September is the time when we traditionally conclude the rites of summer with the long Labor Day weekend. Intended to be a salute to working people, Labor Day has become a celebration of the end of the vacation season, signaling that it’s time to go back to work or for children to hit the books and go back to school.

On September 1, 1939, the Second World War began. It was ignited when Germany invaded Poland and was not extinguished until two atomic bombs were dropped upon Germany’s ally, Japan.

On September 1, 1972, Bobby Fisher won the international chess championship against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland.

On September 2, 1945, Japanese forces formally surrendered to the allies.

On September 2, 1789, the US Treasury Department was established. The Constitutional government had been operating for five months or so before the Treasury Department came into existence, which shows that our priorities have certainly changed since that day. . . In the beginning, of course, government was not big business; the income tax was more than a century away. The services provided by the government were minimal. But times have changed. The US Treasury Department today, thanks to the Internal Revenue Service, has fingers in a lot of pies.

On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris, signed by Great Britain and the U.S., ended the American Revolutionary War.

On September 3, 1939, this was the day that Great Britain and France declared the war against Germany.

On September 4, 1909, eleven thousand Boy Scouts held their first parade at the London’s Crystal Palace. Less than two years after its conception, Great Britain’s Boy Scouts Organization was eleven thousand members strong.