September 30 Birthday
On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement, allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland — the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was not invited. Chamberlain returned to London and declared "peace for our time." He was wrong. Hitler invaded Poland eleven months later. The agreement became the symbol of appeasement — the belief that dictators can be satisfied by giving them what they want. Churchill called it a "total and unmitigated defeat." James Dean died on September 30, 1955, when his Porsche 550 Spyder collided with another car at an intersection near Cholame, California. He was twenty-four. He had starred in three films — East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant — only one of which had been released before his death. He became an icon of youthful rebellion. His funeral was attended by 2,500 people. The wreckage of his car, which was being transported to a safety exhibition, was involved in several accidents that killed or injured others — fueling legends of a "cursed car.". People born on September 30 fall under the zodiac sign of Libra. The birthstone is Sapphire and the birth flower is Aster. Historical events on September 30 include 1938: Munich Agreement — Britain and France appease Hitler over Czechoslovakia, 1955: James Dean killed in car crash at age 24, 1947: World Series televised for first time (Yankees vs. Dodgers). Famous people born on September 30 include Truman Capote (1924), Elie Wiesel (1928), Johnny Mathis (1935).