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The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held on June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. The Liberal Party had won five consecutive elections since 1935. Under Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent, the government gradually built a welfare state. During the Liberals' fifth term in office, the opposition parties depicted them as arrogant and unresponsive to Canadians' needs. Controversial events, such as the 1956 "Pipeline Debate" over the construction of the Trans-Canada Pipeline, had hurt the government. The Progressive Conservative Party ran a campaign centered on their new leader, John Diefenbaker (pictured), who attracted large crowds to rallies and made a strong impression on television. The Liberals ran a lackluster campaign, and St. Laurent made few television appearances. Abandoning their usual strategy of trying to make inroads in Liberal-dominated Quebec, the Conservatives focused on other provinces. They were successful; though they gained few seats in Quebec, they won 112 seats overall to the Liberals' 105, with the remaining seats won by other parties. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Conservatives' plurality in the House of Commons made Diefenbaker Prime Minister and ended 22 years of Liberal rule in Canada. (more...)

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• The Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard (pictured), forms a minority government after a federal election in Australia that resulted in a hung parliament.
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September 8: Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) begins at sunset (2010, 5771 AM); Independence Day in the Republic of Macedonia; Victory Day in Malta; Our Lady of Meritxell Day in Andorra; International Literacy Day

• 1331 – Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (pictured) of the House of Nemanjić was crowned King of Serbia.
• 1504 – David, a marble sculpture by Michelangelo portraying the biblical King David in the nude, was unveiled in Florence, Italy.
• 1514 – Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars: The combined forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland defeated the larger army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in Orsha, present-day Belarus.
• 1923 – Twenty-three sailors died when nine U.S. Navy destroyers ran aground off the coast of California in the Honda Point Disaster.
• 1966 – The American science fiction show Star Trek premiered on the NBC television network, launching a media franchise that has since created a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many current technologies.
• 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Gerald Ford gave recently resigned U.S. President Richard Nixon a full and unconditional, but controversial, pardon for any crimes he committed while in office.

More anniversaries: September 7 – September 8 – September 9