the first great golf celebrity of the modern era.  

September 11, 1929: Washington Post political columnist David Broder.

Great inventions meet the light of day, or night

On September 4, 1609, explorer Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan (without a Google Map).

On September 4, 1682, Mr. Halley saw the comet named after him, for the only time in his life....

On September 4, 1807, Robert Fulton launched his steamship line up the Hudson...

On September 4, 1882, Thomas Edison's first electric utility started working in New York...

On September 4, 1888, George Eastman patented Kodak photographic film in Rochester, NY …And on September 4, 1957, Ford released their brand new model, the Edsel.

Some bad news on this date, too

On September 4, 1899, an 8.3-Richter quake hit Yakutat Bay, Alaska during the Gold Rush.

1957: Arkansas Governor Orvil Faubus called out the National Guard, to prevent nine black girls from attending all-white Little Rock Central High.  Ike trumped him with the U.S. Army.

1972: Mark Spitz became the first athlete ever to win seven Olympic gold medals (all of them in swimming), at the Munich Olympics.  This record was finally eclipsed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but without the tragic counterpoint.  In 1972 in Munich, several Israeli hostages were seized that night, as hooded members of the Black September faction of the Palestinian Liberation Army infiltrated the Olympic Village and attacked the Israeli compound. Two Israeli athletes were killed in the assault, and nine others were taken hostage. 

The next day, the terrorists demanded the release of 200 Arab prisoners held in Israel.  They were escorted, with their hostages, to the airport, where German sharpshooters opened fire. All nine Israeli athletes were killed, as were five Palestinians and one German police officer.  Three terrorists were captured.

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