This Day in History

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<em class="date"> Sep 24, 1789: The First Supreme Court </h2>The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington , establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson to be associate justices. On September 26, all six appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1948: Honda Motor Company is incorporated </h2>On this day, motorcycle builder Soichiro Honda incorporates the Honda Motor Company in Hamamatsu, Japan . In the 1960s , the company achieved worldwide fame for its motorcycles (in particular, its C100 Super Cub, which became the world's best-selling vehicle); in the 1970s , it achieved worldwide fame for its affordable, fuel-efficient cars. Today, in large part because of its continued emphasis on affordability, efficiency and eco-friendliness (its internal motto is Blue skies for our children ), the company is doing better than most.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1969: The Chicago Seven go on trial </h2>The trial of the Chicago Seven begins before Judge Julius Hoffman. The defendants, including David Dellinger of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE); Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden of MOBE and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); and Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman of the Youth International Party (Yippies), were accused of conspiring to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1971: A game warden is reported missing </h2>Neil LaFeve, the game warden at Sensiba Wildlife Area in Wisconsin , is reported missing. When LaFeve, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday, did not show up to his own party, his wife called the police.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1966: Hurricane Inez batters Caribbean </h2>Hurricane Inez slams into the islands of the Caribbean, killing hundreds of people, on this day in 1966. The storm left death and destruction in its wake from Guadeloupe to Mexico over the course of its nearly three-week run. Inez was the most destructive hurricane of the 1966 storm season.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1966: Last Train To Clarksville gives the made-for-TV Monkees a real-life pop hit </h2>When producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson conceived a situation comedy called The Monkees in 1965, they hoped to create a ratings success by blurring the line between pop music and television. Instead, they succeeded in obliterating that line entirely when the pop group that began as a wholly fictional creation went on to rival, however briefly, the success of its real-life inspiration, the Beatles. On this day in 1966, the made-for-television Monkees knocked down the fourth wall decisively when their first single, Last Train To Clarksville entered the Billboard Top 40.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1996: Stephen King releases two books at once </h2>On this day in 1996, blockbusting bestselling author Stephen King releases two new novels at once. The first, Desperation, was released under King's name, while the second, The Regulators, was published under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1890: The Mormon Church officially renounces polygamy </h2>On this day in 1890, faced with the eminent destruction of their church and way of life, Mormon leaders reluctantly issue the Mormon Manifesto in which they command all Latter-day Saints to uphold the anti-polygamy laws of the nation. The Mormon leaders had been given little choice: If they did not abandon polygamy they faced federal confiscation of their sacred temples and the revocation of basic civil rights for all Mormons.  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1964: Warren Commission report delivered to President Johnson </h2>On this day in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson receives a special commission's report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy , which had occurred on November 22, 1963, in Dallas , Texas .  <em class="date"> Sep 24, 1988: Ben Johnson wins gold, temporarily </h2>On this day in 1988, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson runs the 100-meter dash in 9.79 seconds to win gold at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Johnsons triumph, however, was temporary: He tested positive for steroids three days later and was stripped of the medal.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Sep 25, 1957: Central High School integrated </h2>Under escort from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas . Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order.  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 2004: Formula One racetrack in Shanghai prepares for its grand opening </h2>On September 25, 2004, Chinese officials gather at the brand-new Shanghai International Circuit racetrack in anticipation of the next day's inaugural Formula One Chinese Grand Prix. Though Formula One racing was traditionally a European sport, the builders and boosters of the state-sponsored Shanghai track--part of an elaborate complex called the Shanghai International Auto City--hoped that they could help the sport catch on in Asia. In particular, they hoped their high-tech raceway would draw attention and investment to the fledgling Chinese auto industry. (China was an enormous untapped market for carmakers: In the year the Shanghai track opened, there were only 10 million cars for the country's 1.3 billion people.)  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 1978: Mid-air collision kills 153 </h2>A Pacific Southwest Airlines jet collides in mid-air with a small Cessna over San Diego , killing 153 people on this day in 1978. The wreckage of the planes fell into a populous neighborhood and did extensive damage on the ground.   Sep 25, 1789: Bill of Rights passes Congress </h2>The first Congress of the United States approves 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution , and sends them to the states for ratification. The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights , were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion; the right to fair legal procedure and to bear arms; and that powers not delegated to the federal government were reserved for the states and the people.  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 1981: O'Connor takes seat on Supreme Court </h2>Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice in history when she is sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger.  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 2005: IRA officially disarms </h2>Two months after announcing its intention to disarm, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) gives up its weapons in front of independent weapons inspectors. The decommissioning of the group s substantial arsenal took place in secret locations in the Republic of Ireland. One Protestant and one Catholic priest as well as officials from Finland and the United States served as witnesses to the historic event. Automatic weapons, ammunition, missiles and explosives were among the arms found in the cache, which the head weapons inspector described as enormous.  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 1897: William Faulkner is born </h2>William Faulkner is born this day near Oxford, Mississippi . Faulkner's father was the business manager of the University of Mississippi, and his mother was a literary woman who encouraged Faulkner and his three brothers to read  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 1970: The Partridge Family premieres on ABC television </h2>Unwilling to rest as a one-hit wonder when its first big hit, The Monkees,went off the air in 1968, the television production company Screen Gems wasted no time in trying to repeat its success. On this day in 1970, in the 8:30 p.m. time slot immediately following The Brady Bunch, ABC premiered a program that would give Screen Gems its second TV-to-pop-chart smash: The Partridge Family.  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 1894: Grover Cleveland pardons bigamists, adulterers, polygamists and unlawful cohabitants </h2>On this day in 1894, President Grover Cleveland issues a presidential proclamation pardoning Mormons who had previously engaged in polygamous marriages or habitation arrangements considered unlawful by the U.S. government. At the time, and to this day, plural marriages between one man and multiple women; one woman and multiple men; or multiple men and women are illegal in the United States .  <em class="date"> Sep 25, 1965: Fifty-nine-year-old Satchel Paige pitches three innings </h2>On September 25, 1965, the Kansas City Athletics start ageless wonder Satchel Paige in a game against the Boston Red Sox. The 59-year-old Paige, a Negro League legend, proved his greatness once again by giving up only one hit in his three innings of play.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Sep 26, 1960: First Kennedy-Nixon debate </h2>For the first time in U.S. history, a debate between major party presidential candidates is shown on television. The presidential hopefuls, John F. Kennedy , a Democratic senator of Massachusetts , and Richard M. Nixon , the vice president of the United States , met in a Chicago studio to discuss U.S. domestic matters.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1928: First day of work at the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation </h2>On this day in 1928, work begins at Chicago 's new Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. (The company had officially incorporated the day before.) In 1930, Galvin would introduce the Motorola radio, the first mass-produced commercial car radio. (The name had two parts: motor evoked cars and motion, while ola derived from Victrola and was supposed to make people think of music.)  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 2007: Mistrial declared in Phil Spector murder case </h2>Music producer Phil Spectors trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson ends in a mistrial when the jury cannot come to a unanimous verdict.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 2002: Ferry sinks off Gambian coast </h2>A ferry from Senegal capsizes off the coast of Gambia on this day in 2002. Only 64 out of more than 1,000 passengers were rescued, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in history.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1957: Bernstein's West Side Story opens </h2>On September 26, 1957, West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. For the groundbreaking musical, Bernstein provided a propulsive and rhapsodic score that many celebrate as his greatest achievement as a composer. However, even without the triumph of West Side Story, Bernstein's place in musical history was firmly established. In addition to his work as a composer, the Renaissance man of music excelled as a conductor, a concert pianist, and a teacher who brought classical music to the masses.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1969: The Brady Bunch premieres </h2>On this day in 1969, American television audiences hear the soon-to-be-famous opening lyrics Heres the story of a lovely lady who was living with three very lovely girls as The Brady Bunch, a sitcom that will become an icon of American pop culture, airs for the first time. The show was panned by critics and, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, during its entire network run, the series never reached the top ten ranks of the Nielsen ratings. Yet, the program stands as one of the most important sitcoms of American 1970s television programming, spawning numerous other series on all three major networks, as well as records, lunch boxes, a cookbook, and even a stage show and feature film.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1888: T.S. Eliot is born </h2>On this day, poet T.S. Eliot is born in St. Louis, Missouri .  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1820: The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone dies in Missouri </h2>On this day in 1820 the great pioneering frontiersman Daniel Boone dies quietly in his sleep at his son's home near present-day Defiance, Missouri . The indefatigable voyager was 86.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1971: Four 20-game winners </h2>On September 26, 1971, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer wins his 20th game of the year, becoming the fourth Orioles pitcher to win 20 games in the 1971 season. This made the 1971 Orioles pitching staff the first since that of the 1920 Chicago White Sox to field four 20-game winners.  <em class="date"> Sep 26, 1945: First American soldier killed in Vietnam </h2>Lt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, is shot and killed in Saigon. Dewey was the head of a seven-man team sent to Vietnam to search for missing American pilots and to gather information on the situation in the country after the surrender of the Japanese.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Sep 27, 1779: John Adams appointed to negotiate peace terms with British </h2>On this day in 1779, the Continental Congress appoints John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain during the Revolutionary War .  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1854: Ships collide off Newfoundland </h2>Sudden and heavy fog causes two ships to collide, killing 322 people off the coast of Newfoundland on this day in 1854.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1540: Jesuit order established </h2>In Rome, the Society of Jesus--a Roman Catholic missionary organization--receives its charter from Pope Paul III. The Jesuit order played an important role in the Counter-Reformation and eventually succeeded in converting millions around the world to Catholicism.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1996: F. Scott Fitzgerald stamp is issued </h2>On this day in 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issues an F. Scott Fitzgerald commemorative stamp.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1999: Placido Domingo breaks Caruso's opening-night record at the Metropolitan Opera </h2>On September 27, 1999, operatic tenor Placido Domingo makes his 18th opening-night appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House, breaking an unbreakable record previously held by the great Enrico Caruso.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1869: Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok proves too wild for Kansas </h2>Just after midnight on this day in 1869, Ellis County Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok and his deputy respond to a report that a local ruffian named Samuel Strawhun and several drunken buddies were tearing up John Bitter's Beer Saloon in Hays City, Kansas . When Hickok arrived and ordered the men to stop, Strawhun turned to attack him, and Hickok shot him in the head. Strawhun died instantly, as did the riot.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1938: Franklin Roosevelt appeals to Hitler for peace </h2>On this day in 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt writes to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler regarding the threat of war in Europe. The German chancellor had been threatening to invade the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and, in the letter, his second to Hitler in as many days, Roosevelt reiterated the need to find a peaceful resolution to the issue.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1930: Bobby Jones wins U.S. Amateur title </h2>On this day in 1930, golfer Bobby Jones wins his fourth major tournament of the year, making him the first person ever to win the Grand Slam of golf. Jones beat Gene Homans in match play format, 8 and 7, meaning he was eight holes ahead with just seven holes left to play.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1967: Antiwar sentiment increases </h2>An advertisement headed A Call To Resist Illegitimate Authority, signed by over 320 influential people (professors, writers, ministers, and other professional people), appears in the New Republic and the New York Review of Books, asking for funds to help youths resist the draft.  <em class="date"> Sep 27, 1940: The Tripartite Pact is signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan </h2>On this day in 1940, the Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. This formalizing of the alliance was aimed directly at neutral America--designed to force the United States to think twice before venturing in on the side of the Allies.  history.com

 

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Sep 28, 1941: Ted Williams becomes last player to hit .400 </h2>On this day in 1941, the Boston Red Sox's Ted Williams plays a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics on the last day of the regular season and gets six hits in eight trips to the plate, to boost his batting average to .406 and become the first player since Bill Terry in 1930 to hit .400. Williams, who spent his entire career with the Sox, played his final game exactly 19 years later, on September 28, 1960, at Bostons Fenway Park and hit a home run in his last time at bat, for a career total of 521 homeruns.    <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1938: Auto inventor Charles Duryea dies </h2>On September 28, 1938, inventor Charles Duryea dies in Philadelphia at the age of 76. Duryea and his brother Frank designed and built one of the first functioning gasoline buggies, or gas-powered automobiles , in the United States . For most of his life, however, Charles insisted on taking full credit for the brothers' innovation. On the patent applications he filed for the Duryea Motor Wagon, for instance, Charles averred that he was the car's sole inventor; he also loftily proclaimed that his brother was simply a mechanic hired to execute Charles' plans.  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1988: A cult leader kills one of his followers </h2>Roch Theriault fatally wounds Solange Boislard in Ontario, Canada. Theriault, the leader of the most bizarre and violent cult in Canadian history, often physically abused his followers. Obsessed with anatomy and medicine, Theriault performed crude intestinal surgery on Boislard by slicing open her abdomen and ripping out a piece of intestine with his bare hands. He then ordered another follower to stitch up the wound with a needle and thread. When she died the next day in agonizing pain, he sawed off the top of her head, and then sexually assaulted her. Before burying the woman, he removed a rib, which he wore around his neck.  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1918: Flu epidemic hits Philadelphia </h2>On this day in 1918, a Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia prompts a huge outbreak of the flu epidemic in the city. By the time the epidemic ended, an estimated 30 million people were dead worldwide.  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 48 B.C.: Pompey the Great assassinated </h2>Upon landing in Egypt, Roman general and politician Pompey is murdered on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt.  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1542: Cabrillo encounters California </h2>Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sails into present-day San Diego Bay during the course of his explorations of the northwest shores of Mexico on behalf of Spain. It was the first known European encounter with California .  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1989: Marcos dies in exile </h2>Former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos, whose corrupt regime spanned 20 years, dies in exile in Hawaii three years after being driven from his country by a popular front led by Corazon Aquino.  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1901: TV host Ed Sullivan born </h2>On this day in 1901, Ed Sullivan, who will become the host of the long-running TV variety program The Ed Sullivan Show, is born in New York City . During the peak of its popularity in the 1950s and 1960s , Sullivans programshowcased a wide range of entertainers, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1991: Miles Davis dies </h2>On September 28, 1991, jazz trumpet legend Miles Davis dies in a California hospital at the age of 65.   Sep 28, 1967: President Johnson honors American soldier </h2>On this day in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson , who was coming under increasing criticism for sending American men to fight and die in Vietnam, bestows the Congressional Medal of Honor on Sgt. David Dolby, a member of the Army's 1^st Cavalry  <em class="date"> Sep 28, 1918: British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler </h2>On September 28, 1918, in an incident that would go down in the lore of World War I historyalthough the details of the event are still unclearPrivate Henry Tandey, a British soldier serving near the French village of Marcoing, reportedly encounters a wounded German soldier and declines to shoot him, sparing the life of 29-year-old Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler .  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Sep 29, 2005: Reporter Judith Miller released from prison </h2>On this day in 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller is released from a federal detention center in Alexandria, Virginia , after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the leaking of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. Miller had been behind bars since July 6, 2005, for refusing to reveal a confidential source and testify before a grand jury that was looking into the so-called Plame Affair. She decided to testify after the source she had been protecting, I. Lewis Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney 's chief of staff, signed a waiver giving her permission to speak.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1913: Inventor Rudolf Diesel vanishes </h2>On this day in 1913, Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name, disappears from the steamship Dresden while traveling from Antwerp, Belgium to Harwick, England. On October 10, a Belgian sailor aboard a North Sea steamer spotted a body floating in the water; upon further investigation, it turned out that the body was Diesel's. There was, and remains, a great deal of mystery surrounding his death: It was officially judged a suicide, but many people believed (and still believe) that Diesel was murdered.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1982: Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills six </h2>Flight attendant Paula Prince buys a bottle of cyanide-laced Tylenol. Prince was found dead on October 1, becoming the final victim of a mysterious ailment in Chicago , Illinois . Over the previous 24 hours, six other people had suddenly died of unknown causes in northwest Chicago. After Prince's death, Richard Keyworth and Philip Cappitelli, firefighters in the Windy City, realized that all seven victims had ingested Extra-Strength Tylenol prior to becoming ill. Further investigation revealed that several bottles of the Tylenol capsules had been poisoned with cyanide.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 2006: School principal murdered by student in Wisconsin </h2>ohn Klang, the principal of Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin , is shot and killed by 15-year-old student Eric Hainstock on September 29, 2006. The incident takes place amidst a spate of school violence across North America, including a shooting rampage at a Canadian college on September 13 and a hostage situation at a Colorado high school on September 27.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1957: Trains collide in Pakistan </h2>A passenger train collides with an oil-tanker train in the Gambar province of western Pakistan, killing 300 people and seriously injuring another 150 on this day in 1957.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1988: American woman climbs Everest </h2>Stacy Allison of Portland, Oregon , becomes the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest , which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. Allison, a member of the Northwest American Everest Expedition, climbed the Himalayan peak using the southeast ridge route.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1907: Gene Autry, The Singing Cowboy, is born </h2>From the early 1930s to the mid-1950s , Gene Autry, The Singing Cowboy, dominated the country & western genre as the biggest-selling recording artist of the era. But more than that, Autry was a phenomenally successful radio personality, movie star and businessman, tooa cross-platform creative mogul of the kind that today's pop superstars strive to be. Born on this day in 1907 near Tioga, Texas , Byron Orvon Gene Autry grew up to be one of the most important figures the country music world has ever seen.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1942: JFK thanks Clare Booth Luce for good-luck coin </h2>On this day in 1942, a young Navy officer named John F. Kennedy writes a letter to playwright and family friend Clare Booth Luce thanking her for sending him a good-luck coin.  <em class="date"> Sep 29, 1954: Willie Mays makes catch </h2>On September 29, 1954, Willie Mays, centerfielder for the New York Giants, makes an amazing over-the-shoulder catch of a fly ball hit by Cleveland Indians first baseman Vic Wertz to rob Wertz of extra bases in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series. The catch has gone down as one of the greatest in the history of baseball.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Sep 30, 1955: James Dean dies </h2>On this day in 1955, movie star James Dean dies at age 24 in a car crash on a California highway. Dean was driving his Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed Little Bastard, headed to a car race in Salinas, California, with his mechanic Rolf Wuetherich, when they were involved in a head-on collision with a car driven by a 23-year-old college student named Donald Turnaspeed. Dean was taken to Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:59 p.m. Wuetherich, who was thrown from the car, survived the accident and Turnaspeed escaped with minor injuries. No charges were ever filed against him.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1999: Radiation released at Japanese plant </h2> Large doses of radiation are released at Japan 's Tokaimura nuclear plant on this day in 1999. It was Japan's worst nuclear accident, caused by a serious error made by workers at the plant. One person was killed, 49 were injured and thousands of others were forcibly confined to their homes for several days.   <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1962: Riots over desegregation of Ole Miss </h2>In Oxford, Mississippi , James H. Meredith, an African American, is escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. Marshals, setting off a deadly riot. Two men were killed before the racial violence was quelled by more than 3,000 federal soldiers. The next day, Meredith successfully enrolled and began to attend classes amid continuing disruption.  <em class="date">Sep 30, 2005: Eisner resigns as Disney CEO </h2>On this day in 2005, Michael Eisner resigns as the chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company. During Eisners 21-year tenure with Disney, he helped transform it into an entertainment industry giant whose properties included films, theme parks and a cruise line, television networks and sports teams. Eisner also presided over a golden age of animation, during which Disney produced such blockbuster films as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King and became a merchandising powerhouse.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1868: First volume of Little Women is published </h2>The first volume of Louisa May Alcott's beloved children's book Little Women is published on this day. The novel will become Alcott's first bestseller and a beloved children's classic.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1935: Johnny Mathis is born </h2>Stars like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were established enough to survive the rock-and-roll revolution, but the arrival of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry et al., in the late-1950s did no favors for most of the artists who occupied the top of the pre-rock-and-roll pop charts. Names like Perez Prado, Gogi Grant and Guy Mitchell, for instance, have been largely lost to history, though one young newcomer working in a style far more square than that of his contemporaries managed to survive and even thrive. Born on this day in 1935, Johnny Mathis went on to become one of the most successful recording artists of all time.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1889: Wyoming legislators write the first state constitution to grant women the vote </h2>On this day in 1889, the Wyoming state convention approves a constitution that includes a provision granting women the right to vote. Formally admitted into the union the following year, Wyoming thus became the first state in the history of the nation to allow its female citizens to vote.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1918: President Woodrow Wilson speaks in favor of female suffrage </h2>On this day in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson gives a speech before Congress in support of guaranteeing women the right to vote. Although the House of Representatives had approved a 19th constitutional amendment giving women suffrage, the Senate had yet to vote on the measure.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1927: Babe Ruth hits 60th homer of 1927 season </h2>On September 30, 1927, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the 1927 season and with it sets a record that would stand for 34 years.  <em class="date"> Sep 30, 1964: First large scale antiwar demonstration staged at Berkeley </h2>The first large-scale antiwar demonstration in the United States is staged at the University of California at Berkeley, by students and faculty opposed to the war. Nevertheless, polls showed that a majority of Americans supported President Lyndon Johnson 's policy on the war.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 1, 1890: Yosemite National Park established </h2>On this day in 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison and paved the way for generations of hikers, campers and nature lovers, along with countless Don't Feed the Bears signs.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1908: Ford Motor Company unveils the Model T </h2>On October 1, 1908, the first production Model T Ford is completed at the company's Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit. Between 1908 and 1927, Ford would build some 15 million Model T cars. It was the longest production run of any automobile model in history until the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed it in 1972.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1988: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes head of Supreme Soviet </h2>Having forced the resignation of Soviet leader Andrei Gromyko, Mikhail Gorbachev names himself head of the Supreme Soviet. Within two years, he was named Man of the Decade by Time magazine for his role in bringing the Cold War to a close. Beginning in 1985, when he became general secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR, Gorbachev moved forward to both liberalize the Soviet economy (perestroika) and political life (glasnost), as well as decrease tensions with the United States . By late 1991, the Soviet Union was moving toward dissolution, and Gorbachev retired from office in December 1991.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1987: Earthquake rocks Southern California </h2>An earthquake in Whittier, California , kills 6 people and injures 100 more on this day in 1987. The quake was the largest to hit Southern California since 1971, but not nearly as damaging as the Northridge quake that would devastate parts of Los Angeles seven years later.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1946: Nazi war criminals sentenced at Nuremberg </h2>On October 1, 1946, 12 high-ranking Nazis are sentenced to death by the International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg. Among those condemned to death by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi minister of foreign affairs; Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo and chief of the German air force; and Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior. Seven others, including Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler 's former deputy, were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life. Three others were acquitted.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1962: Johnny Carson makes debut as Tonight Show host </h2>On this day in 1962, Johnny Carson takes over from Jack Paar as host of the late-night talk program The Tonight Show. Carson went on to host The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for three decades, becoming one of the biggest figures in entertainment in the 20th century.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1856: First installment of Madame Bovary is published </h2>On this day, the Revue de Paris publishes the first segment of Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert. The novel was published in installments from this day until December 15, 1856.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1920: Scientific American reports that radio will soon be used to transmit music to the home </h2>In an 1888 novel called Looking Backward: 2000-1887, author Edward Bellamy imagined a scene in which a time-traveler from 1887 reacts to a technological advance from the early 21st century that he describes as, An arrangement for providing everybody with music in their homes, perfect in quality, unlimited in quantity, suited to every mood, and beginning and ceasing at will. In Bellamy's imagination, this astonishing feat was accomplished by a vast network of wires connecting individual homes with centrally located concert halls staffed round-the-clock with live performers. As it turned out, this vision of the year 2000 would come to pass far sooner than Bellamy imagined, and without all the pesky wires. On this day in 1920, Scientific American magazine reported that the rapidly developing medium of radio would soon be used to broadcast music. A revolution in the role of music in everyday life was about to be born.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1924: Jimmy Carter is born </h2>On this day in 1924, future President James Earl Carter is born in Plains, Georgia . Carter, who preferred to be called Jimmy, was the son of a peanut farmer and was the first president to be born in a hospital. Carter was raised a devoted Southern Baptist and graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland , in 1946. He married Rosalynn Smith later that year.  <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1961: Roger Maris breaks home-run record </h2>On October 1, 1961, New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. The great Babe Ruth set the record in 1927; Maris and his teammate Mickey Mantle spent 1961 trying to break it. After hitting 54 homers, Mantle injured his hip in September, leaving Maris to chase the record by himself. Finally, in the last game of the regular season, Maris hit his 61st home run against the Boston Red Sox. (The league-champion Yanks won the game 1-0.)   <em class="date"> Oct 1, 1944: Experiments begin on homosexuals at Buchenwald </h2> On this day in 1944, the first of two sets of medical experiments involving castration are performed on homosexuals at the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany.   history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 2, 1985: Hollywood icon Rock Hudson dies of AIDS </h2>On this day in 1985, actor Rock Hudson, 59, becomes the first major U.S. celebrity to die of complications from AIDS. Hudson's death raised public awareness of the epidemic, which until that time had been ignored by many in the mainstream as a gay plague.  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 1948: Checkered flag waves at first postwar U.S. road race in Watkins Glen, New York </h2>On this day in 1948, the first American road race since World War II takes place in Watkins Glen, a tiny town near the Finger Lakes in New York . In 1961, the Watkins Glen event was added to the Formula One Grand Prix schedule and for the next 20 years it was a destination for the world's best drivers. Compared to Monte Carlo and other sophisticated stops on the Formula One circuit, Watkins Glen was scarcely even on the map (Sports Illustratedpoked fun at its courage and cornpone, sophistication with straw in its teeth ), but the race was named the best Grand Prix of the season more than once.  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 2006: Gunman kills five students at Amish school </h2>Charles Roberts enters the West Nickel Mines Amish School in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania , where he fatally shoots five female students and wounds five more before turning his gun on himself and committing suicide.  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 1963: Hurricane devastates Haiti </h2>On this day in 1963, Hurricane Flora crashes into Haiti, killing thousands of people. This huge storm, which also killed large numbers of people in Cuba and wreaked havoc elsewhere in the Caribbean, was one of the most deadly hurricanes in history.  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 1879: Wallace Stevens is born </h2>On this day in 1879, poet Wallace Stevens is born in Reading, Pennsylvania  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 1971: Rod Stewart earns his first #1 hit with Maggie May </h2>If living well is the best revenge, then Rod Stewart has long since avenged the critical barbs he's suffered through the years. Still active in his fifth decade as a recording star, he can point to nearly three dozen pop hits and nearly 40 million albums sold as proof that he's done something very right. Yet all of his commercial success wouldn't silence those purists who believe that Rod Stewart wasted the greatest male voice in rock history by putting it to use in service of disco anthems and an endless string of generic adult-contemporary ballads. Whatever one's opinion about Stewart's musical choices few could deny the pure perfection of his performance on one of the greatest rock songs of all time, Maggie May, which became Rod Stewart's first #1 hit on this day in 1971.  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 1919: Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke </h2>On this day in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson , who had just cut short a tour of the country to promote the formation of the League of Nations, suffers a stroke.  <em class="date"> Oct 2, 1968: Gibson strikes out 17 in World Series </h2>On October 2, 1968, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson strikes out 17 Detroit Tigers in the first game of the World Series, breaking Sandy Koufaxs record for the most strikeouts in a Series game. Though the Cards ended up losing the Series in seven games, Gibson pitched three and struck out an unprecedented 35 batters.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 3, 1995: O.J. Simpson acquitted </h2>At the end of a sensational trial, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the brutal 1994 double murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In the epic 252-day trial, Simpson's dream team of lawyers employed creative and controversial methods to convince jurors that Simpson's guilt had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, thus surmounting what the prosecution called a mountain of evidence implicating him as the murderer.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1961: UAW walks out on Ford </h2>On this day in 1961, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union goes on strike at Ford plants across the country to win higher wages and better benefits for its members. It was the first company-wide strike since Ford had agreed to a collective-bargaining deal in 1941. Ford had been the last of the Big Three automakers to recognize the union, and it did so grudgingly; the UAW would organize his workers, Henry Ford famously declared, over my dead body.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1990: East and West Germany reunite after 45 years </h2>Less than one year after the destruction of the Berlin Wall , East and West Germany come together on what is known as Unity Day. Since 1945, when Soviet forces occupied eastern Germany, and the United States and other Allied forces occupied the western half of the nation at the close of World War II , divided Germany had come to serve as one of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War . Some of the most dramatic episodes of the Cold War took place there. The Berlin Blockade (June 1948--May 1949), during which the Soviet Union blocked all ground travel into West Berlin, and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 were perhaps the most famous. With the gradual waning of Soviet power in the late 1980s , the Communist Party in East Germany began to lose its grip on power. Tens of thousands of East Germans began to flee the nation, and by late 1989 the Berlin Wall started to come down. Shortly thereafter, talks between East and West German officials, joined by officials from the United States, Great Britain, France, and the USSR, began to explore the possibility of reunification. Two months following reunification, all-German elections took place and Helmut Kohl became the first chancellor of the reunified Germany. Although this action came more than a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, for many observers the reunification of Germany effectively marked the end of the Cold War.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 2005: Hurricane Stan bears down on Mexico </h2>On this day in 2005, Hurricane Stan bears down on the Mexican coastline after passing over the Yucatan Peninsula. The storm brought torrential rains to Central America and caused a series of landslides over the next several days that buried several towns and killed more than 1,000 people. In Guatemala, the hardest-hit nation, two entire villages were turned into mass graves.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1932: Iraq wins independence </h2>With the admission of Iraq into the League of Nations, Britain terminates its mandate over the Arab nation, making Iraq independent after 17 years of British rule and centuries of Ottoman rule.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1952: Britain successfully tests A-bomb </h2>Britain successfully tests its first atomic bomb at the Monte Bello Islands, off the northwest coast of Australia.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1895: The Red Badge of Courage is published </h2>On this day, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is published in book form. The story of a young man's experience of battle was the first American novel to portray the Civil War from the ordinary soldier's point of view. The tale originally appeared as a serial published by a newspaper syndicate.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1967: Writer, singer and folk icon Woody Guthrie dies </h2>On October 3, 1967, Woody Guthrie, godfather of the 1950s folk revival movement, dies.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1863: Lincoln proclaims official Thanksgiving holiday </h2>On this day in 1863, expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln announces that the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 1863.  <em class="date"> Oct 3, 1951: The shot heard round the world </h2>On October 3, 1951, third baseman Bobby Thomson hits a one-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the National League pennant for the New York Giants. Thomsons homer wrapped up an amazing come-from-behind run for the Giants and knocked the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Giants hated inter-borough rivals, out of their spot in the World Series. The Giants went on to lose the Series to the Yankees, but Thomsons miraculous homer remains one of the most memorable moments in sports history.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 4, 1957: Sputnik launched </h2>The Soviet Union inaugurates the Space Age with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for satellite, was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic. Sputnik had a diameter of 22 inches and weighed 184 pounds and circled Earth once every hour and 36 minutes. Traveling at 18,000 miles an hour, its elliptical orbit had an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 584 miles and a perigee (nearest point) of 143 miles. Visible with binoculars before sunrise or after sunset, Sputnik transmitted radio signals back to Earth strong enough to be picked up by amateur radio operators. Those in the United States with access to such equipment tuned in and listened in awe as the beeping Soviet spacecraft passed over America several times a day. In January 1958, Sputnik's orbit deteriorated, as expected, and the spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere.  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1937: Blues singer Bessie Smith, killed in Mississippi car wreck, is buried </h2>Legendary blues singer Bessie Smith is buried near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , on October 4, 1937. Some 7,000 mourners attended her funeral. Smith had been killed a few days before when the old Packard she was driving hit a parked truck near Coahoma, Mississippi , between Clarksdale and Memphis. There is no record of Smith's exact birth date, but she was about 43 years old.  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1988: Jim Bakker is indicted on federal charges </h2>Televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted on federal charges of mail and wire fraud and of conspiring to defraud the public. The case against the founder of Praise the Lord (PTL) Ministries and three of his aides exploded in the press when it was revealed that Bakker had sex with former church secretary Jessica Hahn.  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1992: Plane crashes into apartment building </h2>A cargo plane crashes into an apartment building near an airport in Amsterdam, Holland, on this day in 1992. Four people aboard the plane and approximately 100 more in the apartment building lost their lives in the disaster.  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1965: Pope visits U.S. </h2>Pope Paul VI arrives at Kennedy International Airport in New York City on the first visit by a reigning pope to the United States . During his packed one-day American visit--limited entirely to New York City--Pope Paul VI visited St. Patrick 's Cathedral and Cardinal Francis Spellman's residence, met with President Lyndon Johnson at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations, attended a public Mass at Yankee Stadium, visited the Vatican Exhibit at the New York World's Fair, and then flew to Rome from Kennedy Airport. During less than 14 hours in the United States, the pope was seen in person by one million people and on television by an another 100 million.  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1941: Anne Rice is born </h2>On this day, Anne Rice, best-selling author of the Vampire Chronicles and other novels about the occult, is born in New Orleans .  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1970: Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose </h2> In the summer of 1966, Janis Joplin was a drifter; four years later, she was a rock-and-roll legend. She'd gone from complete unknown to generational icon on the strength of a single, blistering performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in the summer of 1967, and she'd followed that up with three years of touring and recording that cemented her status as, in the words of one critic, second only to Bob Dylan in importance as a creator/recorder/embodiment of her generation's history and mythology.   <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1822: Rutherford B. Hayes is born </h2>   On this day in 1822, future President Rutherford B. Hayes is born in Delaware , Ohio . As a child, Hayes attended private schools and went on to study law at Harvard University, though he was not from a wealthy family. In fact, as a young lawyer, he lived in his office for a time to save money while building his practice.     <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1927: Work begins on Mount Rushmore </h2>On this day in 1927, sculpting begins on the face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota . It would take another 12 years for the impressive granite images of four of America's most revered and beloved presidentsGeorge Washington, Thomas Jefferson , Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt--to be completed.  <em class="date"> Oct 4, 1955: So-called Brooklyn bums win their first World Series </h2>On October 4, 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series at last, beating the New York Yankees 2-0. Theyd lost the championship seven times already, and theyd lost five times just to the Yanks--in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953. But in 1955, thanks to nine brilliant innings in the seventh game from 23-year-old lefty pitcher Johnny Podres, they finally managed to beat the Bombers for the first (and last) time.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 5, 1947: First presidential speech on TV </h2>On this day in 1947, President Harry Truman (1884-1972) makes the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House , asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans. At the time of Truman's food-conservation speech, Europe was still recovering from World War II and suffering from famine. Truman, the 33rd commander in chief, worried that if the U.S. didn't provide food aid, his administration's Marshall Plan for European economic recovery would fall apart. He asked farmers and distillers to reduce grain use and requested that the public voluntarily forgo meat on Tuesdays, eggs and poultry on Thursdays and save a slice of bread each day. The food program was short-lived, as ultimately the Marshall Plan succeeded in helping to spur economic revitalization and growth in Europe. In 1947, television was still in its infancy and the number of TV sets in U.S. homes only numbered in the thousands (by the early 1950s , millions of Americans owned TVs); most people listened to the radio for news and entertainment. However, although the majority of Americans missed Truman's TV debut, his speech signaled the start of a powerful and complex relationship between the White House and a medium that would have an enormous impact on the American presidency, from how candidates campaigned for the office to how presidents communicated with their constituents. Each of Truman's subsequent White House speeches, including his 1949 inauguration address, was televised. In 1948, Truman was the first presidential candidate to broadcast a paid political ad. Truman pioneered the White House telecast, but it was President Franklin Roosevelt who was the first president to appear on TV--from the World's Fair in New York City on April 30, 1939. FDR's speech had an extremely limited TV audience, though, airing only on receivers at the fairgrounds and at Radio City in Manhattan.  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1919: Enzo Ferrari makes his debut as a race car driver </h2> On October 5, 1919, a young Italian car mechanic and engineer named Enzo Ferrari takes part in his first car race, a hill climb in Parma, Italy. He finished fourth. Ferrari was a good driver, but not a great one: In all, he won just 13 of the 47 races he entered. Many people say that this is because he cared too much for the sports cars he drove: He could never bring himself to ruin an engine in order to win a race.  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1986: Iran-Contra scandal unravels </h2>Eugene Hasenfus is captured by troops of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua after the plane in which he is flying is shot down; two others on the plane die in the crash. Under questioning, Hasenfus confessed that he was shipping military supplies into Nicaragua for use by the Contras, an anti-Sandinista force that had been created and funded by the United States . Most dramatically, he claimed that operation was really run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1930: Blimp crashes in France </h2>On this day in 1930, a British dirigible crashes in Beauvais, France, killing 49 people. The blimp, which was Great Britain's biggest, had first been launched about a year earlier.   Oct 5, 1974: American circumnavigates the globe on foot </h2>American David Kunst completes the first round-the-world journey on foot, taking four years and 21 pairs of shoes to complete the 14,500-mile journey across the land masses of four continents. He left his hometown of Waseca, Minnesota , on June 20, 1970. Near the end of his journey in 1974 he explained the reasons for his epic trek: I was tired of Waseca, tired of my job, tired of a lot of little people who don't want to think, and tired of my wife. During the long journey, he took on sponsors and helped raise money for UNICEF.  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1989: Dalai Lama wins Peace Prize </h2>The Dalai Lama, the exiled religious and political leader of Tibet, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet.  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1990: Henry & June is first NC-17 film </h2>On this day in 1990, Henry & June, starring Uma Thurman, Fred Ward and Maria de Medeiros and inspired by the novel of the same name by Anais Nin, opens in theaters as the first film with an NC-17 rating. Set in Paris, France, in the early 1930s , Henry & June tells the story of the American writer Henry Miller (Ward), whose novels include Tropic of Cancer; his wife, June (Thurman); and their love triangle with the French writer Anais Nin (Medeiros). The movie, which contains lesbian sex scenes and nudity, garnered an Oscar nomination for its cinematography, but critical reviews were mixed  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1991: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch earn a #1 hit with Good Vibrations </h2>Failed attempts by Hollywood actors to achieve success as singers or rappers are plentiful in the history of pop music. Examples of such unsuccessful crossovers abound, from William Shatner's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (1968) and Eddie Murphy's Party All The Time (1985) to the entire musical oeuvres of Bruce Willis, David Hasselhoff and Steven Seagal. But only one prominent example springs to mind in which this familiar formula was reversed, and a lackluster career in music preceded a successful career as a respected actor. That example is the career of the actor Mark Wahlberg, who first gained fame as the rapper Marky Mark, whose #1 hit Good Vibrations reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1991.  <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1953: Yanks win their fifth series in a row </h2>On October 5, 1953, the New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers to win their fifth World Series in a row. It was a record-breaking championship: Joe McCarthys legendary 1936-1939 Yanks had won four in a row, but no team had ever won five. The Bombers had squeaked by the Bums in Game 7 the previous year, and everyone thought that the Brooklyn team--powered by amazing pitching and a taste for revenge--would be back to claim the title. But instead, they lost for the seventh time in as many chances, and their cross-town rivals made World Series history.   <em class="date"> Oct 5, 1964: President Johnson under fire from his own party </h2> Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin), disturbed by growing reports that the Johnson administration is preparing to escalate U.S. operations in Vietnam, states that Congress did not intend the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to endorse escalation.   history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 6, 1866: First U.S. train robbery </h2>On this day in 1866, the Reno gang carries out the first robbery of a moving train in the U.S., making off with over $10,000 from an Ohio & Mississippi train in Jackson County, Indiana . Prior to this innovation in crime, holdups had taken place only on trains sitting at stations or freight yards.  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1981: The president of Egypt is assassinated </h2>Islamic extremists assassinate Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, as he reviews troops on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Led by Khaled el Islambouli, a lieutenant in the Egyptian army with connections to the terrorist group Takfir Wal-Hajira, the terrorists, all wearing army uniforms, stopped in front of the reviewing stand and fired shots and threw grenades into a crowd of Egyptian government officials. Sadat, who was shot four times, died two hours later. Ten other people also died in the attack  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1972: Train derails in Mexico </h2>On this day in 1972, a train carrying religious pilgrims derails near Saltillo, Mexico , killing more than 200 people and injuring hundreds of others.  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1683: First Mennonites arrive in America </h2>Encouraged by William Penn's offer of 5,000 acres of land in the colony of Pennsylvania and the freedom to practice their religion, the first Mennonites arrive in America aboard the Concord. They were among the first Germans to settle in the American colonies.  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1961: Kennedy urges Americans to build bomb shelters </h2>President John F. Kennedy , speaking on civil defense, advises American families to build bomb shelters to protect them from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union . Kennedy also assured the public that the U.S. civil defense program would soon begin providing such protection for every American. Only one year later, true to Kennedy's fears, the world hovered on the brink of full-scale nuclear war when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted over the USSR's placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. During the tense 13-day crisis, some Americans prepared for nuclear war by buying up canned goods and completing last-minute work on their backyard bomb shelters.  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1847: Jane Eyre is published </h2>On this day in 1847, Jane Eyre is published by Smith, Elder and Co. Charlotte BrontË, the book's author, used the pseudonym Currer Bell. The book, about the struggles of an orphan girl who grows up to become a governess, was an immediate popular success  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1996: Country superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw wed </h2>Following the 2008 wedding of hip-hop titan Jay-Z and R&B goddess Beyonce, there can be little doubt which pairing of married stars ranks as the music world's greatest power couple. But if marital longevity is factored into the formula in addition to star power and sheer commercial might, then Mr. Carter and Ms. Knowles would have to take a back seat to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. However long the marriage of those two country superstars may yet last, their wedding on this day in 1996 created one of the most commercially successful pairings the world of popular music has ever seen.  <em class="date"> Oct 6, 1926: Babe Ruth sets a World Series record </h2>On October 6, 1926, Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hits a record three homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth game of the World Series. The Yanks won the game 10-5, but despite Ruths unprecedented performance, they lost the championship in the seventh game. In 1928, in the fourth game of another Yanks-Cards World Series, Ruth tied his own record, knocking three more pitches out of the same park.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 7, 2003: Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes California governor </h2>On this day in 2003, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California , the most populous state in the nation with the world's fifth-largest economy. Despite his inexperience, Schwarzenegger came out on top in the 11-week campaign to replace Gray Davis, who had earlier become the first United States governor to be recalled by the people since 1921. Schwarzenegger was one of 135 candidates on the ballot, which included career politicians, other actors, and one adult-film star.   <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1960: CBS broadcasts the premiere episode of Route 66 </h2>On October 7, 1960, the first episode of the one-hour television drama Route 66 airs on CBS. The program had a simple premise: It followed two young men, Buz Murdock and Tod Stiles, as they drove across the country in an inherited Corvette (Chevrolet was one of the show's sponsors), doing odd jobs and looking for adventure. According to the show's creator and writer, Stirling Silliphant (best known for his acclaimed Naked City, an earlier TV series), Buz and Tod were really on a journey in search of themselves. Call 'Route 66' 'Pilgrim's Progress,' Silliphant told a reporter. The motive power driving our two characters is not a Corvette: it is the desire for knowledge--and for sentience; it is a quest through the perennially fascinating cosmos of personal identity.   <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1960: Kennedy and Nixon debate Cold War foreign policy </h2>In the second of four televised debates, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon turn their attention to foreign policy issues. Three Cold War episodes, in particular, engendered spirited confrontations between Kennedy and Nixon. The first involved Cuba, which had recently come under the control of Fidel Castro . Nixon argued that the island was not lost to the United States , and that the course of action followed by the Eisenhower administration had been the best one to allow the Cuban people to realize their aspirations of progress through freedom. Kennedy fired back that it was clear that Castro was a communist, and that the Republican administration failed to use U.S. resources effectively to prevent his rise to power. He concluded that, Today Cuba is lost for freedom.   <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1985: Palestinian terrorists hijack an Italian cruise ship </h2>Four Palestinian terrorists board the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro shortly after it left Alexandria, Egypt, in order to hijack the luxury liner. The well-armed men, who belonged to the Popular Front for the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), the terrorist wing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Abu Abbas, easily took control of the vessel since there was no security force on board.   <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1871: Massive fire burns in Wisconsin </h2>The most devastating fire in United States history is ignited in Wisconsin on this day in 1871. Over the course of the next day, 1,200 people lost their lives and 2 billion trees were consumed by flames. Despite the massive scale of the blaze, it was overshadowed by the Great Chicago Fire, which began the next day about 250 miles away.   <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1913: Moving Assembly Line at Ford </h2>For the first time, Henry Ford 's entire Highland Park, Michigan automobile factory is run on a continuously moving assembly line when the chassis--the automobile's frame--is assembled using the revolutionary industrial technique. A motor and rope pulled the chassis past workers and parts on the factory floor, cutting the man-hours required to complete one Model T from 12-1/2 hours to six. Within a year, further assembly line improvements reduced the time required to 93 man-minutes. The staggering increase in productivity effected by Ford's use of the moving assembly line allowed him to drastically reduce the cost of the Model T, thereby accomplishing his dream of making the car affordable to ordinary consumers.     <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1949: East Germany created </h2>Less than five months after Great Britain, the United States , and France established the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany, the Democratic Republic of Germany is proclaimed within the Soviet occupation zone. Criticized by the West as an un-autonomous Soviet creation, Wilhelm Pieck was named East Germany's first president, with Otto Grotewohl as prime minister.  <em class="date"> Oct 7, 2001: U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan begins </h2>On this day in 2001, a U.S.-led coalition begins attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. Logistical support was provided by other nations including France, Germany, Australia and Canada and, later, troops were provided by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance rebels. The invasion of Afghanistan was the opening salvo in the United States war on terrorism and a response to the September 11 , 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.  <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1955: Ginsberg reads Howl for the first time </h2>On this day, poet Alan Ginsberg reads his poem Howl at a poetry reading at Six Gallery in San Francisco . The poem was an immediate success that rocked the Beat literary world and set the tone for confessional poetry of the 1960s and later.  <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1975: A New York judge reverses John Lennon's deportation order </h2>On this day in 1975, a New York State Supreme Court judge reverses a deportation order for John Lennon, allowing him to remain legally in his adoptive home of New York City .  <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1816: First double-decked steamboat, the Washington, arrives in New Orleans </h2>On this day in 1816, a steamboat with a design that will soon prove ideal for western rivers arrives at the docks in New Orleans . The Washington was the work of a shipbuilder named Henry M. Shreve, who had launched the steamboat earlier that year on the Monongahela River just above Pittsburgh. Shreve's cleverly designed Washington had all the features that would soon come to characterize the classic Mississippi riverboat: a two-story deck, a stern-mounted paddle wheel powered by a high-pressure steam engine, a shallow, flat-bottomed hull, and a pilothouse framed by two tall chimneys.  <em class="date"> Oct 7, 1984: Walter Payton sets a record </h2>On October 7, 1984, Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton becomes the NFLs all-time rushing leader, breaking the record Clevelands Jim Brown set in 1965. In front of 53,752 people at Soldier Field, Payton carried the ball 154 yards and finished the game with a new career rushing record--12,400 yards, 88 more than Brown.  history.com -- Edited by PMM2008 on Friday 7th of October 2011 07:33:55 AM

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 8, 1871: Great Chicago Fire begins </h2>On this day in 1871, flames spark in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million (in 1871 dollars; $3 billion in 2007 dollars) in damages. Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in the O'Leary barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a comet may have been responsible for the event that left four square miles of the Windy City, including its business district, in ruins. Dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets and sidewalks made Chicago vulnerable to fire. The city averaged two fires per day in 1870; there were 20 fires throughout Chicago the week before the Great Fire of 1871.  <em class="date"> Oct 8, 1990: Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians </h2>At least seventeen Palestinians are shot and killed, and over 100 are wounded, by Israeli police at the Al-Aksa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims. Although both Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups accused police of using unnecessary violence, an official report commissioned by the Israeli government, released on October 26, claimed that a group of Palestinians had started the conflict at the Western Wall by throwing stones at police and Jewish worshippers, who then responded in self-defense. Even so, the report admitted that there had been an indiscriminate use of live ammunition by the officers.  <em class="date"> Oct 8, 1919: First transcontinental air race </h2>The first transcontinental air race in the United States begins, with 63 planes competing in the round-trip aerial derby between California and New York . As 15 planes departed the Presidio in San Francisco , California, 48 planes left Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York.  <em class="date"> Oct 8, 2005: Massive earthquake hits Kashmir region </h2>On this day in 2005, a massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes the Kashmir border region between India and Pakistan. An estimated 70,000 peoplenearly half of them childrenwere killed and 70,000 more were injured. More than 3 million were left homeless and without food and basic supplies.  <em class="date"> Oct 8, 1957: Jerry Lee Lewis records Great Balls Of Fire in Memphis, Tennessee </h2>Jerry Lee Lewis was not the only early rock-and-roller from a strict Christian background who struggled to reconcile his religious beliefs with the moral implications of the music he created. He may have been the only one to have one of his religious crises caught on tape, howeverin between takes on one of his legendary hit songs. It was on October 8, 1957, that bible-school dropout Jerry Lee Lewis laid down the definitive version of Great Balls Of Fire, amidst a losing battle with his conscience and with the legendary Sam Phillips, head of Sun Records.  <em class="date"> Oct 8, 1998: U.S. House of Representatives initiates Clinton impeachment inquiry </h2>On this day in 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives votes to proceed toward impeaching President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. By December 1998, the Republican-led House had gathered enough information from an investigation committee to vote in favor of impeachment, which in turn sent the case to the Senate.  <em class="date"> Oct 8, 1956: Don Larsen is perfect in World Series </h2>On October 8, 1956, New York Yankees right-hander Don Larsen pitches the first no-hitter in the history of the World Series. Even better, it was a perfect game--that is, there were no runs, no hits and no errors, and no batter reached first base. Larsens performance anchored his teams third-straight win against their cross-town rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yanks ended up winning the championship, the last all-New York World Series until 2000, in seven games.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 10, 1985: </h2><em class="date-loc"> Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. It was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century but did not become a federal holiday until the 1937. For many, the holiday is a way of both honoring Columbus' achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage. Throughout its history, Columbus Day and the man who inspired it have generated controversy, and many alternatives to the holiday have appeared in recent years. </h2>  </h2>Achille Lauro hijacking ends </h2>The hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro reaches a dramatic climax when U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept an Egyptian airliner attempting to fly the Palestinian hijackers to freedom and force the jet to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily. American and Italian troops surrounded the plane, and the terrorists were taken into Italian custody.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1991: A former postal worker commits mass murder </h2>Former U.S. postal worker Joseph Harris shoots two former co-workers to death at the post office in Ridgewood, New Jersey . The night before, Harris had killed his former supervisor, Carol Ott, with a three-foot samurai sword, and shot her fiance, Cornelius Kasten, in their home. After a four-hour standoff with police at the post office, Harris was arrested. His violent outburst was one of several high-profile attacks by postal workers that resulted in the addition of the phrase going postal to the American lexicon.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1780: Great Hurricane ravages West Indies </h2>A powerful storm slams the islands of the West Indies, killing more than 20,000 people, on this day in 1780. Known as the Great Hurricane of 1780, it was the deadliest storm ever recorded.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1845: Birth of the U.S. Naval Academy </h2>The United States Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, Maryland , with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors. Known as the Naval School until 1850, the curriculum included mathematics and navigation, gunnery and steam, chemistry, English, natural philosophy, and French. The Naval School officially became the U.S. Naval Academy in 1850, and a new curriculum went into effect, requiring midshipmen to study at the academy for four years and to train aboard ships each summer--the basic format that remains at the academy to this day.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 2004: Superman Christopher Reeve dies at age 52 </h2>On this day in 2004, the actor Christopher Reeve, who became famous for his starring role in four Superman films, dies from heart failure at the age of 52 at a hospital near his home in Westchester County, New York . Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident, was a leading advocate for spinal cord research.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1881: Darwin publishes work on mold and worms </h2>On this day in 1881, Charles Darwin published The Formation of Vegetable Mold Through the Action of Worms. He considered the work a more important accomplishment than his The Origin of Species (1859), which turned out to be one of the most influential and controversial books in history.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1935: Porgy and Bess, the first great American opera, premieres on Broadway </h2>On October 10, 1935, George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess premieres on Broadway  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1877: Custer's funeral is held at West Point </h2>On this day in 1877, the U.S. Army holds a West Point funeral with full military honors for Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer . Killed the previous year in Montana by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Custer's body had been returned to the East for burial on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York , where Custer had graduated in 1861-at the bottom of his class.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1951: Truman signs Mutual Security Act </h2>On this day in 1951, President Harry S. Truman signs the Mutual Security Act, announcing to the world, and its communist powers in particular, that the U.S. was prepared to provide military aid to free peoples. The signing of the act came after the Soviet Union exploded their second nuclear weapon in a test on October 3.  <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1957: Braves beat the Yanks to win World Series </h2>On October 10, 1957, the Milwaukee Braves defeat the New York Yankees to win their first World Series since 1914. (They played in Boston then; the team moved to Wisconsin in 1953.) No one expected the Braves to beat the Bombers: After all, the New York team had already won the championship 21 times. Their manager, Casey Stengel, was the winningest in postseason history, and their lineup was spangled with superstars like Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. But the Braves had outfielder Hank Aaron, whod hit 44 home runs and batted .322 that season, and a pitching staff that included the greats Bob Buhl, Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette.   <em class="date"> Oct 10, 1944: Eight hundred children are gassed to death at Auschwitz </h2> On this day in 1944, 800 Gypsy children, including more than a hundred boys between 9 and 14 years old are systematically murdered.   history.com -- Edited by PMM2008 on Monday 10th of October 2011 08:50:29 AM

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 11, 2002: Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Prize </h2>On this day in 2002, former President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 2008: Blind driver breaks land-speed record </h2>On this day in 2008, a man from Belgium named Luc Costermans sets a new world speed record for blind drivers: 192 mph. Costermans set the record in a borrowed Lamborghini Gallardo on a long, straight stretch of airstrip near Marseilles, France. He was accompanied by a carload of sophisticated navigational equipment as well as a human co-pilot, who gave directions from the Lamborghini's passenger seat.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1923: A mail car explodes in a train robbery </h2>Three men blow up the mail car of a Southern Pacific train carrying passengers through southern Oregon in a botched robbery attempt. Just as the train entered a tunnel, two armed men jumped the engineer. A third man appeared with a bomb that the thieves intended to use to open the mail car. However, the explosives were too powerful and the entire mail car was blown to bits, killing the clerk inside. In the ensuing chaos, the train robbers shot the train's engineer, fireman, and brakeman, and then fled. They left behind the detonator and some clothes, but bloodhounds were unable to track them.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1793: Yellow fever breaks out in Philadelphia </h2>The death toll from a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia hits 100 on this day in 1793. By the time it ended, 5,000 people were dead.   Oct 11, 1962: Pope opens Vatican II </h2>Pope John XXIII convenes an ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Churchthe first in 92 years. In summoning the ecumenical councila general meeting of the bishops of the churchthe pope hoped to bring spiritual rebirth to Catholicism and cultivate greater unity with the other branches of Christianity.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1968: Apollo 7 launched </h2>Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, is launched with astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Donn F. Eisele; and Walter Cunningham aboard. Under the command of Schirra, the crew of Apollo 7 conducted an 11-day orbit of Earth, during which the crew transmitted the first live television broadcasts from orbit.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1975: Saturday Night Live debuts </h2>On this day in 1975, Saturday Night Live (SNL), a topical comedy sketch show featuring Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman, makes its debut on NBC; it will go on to become the longest-running, highest-rated show on late-night television. The 90-minute program, which from its inception has been broadcast live from Studio 8H in the GE Building at Rockefeller Center, includes a different guest host and musical act each week. The opening sketch of each show ends with one actor saying, Live from New York , its Saturday Night!  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1925: Elmore Leonard is born </h2>Novelist Elmore Leonard was born on this day in New Orleans in 1925. His father worked for General Motors, and the family moved frequently during Leonard's childhood, finally settling in Detroit.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1975: Bruce Springsteen scores his first pop hit with Born to Run </h2>By 1975, 26-year-old Bruce Springsteen had two heavily promoted major-label albums behind him, but nothing approaching a popular hit. Tapped by Columbia Records as the Next Big Thing back in 1973, he'd been marketed first as the New Dylan and then as America's new Street Poet, but unless you were a rock-journalism junkie or had been witness to one of his raucous three-hour live shows in an East Coast rock club, you'd probably never bought one of his records or even heard his name. That would all change soon, however, for the poet laureate of the Jersey Shore. On this day in 1975, the epic single Born to Run became Bruce Springsteen's first-ever Top 40 hit, marking the start of his eventual transition from little-known cult figure to international superstar.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 2003: Martinez-Zimmer scuffle interrupts ALCS </h2>On October 11, 2003, a bench-clearing brawl between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees interrupts the third game of the American League playoffs in Boston. During the fight, 73-year-old Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer charged out of the dugout and tried to tackle Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, but Martinez dodged the older mans blows and threw him to the ground. The next day, Martinez tried to apologize to the injured Zimmer, but the coach demurred. I was the guy who charged him and threw the punch, he wrote in his memoirs. To the people who said Pedro beat up an old man I said, No, an old man was dumb enough to try and beat up on Pedro.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1961: Kennedy ponders the Vietnam situation </h2>At a meeting of the National Security Council, President John F. Kennedy is asked by his advisers to accept as our real and ultimate objective the defeat of the Vietcong. The Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that 40,000 U.S. troops could clean up the Vietcong threat and another 120,000 could cope with possible North Vietnamese or Chinese Communist intervention. Kennedy wanted to prevent the fall of South Vietnam to the Communist insurgents, but decided to send General Maxwell Taylor to Vietnam to study the situation. Ultimately, Kennedy would send advisers, helicopters, and other military support to South Vietnam to aid President Ngo Dinh Diem in his fight against the Viet Cong.  <em class="date"> Oct 11, 1915: Bulgaria enters World War I </h2>On this day in 1915, Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov of Bulgaria issues a statement announcing his countrys entrance into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 12, 1492: Columbus reaches the New World </h2>After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1940: Silent-film star Tom Mix dies in Arizona car wreck; brained by Suitcase of Death </h2>On this day in 1940, cowboy-movie star Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolls into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) near Florence, Arizona . He was 60 years old. Today, visitors to the site of the accident can see a 2-foottall iron statue of a riderless horse and a somewhat awkwardly written plaque that reads: In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the Old West in the minds of living men.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1870: Confederate leader Robert E. Lee dies </h2>General Robert Edward Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, dies peacefully at his home in Lexington, Virginia. He was 63 years old.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1960: Nikita Khrushchev throws a tantrum at the United Nations </h2>In one of the most surreal moments in the history of the Cold War , Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev removes his shoe and pounds a table with it in protest against a speech critical of Soviet policy in Eastern Europe.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1998: The victim of an anti-gay assault dies </h2>University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious attack by two anti-gay bigots. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured him to the parking lot, where he was savagely attacked and robbed.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1918: Fire rages in Minnesota </h2>A massive forest fire rages through Minnesota on this day in 1918, killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands homeless. The fire burned at least 1,500 square miles  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1810: The origin of Oktoberfest </h2>Bavarian Crown Prince Louis, later King Louis I of Bavaria, marries Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates. These famous public fields were named Theresienwiese Therese's fields in honor of the crown princess; although locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the Wies'n. Horse races in the presence of the royal family concluded the popular event, celebrated in varying forms all across Bavaria.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1915: British nurse executed in WWI </h2>British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad in Brussels for helping Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I .  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1945: Conscientious objector wins Medal of Honor </h2>Private First Class Desmond T. Doss of Lynchburg, Virginia , is presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for outstanding bravery as a medical corpsman, the first conscientious objector in American history to receive the nation's highest military award  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1964: USSR leads the space race </h2>The Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1 into orbit around Earth, with cosmonauts Vladamir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, and Boris Yegorov aboard. Voskhod 1 was the first spacecraft to carry a multi-person crew, and the two-day mission was also the first flight performed without space suits.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 2000: USS Cole attacked by terrorists </h2>At 12:15 p.m. local time, a motorized rubber dinghy loaded with explosives blows a 40-by-40-foot hole in the port side of the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer that was refueling at Aden, Yemen. Seventeen sailors were killed and 38 wounded in the attack, which was carried out by two suicide terrorists alleged to be members of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden 's al Qaeda terrorist network  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 2002: Terrorists kill 202 in Bali </h2>On this day in 2002, three bombings shatter the peace in the town of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The blasts, the work of militant Islamist terrorists, left 202 people dead and more than 200 others injured, many with severe burns. The attacks shocked residents and those familiar with the mostly Hindu island, long known as a tranquil and friendly island paradise.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 2007: Al Gore wins Nobel Prize in the wake of An Inconvenient Truth </h2>On this day in 2007, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to increase public knowledge about man-made climate change. In 2006, Gore had starred in the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which was credited with raising international awareness about the global warming crisis.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1997: John Denver dies in an aircraft accident </h2>To those who bought records like Rocky Mountain High and Take Me Home, Country Roads by the millions in the 1970s , John Denver was much more than just a great songwriter and performer. With his oversized glasses, bowl haircut and down vest, he was an unlikely fashion icon, and with his vocal environmentalism, he was the living embodiment of an outdoorsy lifestyle that many 20-something baby boomers would adopt as their own during the Me decade. There never was and there probably never will be a star quite like John Denver, who died on this day in 1997 when his experimental amateur aircraft crashed into Monterey Bay on the California coast.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1929: Athletics score 10 in eighth inning of championship game </h2>On October 12, 1929, the Philadelphia Athletics score 10 runs in a single inning of a World Series game against the Chicago Cubs. They went on to win the game by two runs, taking a 3-1 lead in the series. They won the championship, their first since 1913, in the fifth game.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1970: Nixon announces another round of troop withdrawals </h2>Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas . He had first announced his intention to withdraw U.S. troops from South Vietnam in June at the Midway Conference with President Nguyen Van Thieu. The first U.S. troops, from the 9th Infantry Division, had left Saigon in August. The troop withdrawals continued as the Vietnamization program turned fighting responsibility over to the South Vietnamese. By January 1972, there were less than 75,000 U.S. troops remaining in South Vietnam.  <em class="date"> Oct 12, 1972: Racial violence breaks out aboard U.S. Navy ships </h2>On this day, racial violence flares aboard U.S. Navy ships. Forty six sailors are injured in a race riot involving more than 100 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk enroute to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam. The incident broke out when a black sailor was summoned for questioning regarding an altercation that took place during the crew's liberty in Subic Bay (in the Philippines). The sailor refused to make a statement and he and his friends started a brawl that resulted in sixty sailors being injured during the fighting. Eventually 26 men, all black, were charged with assault and rioting and were ordered to appear before a court-martial in San Diego .  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 13, 1792: White House cornerstone laid </h2>The cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington. In 1800, President John Adams became the first president to reside in the executive mansion, which soon became known as the White House because its white-gray Virginia freestone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1775: Continental Congress authorizes first naval force </h2>On this day in 1775, the Continental Congress authorizes construction and administration of the first American naval forcethe precursor to the United States Navy  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1953: World's first traveling art museum opens in Virginia </h2>The world's first art museum on wheelsan inspiration for the nation, says a representative from the Smithsonian--opens today in Fredericksburg, Virginia . It was called the Artmobile. At the dedication ceremony, the state's governor declared that the project initiates something new in the cultural and spiritual life of the Commonwealth which has never been done before anywhere.  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1999: Grand jury dismissed in JonBenet Ramsey murder case </h2>The Colorado grand jury investigating the case of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, who was murdered in December 1996, is dismissed and the Boulder County district attorney announces no indictments will be made due to insufficient evidence.   Oct 13, 2010: Chilean miners are rescued after 69 days underground </h2>On this day in 2010, the last of 33 miners trapped nearly half a mile underground for more than two months at a caved-in mine in northern Chile, are rescued. The miners survived longer than anyone else trapped underground in recorded history.  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1977: Palestinians hijack German airliner </h2>Four Palestinians hijack a Lufthansa airliner and demand the release of 11 imprisoned members of Germany's Baader-Meinhof terrorist group, also known as the Red Army Faction. The Red Army Faction was a group of ultra-left revolutionaries who terrorized Germany for three decades, assassinating more than 30 corporate, military, and government leaders in an effort to topple capitalism in their homeland.  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1943: Poet Robert Lowell sentenced to prison </h2>On this day in 1943, 26-year-old poet Robert Lowell is sentenced to jail for a year for evading the draft. Lowell refused to be drafted because he objected to saturation bombing in Europe and other Allied tactics. He served the term in New York 's West Street jail.  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1975: Singer Charlie Rich protests John Denver's big win at the CMA Awards </h2>In a 35-year career that ran from the rockabilly genius of Lonely Weekends (1960) to the Countrypolitan splendor of Behind Closed Doors (1973), the versatile and soulful Charlie Rich earned eleven #1 hits on the Country charts and one crossover smash with the #1 pop hit The Most Beautiful Girl (1973). The man they called the Silver Fox displayed a natural talent for pleasing many different audiences, but his non-singing performance before one particular audience in 1975 did significant damage to the remainder of his career. On this day in 1975, the man voted Entertainer of the Year for by the Country Music Association of America one year earlier stood onstage at the CMA awards show to announce that year's winner of the Association's biggest award. But a funny thing happened when he opened the envelope and saw what was written inside. Instead of merely reading the name John Denver and stepping back from the podium, Charlie Rich reached into his pocket for a cigarette lighter and set the envelope on fire, right there onstage. Though the display shocked the live audience in attendance, John Denver himself was present only via satellite linkup, and he offered a gracious acceptance speech with no idea what had occurred.  <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1967: American Basketball Association debuts </h2>On October 13, 1967, the Anaheim Amigos lose to the Oakland Oaks, 134-129, in the inaugural game of the American Basketball Association. In its first season, the ABA included 11 teams: the Pittsburgh Pipers, Minnesota Muskies, Indiana Pacers, Kentucky Colonels and New Jersey Americans played in the Eastern Division, and the New Orleans Buccaneers, Dallas Chaparrals, Denver Rockets, Houston Mavericks, Anaheim Amigos and Oakland Oaks played in the Western. Until it folded in 1976, the league offered players and fans a freewheeling alternative to the stodgy NBA. It was a looser atmosphere, one fan remembered. We could do a lot of things [the NBA] wont let us do ; these days, basketball games are supposed to be family entertainment.   <em class="date"> Oct 13, 1915: Poet Charles Sorley killed at Loos </h2> On this day in 1915, the 21-year-old Scottish poet Charles Hamilton Sorley is killed by a German snipers bullet during the Battle of Loos.   history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 14, 1947: Yeager breaks sound barrier </h2>U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1857: Elwood Haynes, Grandsire of Gasoline Cars, is born </h2> On October 14, 1857, engineer and inventor Elwood Haynes is born in Portland, Indiana . Haynes designed one of the very first American automobiles , the Haynes Pioneer.   He was also an accomplished metallurgist: He patented stainless steel, stellite and a cobalt-chromium alloy that was used to make sharp dental and surgical tools. Haynes died of influenza in 1925.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis begins </h2>The Cuban Missile Crisis begins on October 14, 1962, bringing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear conflict. Photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane offered incontrovertible evidence that Soviet-made medium-range missiles in Cubacapable of carrying nuclear warheadswere now stationed 90 miles off the American coastline.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1975: Trial begins in Amityville murders </h2>Ronald DeFeo Jr. goes on trial for the killings of his parents and four siblings in their Amityville, New York , home on October 14, 1975. The familys house was later said to be haunted and served as the inspiration for the Amityville Horror book and movies.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1913: Coal miners die in Wales </h2>On this day in 1913, 439 workers die in a massive coal-mine explosion in Wales. The incident was one of Britain's worst-ever mining disasters.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1912: Theodore Roosevelt shot in Milwaukee </h2>Before a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin , Theodore Roosevelt, the presidential candidate for the Progressive Party, is shot at close range by saloonkeeper John Schrank while greeting the public in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel. Schrank's .32-caliber bullet, aimed directly at Roosevelt's heart, failed to mortally wound the former president because its force was slowed by a glasses case and a bundle of manuscript in the breast pocket of Roosevelt's heavy coat--a manuscript containing Roosevelt's evening speech. Schrank was immediately detained and reportedly offered as his motive that any man looking for a third term ought to be shot.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1964: King wins Nobel Peace Prize </h2>African American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr., is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. At 35 years of age, the Georgia -born minister was the youngest person ever to receive the award  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1957: Wake Up Little Susie becomes the Everly Brothers' first #1 hit </h2>Harmony singing was a part of rock and roll right from the beginning, but the three- and four-part harmonies of doo-wop, derived from black gospel and blues traditions, would never have given us Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles or the Byrds. To get those groups, you first had to have the Everly Brothers, whose ringing, close-harmony style introduced a whole new sound into the rock-and-roll vocabulary: the sound of Appalachia set to hard-driving acoustic guitars and a subtle backbeat rhythm. One of the most important and influential groups in the history of rock and roll, the Everly Brothers burst onto the music scene in 1957 with their first big hit, Bye Bye Love, which was quickly followed with their first #1 song, Wake Up Little Susie, which topped the Billboard pop chart on this day in 1957.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1939: Ralph Lauren, designer of popular western-style clothing, is born in New York </h2>Ralph Lauren, the designer and purveyor of a line of popular clothes that sought to capture the spirit of the West, is born on this day in 1939, in New York .  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1890: Dwight D. Eisenhower is born </h2>On this day in 1890, future President Dwight D. Eisenhower is born near Abilene, Texas  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 2003: Steve Bartman catches ball </h2>On October 14, 2003, a Chicago Cubs fan named Steve Bartman plucks a fly ball out of the air before outfielder Moises Alou can catch ita catch that would have been a crucial outin the sixth game of the league championship series against the Florida Marlins. As a result of Bartmans interference, the Cubs lost their momentum and the game. Bartman was escorted from Wrigley Field by security guards as bloodthirsty fans hurled beer cans and other debris at his head. The next day, he went into hidingbut not before he told the press that Ive been a Cub fan all my life and fully understand the relationship between my actions and the outcome of the gamI am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fans broken heart.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1964: Khrushchev ousted as premier of Soviet Union </h2>Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power. He was succeeded as head of the Communist Party by his former protégé Leonid Brezhnev, who would eventually become the chief of state as well. The new Soviet leadership increased military aid to the North Vietnamese without trying to persuade them to attempt a negotiated end to hostilities. With this support and no external pressure to negotiate, the North Vietnamese leadership was free to carry on the war as they saw fit.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1968: U.S. servicemen sent to Vietnam for second tours </h2>U.S. Defense Department officials announce that the Army and Marines will be sending about 24,000 men back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours because of the length of the war, high turnover of personnel resulting from the one year of duty, and the tight supply of experienced soldiers. This decision had an extremely negative impact on troop morale and the combat readiness of U.S. forces elsewhere in the world as troops were transferred to meet the increased personnel requirements in Vietnam.  <em class="date"> Oct 14, 1918: Adolf Hitler wounded in British gas attack </h2>Among the German wounded in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on October 14, 1918, is Corporal Adolf Hitler , temporarily blinded by a British gas shell and evacuated to a German military hospital at Pasewalk, in Pomerania.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 15, 1917: Mata Hari executed </h2>Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 2004: Funeral coaches exempted from car-seat law </h2>On this day in 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules that hearse manufacturers no longer have to install anchors for child-safety seats in their vehicles. In 1999, to prevent parents from incorrectly installing the seats using only their cars' seat belts, the agency had required all carmakers to put the standardized anchors on every passenger seat in every vehicle they built. Though it seemed rather odd, most hearse-builders complied with the rule and many thousands of their vehicles incorporated baby-seat latches on their front and back passenger seats.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1990: Mikhail Gorbachev wins Nobel Peace Prize </h2>Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending Cold War tensions. Since coming to power in 1988, Gorbachev had undertaken to concentrate more effort and funds on his domestic reform plans by going to extraordinary lengths to reach foreign policy understandings with the noncommunist world.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1954: Hurricane Hazel hits the Carolinas and Ontario </h2>Hurricane Hazel, the fourth major hurricane of 1954, hammers southern Ontario, Canada, on this day in 1954. Hazel hit hard from Jamaica to Canada, killing more than 400 people and causing over $1 billion in damages.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1989: Gretzky breaks scoring record </h2>During a game against his old team, the Edmonton Oilers, Canadian ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky breaks Gordie Howe's National Hockey League career scoring record of 1,850 points.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1991: Thomas confirmed to the Supreme Court </h2>After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 2007: Drew Carey debuts as new host of The Price is Right </h2>On this day in 2007, the comedian and actor Drew Carey takes over hosting duties on The Price is Right, the longest-running daytime game show in television history. Carey replaced Bob Barker, who retired at the age of 83 after hosting the show for 35 years.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1881: P.G. Wodehouse is born </h2>Comic novelist P.G. Wodehouse, creator of Jeeves the butler, is born on this day in Surrey, England.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1930: Duke Ellington records his first big hit, Mood Indigo </h2>The legendary composer and bandleader Duke Ellington was so famous for his poise and charm that it should be no surprise that he had a pithy story at the ready whenever he was asked about one of his most famous and enduring works, Mood Indigo. Of the song he and his orchestra recorded for the very first time on this day in 1930, Ellington was fond of saying, Well, I wrote that in 15 minutes while I was waiting for my mother to finish cooking dinner. As neatly as that version fit with his well-tended reputation for effortless sophistication, the true account of the song's development reflects the gifts for collaboration and adaptation that were always critical elements of Ellington's genius.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1965: First draft card burned </h2>In a demonstration staged by the student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the first public burning of a draft card in the United States takes place.  <em class="date"> Oct 15, 1969: National Moratorium demonstrations held across the United States </h2>National Moratorium antiwar demonstrations are conducted across the United States involving hundreds of thousands of people. The National Moratorium was an effort by David Hawk and Sam Brown, two antiwar activists, to forge a broad-based movement against the Vietnam War . The organization initially focused its effort on 300 college campuses, but the idea soon grew and spread beyond the colleges and universities. Hawk and Brown were assisted by the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which was instrumental in organizing the nation-wide protest.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 16, 1934: The Long March </h2>The embattled Chinese Communists break through Nationalist enemy lines and begin an epic flight from their encircled headquarters in southwest China. Known as Ch'ang Chengthe Long March the retreat lasted 368 days and covered 6,000 miles, nearly twice the distance from New York to San Francisco .  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1958: Chevrolet introduces the El Camino </h2>On October 16, 1958, Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero, which had already been on the market for two years, the El Camino was a combination sedan-pickup truck built on the Impala body, with the same cat's eye taillights and dramatic rear fins. It was, ads trilled, the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load! It rides and handles like a convertible, Chevy said, yet hauls and hustles like the workingest thing on wheels.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1991: Twenty-three diners massacred at Texas restaurant </h2>George Jo Hennard drives his truck through a window in Lubys Cafeteria in Kileen, Texas , and then opens fire on a lunch crowd of over 100 people, killing 23 and injuring 20 more. Hennard then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. The incident was one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1996: Stampede kills 84 at World Cup match </h2>A stampede of soccer fans before a World Cup qualifying match in Guatemala City kills 84 people and seriously injures more than 100 on this day in 1996.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1793: Marie-Antoinette is beheaded </h2>Nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie-Antoinette follows him to the guillotine.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1946: Nazi war criminals executed </h2>At Nuremberg, Germany, 10 high-ranking Nazi officials are executed by hanging for their crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes during World War II .  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1987: Baby Jessica rescued from a well as the world watches </h2>On this day in 1987, in an event that had viewers around the world glued to their televisions, 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas .  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1925: Angela Lansbury born </h2>On this day in 1925, the stage and screen actress Angela Lansbury, who starred in the TV series Murder, She Wrote and earned Oscar nominations for her performances in such films as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Manchurian Candidate, is born in London, England. In Hollywood , a place that prizes youth (particularly for its female performers), Lansbury became one of a rare breed of actresses who managed to carve out a lengthy, successful career.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1854: Oscar Wilde's birthday </h2>Oscar Wilde is born on this day in Dublin, Ireland. He grew up in Ireland and went to England to attend Oxford, where he graduated with honors in 1878. A popular society figure known for his wit and flamboyant style, he published his own book of poems in 1881. He spent a year lecturing on poetry in the United States , where his dapper wardrobe and excessive devotion to art drew ridicule from some quarters.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1976: Disco Duck hits the #1 spot on the U.S. pop chart </h2>The job description of a drive-time DJ on local radio back in 1976 was fairly straightforward: take some phone calls, be funny between records, give the call sign several times an hour and greet the public every so often at a local sporting event or auto-dealership opening. But as satisfying as that routine might have been to the average radio jock back in 1976, it left one ambitious young man named Rick Dees wanting something more. And so it was that Rick Dees created a novelty record called Disco Duck, a song that hit the pop universe with such impeccable timing that it rocketed up the Billboard Hot 100 in the nation's Bicentennial year, hitting the #1 spoton October 16, 1976.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1854: Lincoln speaks out against slavery </h2>On this day in 1854, an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act , which Congress had passed five months earlier. In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined his views on slavery, which he called immoral.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1912: Fred Snodgrass drops ball and loses World Series </h2>On October 16, 1912, New York Giants outfielder Fred Snodgrass drops an easy pop-up in the 10th inning of the tiebreaking eighth game of the World Series against the Red Sox. His error led to a two-run Boston rally and cost the Giants the championship.  <em class="date"> Oct 16, 1973: Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho awarded Nobel Peace Prize </h2>Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris peace accords. Kissinger accepted, but Tho declined the award until such time as peace is truly established.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 17, 1931: Capone goes to prison </h2>On this day in 1931, gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s .  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1973: OPEC states declare oil embargo </h2>The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) implements what it calls oil diplomacy on this day in 1973: It prohibits any nation that had supported Israel in its Yom Kippur War with Egypt, Syria and Jordan from buying any of the oil it sells. The ensuing energy crisis marked the end of the era of cheap gasoline and caused the share value of the New York Stock Exchange to drop by $97 billion. This, in turn, ushered in one of the worst recessions the United States had ever seen.  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1989: Loma Prieta earthquake strikes near San Francisco </h2>An earthquake hits the San Francisco Bay Area on this day in 1989, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages. Though this was one of the most powerful and destructive earthquakes ever to hit a populated area of the United States , the death toll was quite small.  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1903: Nathanael West is born </h2>Novelist Nathanael West, was born in New York to a family of Jewish immigrants on this day in 1903. He attended Brown University, then went to Paris to write for a year and a half, where he wrote his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931), about disgruntled characters inside the Trojan Horse. Only 500 copies of the book were printed.  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1960: R&B legends the Drifters earn a #1 pop hit with Save the Last Dance For Me </h2>The Drifters top the U.S. pop charts on October 17, 1960, with Save the Last Dance For Me.  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1835: The first resolution formally creating the Texas Rangers is approved </h2>On this day in 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers.  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1974: Ford explains his pardon of Nixon to Congress </h2>On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford explains to Congress why he had chosen to pardon his predecessor, Richard Nixon , rather than allow Congress to pursue legal action against the former president.  <em class="date"> Oct 17, 1968: Olympic protestors stripped of their medals </h2>On October 17, 1968, Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos are forced to return their awards because they raised their fists in a black-power salute during the medal ceremony. In a press conference the next day, International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage deplored the athletes outrageous stance it repudiated, he said, the basic principles of the Olympic games . The AP photograph of the ceremony is one of the most familiar and enduring images of a tumultuous era.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 18, 1867: U.S. takes possession of Alaska </h2>On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas , and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiasticly expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson .  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1933: R. Buckminster Fuller tries to patent his Dymaxion Car </h2>On October 18, 1933, the American philosopher-inventor R. Buckminster Fuller applies for a patent for his Dymaxion Car. The Dymaxionthe word itself was another Fuller invention, a combination of dynamic, maximum, and ion looked and drove like no vehicle anyone had ever seen. It was a three-wheeled, 20-foot-long, pod-shaped automobile that could carry 11 passengers and travel as fast as 120 miles per hour. It got 30 miles to the gallon, could U-turn in a distance equal to its length and could parallel park just by pivoting its wheels toward the curb and zipping sideways into its parking space. It was stylish, efficient and eccentric and it attracted a great deal of attention: Celebrities wanted to ride in it and rich men wanted to invest in it. But in the same month that Fuller applied for his patent, one of his prototype Dymaxions crashed, killing the driver and alarming investors so much that they withdrew their money from the project.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrested for drug possession </h2>John Lennon and Yoko Ono are arrested for drug possession at their home near Montagu Square in London, England. The arrests came at a tempestuous time for the couple. Only days earlier, an announcement was made that Ono was pregnant, creating a scandal because both Lennon and Ono were still married to other people. Her pregnancy ended in a miscarriage a few days after the arrest.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1998: Pipeline explosions kills 700 in Nigeria </h2>On this day in 1998, a pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria, kills 700 people. The resulting fire burned for nearly a week.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1898: U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico </h2>Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island's one million inhabitants.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1931: Edison dies </h2>Thomas Alva Edison , one of the most prolific inventors in history, dies in West Orange, New Jersey , at the age of 84.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1951: Terry McMillan is born </h2>On this day, bestselling novelist Terry McMillan is born in Port Huron, Michigan . McMillan's contemporary fiction draws on her own experiences as a middle-class black woman.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1974: Soul singer Al Green is attacked in his own bathtub </h2>There can be no question that anyone would have been shaken by the events that transpired in the Memphis, Tennessee , home of singer Al Green in the early morning hours of October 18, 1974, when an ex-girlfriend burst in on him in the bath and poured a pot of scalding-hot grits on his back before retreating to a bedroom and shooting herself dead with Green's own gun. Not everyone, however, would have processed the meaning of the incident quite the way that Green did. Believing that he had strayed from the righteous musical and spiritual course intended for him, Al Green had become a born-again Christian one year earlier. But after the attack by Mary Woodson on this day in 1974, he began a process that would eventually lead him to renounce pop superstardom and all that it stood for.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1962: JFK records his impressions of secret meetings </h2>On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy records his impression of the day's meetings regarding the recently discovered presence of Soviet ballistic missiles on the island of Cuba. The ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis brought America to the brink of nuclear war.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1977: Mr. October hits three homers in three swings </h2>On October 18, 1977, in the sixth game of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson hits three home runs in a row off of three consecutive pitches from three different pitchers. Only the great Babe Ruth had ever hit three homers in a single World Series game (and he did it twice, once in 1926 and once in 1928) but he didnt do it on consecutive pitches or even consecutive at-bats. Jacksons amazing home-run streak helped the Yankees win the game and the series, the teams first since 1962.  <em class="date"> Oct 18, 1968: Stock market soars with rumors of bombing halt in Vietnam </h2>Rumors that the Johnson administration will soon announce a bombing halt send sales volume on the New York Stock Exchange soaring; U.S. bond prices also climb. The rumors were true and on October 31, in a televised address to the nation, Johnson said that based on recent developments in the Paris peace negotiations, he had ordered a cessation of all bombing raids over North Vietnam.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 19, 1781: Victory at Yorktown </h2>Hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia , British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a larger Franco-American force, effectively bringing an end to the American Revolution .  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1982: John Z. DeLorean is arrested in $24 million cocaine deal </h2>On October 19, 1982, the automaker John Z. DeLorean is arrested and charged with conspiracy to obtain and distribute 55 pounds of cocaine. DeLorean was acquitted of the drug charges in August 1984, but his legal woes were only beginning. He soon went on trial for fraud and over the next two decades was forced to pay millions of dollars to creditors and lawyers. Nevertheless, DeLorean occupies an important place in automotive history: Thanks to its starring role in the 1985 film Back to the Future, his gull-wing sports car is one of the most famous cars in the world.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1958: The first Cold War world's fair closes </h2>In Brussels, Belgium, the first world's fair held since before World War II closes its doors, after nearly 42 million people have visited the various exhibits. Officially called the Brussels Universal and International Exhibition, the fair's overall theme was A World View, A New Humanism. As such, the fair was supposed to celebrate the universality of the human condition and encourage dialogue and peaceful relations among the nations of a world only recently torn asunder by war, and now caught in the clutches of the Cold War .  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1991: Fire sweeps through Oakland hills </h2>On this day in 1991, a fire begins in the hills of Oakland, California . It went on to burn thousands of homes and kill 25 people. Despite the fact that fires had ravaged the same area three times earlier in the century, people continued to build homes there.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1985: First Blockbuster store opens </h2>On this day in 1985, the first Blockbuster video-rental store opens, in Dallas , Texas . At a time when most video stores were small-scale operations featuring a limited selection of titles, Blockbuster opened with some 8,000 tapes displayed on shelves around the store and a computerized check-out process. The first store was a success and Blockbuster expanded rapidly, eventually becoming one of the worlds largest providers of in-home movies and game entertainment.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1935: Ethiopia stands alone </h2>The League of Nations votes to impose deliberately ineffectual economic sanctions against Fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia. Steps that would impede the progress of the invasion, such as banning the sale of oil to Italy and closing the Suez Canal, were not taken, out of fear of igniting hostilities in Europe.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1989: Guildford Four are cleared </h2>The Guildford Four, convicted of the 1975 IRA bombings of public houses in Guildford and Woolwich, England, are cleared of all charges after nearly 15 years in prison.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1931: John le Carre is born </h2>David Cornwell, later known as spy novelist John le Carre, is born on this day in Poole, England.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1985: Take on Me music video helps Norway's a-Ha reach the top the U.S. pop charts </h2>From its beginnings in the early 1980s , it was clear that MTV, the Music Television Network, would have a dramatic effect on the way pop stars marketed their music and themselves. While radio remained a necessary engine to drive the sales and chart rankings of singles and albums, the rise of new artists like Duran Duran and the further ascent of established stars like Michael Jackson showed that creativity and esthetic appeal on MTV could make a direct and undeniable contribution to a musical performer's commercial success. But if ever a case existed in which MTV did more than just contribute to an act's success, it was the case of the Norwegian band a-Ha, who went from total unknowns to chart-topping pop stars almost solely on the strength of the groundbreaking video for the song Take On Me, which hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart on this day in 1985.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1869: Construction begins on the Sutro Tunnel in Virginia City, Nevada </h2>On this day in 1869, the famous Prussian-born mining engineer, Adolph Sutro, begins work on one of the most ambitious western engineering projects of the day: a four-mile-long tunnel through the solid rock of the Comstock Lode mining district.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1796: Editorial accuses Jefferson of affair with slave </h2>On this day in 1784, an essay appears in the Gazette of the United States in which a writer, mysteriously named Phocion, slyly attacks presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson . Phocion turned out to be former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton . The essay typified the nasty, personal nature of political attacks in late 18th-century America.  <em class="date"> Oct 19, 1957: Rocket Richard scores 500 goals </h2>On October 19, 1957, Maurice Rocket Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the first N.H.L. player to score 500 goals in his career when he slaps a 20-foot shot past Chicago Blackhawks goalie Glenn Hall. Richard was one of the most consistent and intimidating goal-scorers in pro hockey history: In all, he scored 544 regular-season and 82 post-season goals. When he came flying toward you with the puck on his stick, Hall remembered, his eyes were all lit up, flashing and gleaming like a pinball machine. It was terrifying.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 20, 1947: Congress investigates Reds in Hollywood </h2>On October 20, 1947, the notorious Red Scare kicks into high gear in Washington, as a Congressional committee begins investigating Communist influence in one of the world's richest and most glamorous communities: Hollywood .  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1965: Last Volvo PV rolls off the assembly line </h2>At 3 p.m. on October 20, 1965, the very last PV-series Volvo drives off the assembly line in Lundby, Sweden. The car, a zippy black Sport PV544 with red interior trim, went straight to the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg. PV-series Volvos had been in production, first as the PV444 and then as the PV544, since 1947 and 440,000 sold in all. By the end of its run, the PV was old-fashionedlookingthe company had made very few cosmetic changes in the two decades the car had been on the marketbut it remained a good, solid automobile. Above all, Road &Trackmagazine said in 1963, the Volvo PV544 is such a practical car. Volvo's most attractive appeal lies in its solidity and its quality in every single respect. There is nothing slapdash or under-dimensioned about any part of the car and that is more than enough to compensate for any perceived lack of glamour.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1944: Natural gas explosions rock Cleveland </h2>Two liquid gas tanks explode in Cleveland, Ohio , killing 130 people, on this day in 1944. It took all of the city's firefighters to bring the resulting industrial fire under control.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1935: Mao's Long March concludes </h2>Just over a year after the start of the Long March, Mao Zedong arrives in Shensi Province in northwest China with 4,000 survivors and sets up Chinese Communist headquarters. The epic flight from Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces lasted 368 days and covered 6,000 miles, nearly twice the distance from New York to San Francisco .  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1973: Sydney Opera House opens </h2>After 15 years of construction, the Sydney Opera House is dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II. The $80 million structure, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and funded by the profits of the Opera House Lotteries, was built on Bennelong Point, in Sydney, Australia. Famous for its geometric roof shells, the structure contains several large auditoriums and presents an average of 3,000 events a year to an estimated two million people. The first performance in the complex was the Australian Opera's production of Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace, which was held in the 1,547-seat Opera Theatre. Today, the Opera House remains Sydney's best-known landmark.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1853: French poet Arthur Rimbaud is born </h2>On this day, Arthur Rimbaud is born in Charleville, France. His father, an army officer, deserted the family when Rimbaud was six. Rimbaud was a brilliant student, and his first poem was published in a French review when he was 16. The following year, he rebelled and ran away to Paris. He joined the National Guard briefly during the Franco-Prussian War but quickly left to wander northern Paris and Belgium. He was captured by police and returned to his home.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1977: Three members of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a Mississippi plane crash </h2>In the summer of 1977, members of the rock band Aerosmith inspected an airplane they were considering chartering for their upcoming toura Convair 240 operated out of Addison, Texas . Concerns over the flight crew led Aerosmith to look elsewherea decision that saved one band but doomed another. The aircraft in question was instead chartered by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, who were just setting out that autumn on a national tour that promised to be their biggest to date. On this day in 1977, however, during a flight from Greenville, South Carolina , to Baton Rouge, Louisiana , Lynyrd Skynyrd's tour plane crashed in a heavily wooded area of southeastern Mississippi during a failed emergency landing attempt, killing band-members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines as well as the band's assistant road manager and the plane's pilot and co-pilot. Twenty others survived the crash.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1962: Kennedy press secretary misleads press </h2>On this day in 1962, the White House press corps is told that President John F. Kennedy has a cold; in reality, he is holding secret meetings with advisors on the eve of ordering a blockade of Cuba.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1968: Fosbury flops to an Olympic record </h2>On October 20, 1968, 21-year-old Oregonian Dick Fosbury wins goldand sets an Olympic recordwhen he high-jumps 7 feet 4 1/4 inches at the Mexico City Games. It was the first American victory in the event since 1956. It was also the international debut of Fosburys unique jumping style, known as the Fosbury Flop.  <em class="date"> Oct 20, 1964: Relations between South Vietnam, the United States, and Cambodia deteriorate </h2>A series of incidents and charges bring relations between Cambodia, South Vietnam, and the United States to a low point. Cambodia under Prince Norodom Sihanouk had tried to maintain its neutrality in the growing conflict between Saigon and the Communists in Vietnam, but the country became a sanctuary for Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces fighting the Saigon government. Sihanouk, not strong enough to prevent the Communists from using his territory, came under increasing political and military pressure from the United States and South Vietnam.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Oct 21, 1959: Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City </h2>On this day in 1959, on New York City's Fifth Avenue, thousands of people line up outside a bizarrely shaped white concrete building that resembled a giant upside-down cupcake. It was opening day at the new Guggenheim Museum, home to one of the world's top collections of contemporary art.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1929: Henry Ford dedicates the Thomas Edison Institute </h2>On this day in 1929, the 50th birthday of the incandescent light bulb, Henry Ford throws a big party to celebrate the dedication of his new Thomas Edison Institute in Dearborn, Michigan. Everybody who was anybody was there: John D. Rockefeller Jr., Charles Schwab, Otto H. Kahn, Walter Chrysler, Marie Curie, Will Rogers, President Herbert Hooverand, of course, the guest of honor, Thomas Edison himself. At the time, the Edison Institute was still relatively small. It consisted of just two buildings, both of which Henry Ford had moved from Menlo Park, New Jersey and re-constructed to look just as they had in 1879: Edison's laboratory and the boarding-house where he had lived while he perfected his invention. By the time the Institute opened to the public in 1933, however, it had grown much more elaborate and today the Henry Ford Museum (renamed after Ford's death in 1947) is one of the largest and best-known museums in the country.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1967: Thousands protest the war in Vietnam </h2> In Washington, D.C. nearly 100,000 people gather to protest the American war effort in Vietnam. More than 50,000 of the protesters marched to the Pentagon to ask for an end to the conflict. The protest was the most dramatic sign of waning U.S. support for President Lyndon Johnson's war in Vietnam. Polls taken in the summer of 1967 revealed that, for the first time, American support for the war had fallen below 50 percent. <em class="date">Oct 21, 1910: A bomb explodes in the Los Angeles Times building </h2>A massive explosion destroys the Los Angeles Times building in the city's downtown area, killing 21 and injuring many more. Since Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Otis, a virulent opponent of unions, believed that the bomb was directed at him, he hired the nation's premier private detective, William J. Burns, to crack the case. In addition to printing numerous editorials against unions, Otis was the leader of the Merchants and Manufacturing Association, a powerful group of business owners with extensive political connections.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1966: Mudslide buries school in Wales </h2>On this day in 1966, an avalanche of mud and rocks buries a school in Aberfan, Wales, killing 148 people, mostly young students. The elementary school was located below a hill where a mining operation dumped its waste.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1797: USS Constitution launched </h2>The USS Constitution, a 44-gun U.S. Navy frigate built to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli, is launched in Boston Harbor. The vessel performed commendably during the Barbary conflicts, and in 1805 a peace treaty with Tripoli was signed on the Constitution's deck.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1772: Samuel Taylor Coleridge is born </h2>Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge is born on this day in 1772 in the small town of Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1917: Dizzy Gillespie is born </h2>An iconic figure in the history of jazz music who was instantly recognizable even to millions of non-jazz fans by his puffed-out cheeks and his trademark trumpet, with its horn bent upwards at a 45-degree angle, John Birks Gillespiebetter known as Dizzy was born on this day in 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1921: Harding publicly condemns lynching </h2>On this day in 1921, President Warren G. Harding delivers a speech in Alabama in which he condemns lynchingsillegal hangings committed primarily by white supremacists against African Americans in the Deep South.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1975: Fisk homers off foul pole </h2>On October 21, 1975, Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hits a homer off the left-field pole to beat the Cincinnati Reds in the sixth game of the World Series. The Sox went on to lose the championship, of course. Still, even 30 years later, the films and photos of Fisk urgently trying to wave the ball into fair territory provide some of the games most enduring and exciting images. As team president Larry Lucchino pointed out, the appeal of baseball at its best was illustrated that night.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1941: Germans massacre men, women, and children in Yugoslavia </h2>On this day in 1941, German soldiers go on a rampage, killing thousands of Yugoslavian civilians, including whole classes of schoolboys.  <em class="date">Oct 21, 1918: Germany ceases unrestricted submarine warfare </h2>On this day in 1918, a German U-boat submarine fires the last torpedo of World War I, as Germany ceases its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> Oct 22, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis </h2>In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sitesunder construction but nearing completionhoused medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States , including Washington, D.C. Kennedy announced that he was ordering a naval quarantine of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. The president made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson signs the Highway Beautification Act </h2>On October 22, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Highway Beautification Act, which attempts to limit billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising, as well as with junkyards and other unsightly roadside messes, along America's interstate highways. The act also encouraged scenic enhancement by funding local efforts to clean up and landscape the green spaces on either side of the roadways. This bill will enrich our spirits and restore a small measure of our national greatness, Johnson said at the bill's signing ceremony. Beauty belongs to all the people. And so long as I am President, what has been divinely given to nature will not be taken recklessly away by man.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1934: Pretty Boy Floyd is killed by the FBI </h2>Charles Pretty Boy Floyd is shot by FBI agents in a cornfield in East Liverpool, Ohio . Floyd, who had been a hotly pursued fugitive for four years, used his last breath to deny his involvement in the infamous Kansas City Massacre, in which four officers were shot to death at a train station. He died shortly thereafter.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1913: Coal mine explodes in New Mexico </h2>A coal mine explosion in Dawson, New Mexico , kills more than 250 workers on this day in 1913. A heroic rescue effort saved 23 others, but also cost two more people their lives.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1797: The first parachutist </h2>The first parachute jump of note is made by André-Jacques Garnerin from a hydrogen balloon 3,200 feet above Paris  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1975: Gay sergeant challenges the Air Force </h2>Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War , is given a general discharge by the air force after publicly declaring his homosexuality. Matlovich, who appeared in his air force uniform on the cover of Time magazine above the headline I AM A HOMOSEXUAL, was challenging the ban against homosexuals in the U.S. military.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1964: Sartre wins and declines Nobel Prize </h2>On this day in 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, which he declines.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1811: Pianist and composer Franz Liszt is born </h2>Born on this day in 1811 in the Hapsburg Kingdom of Hungary, Franz Liszt would go on to make a name for himself not only as an important composer in the Romantic era, but also as one of the greatest pianists who ever lived. In a career that spanned five eventful decades in classical-music history, his professional accomplishments alone would have made him a figure of historical significance, but his good looks and charisma, his effect on female audiences and his gossip-worthy romantic entanglements made him a figure somewhat larger than life. If it weren't for the fact that rock and roll was still 140-plus years off in the future, it would be reasonable to call Franz Liszt the biggest rock star of his era.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1992: Baseball Hall of Fame announcer Red Barber dies at 84 </h2>On October 22, 1992, Red Barberthe legendary announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, with a voice that one sportswriter called a spoonful of sugar drifting through a glass of iced tea dies. He was 84 years old. In an era when almost every major league baseball team had a distinct voiceMel Allen for the Yankees, Curt Gowdy for the Red Sox, Harry Caray for the CardsBarbers erudite-but-homespun Mississippi twang was the Dodgers. He pioneered a colorful, reportorial style of play-by-play narration that generations of broadcasters have imitated: He gave his listeners a scrupulously detailed but carefully nonpartisan version of the events on the field, so that they could feel like they were sitting in the stands themselves.  <em class="date"> Oct 22, 1957: American forces suffer first casualties in Vietnam </h2>U.S. military personnel suffer their first casualties in the war when 13 Americans are wounded in three terrorist bombings of Military Assistance Advisory Group and U.S. Information Service installations in Saigon. The rising tide of guerrilla activity in South Vietnam reached an estimated 30 terrorist incidents by the end of the year and at least 75 local officials were assassinated or kidnapped in the last quarter of 1957.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Oct 23, 2002: Hostage crisis in Moscow theater </h2>On October 23, 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels storm a Moscow theater, taking up to 700 people hostage during a sold-out performance of a popular musical.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1983: U.S. Embassy in Beirut hit by massive car bomb </h2>On this day, a suicide bomber drives a truck filled with 2,000 pounds of explosives into a U.S. Marine Corps barracks at the Beirut International Airport. The explosion killed 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. A few minutes after that bomb went off, a second bomber drove into the basement of the nearby French paratroopers' barracks, killing 58 more people. Four months after the bombing, American forces left Lebanon without retaliating.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1998: An abortion-performing doctor is murdered </h2>Doctor Barnett Slepian is shot to death inside his home in Amherst, New York, by an anti-abortion radical, marking the fifth straight year that a doctor who was willing to perform abortions in upstate New York and Canada had been the victim of a sniper attack. Slepian and his family had just returned from religious services at their synagogue when a bullet shattered the kitchen window and struck him in the back. Each of the five attacks, the first four of which did not result in fatal wounds, occurred in late October or early November. It is believed that the dates were intentionally picked to center around Canada's Remembrance Day (November 11).  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1989: Gas leak kills 23 at plastics factory </h2>On this day in 1989, 23 people die in a series of explosions sparked by an ethylene leak at a factory in Pasadena, Texas. The blasts, which took place at a Phillips Petroleum Company plant, were caused by inadequate safety procedures.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1855: Rival governments in bleeding Kansas </h2>In opposition to the fraudulently elected pro-slavery legislature of Kansas, the Kansas Free State forces set up a governor and legislature under their Topeka Constitution, a document that outlaws slavery in the territory.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1925: Johnny Carson is born </h2>On this day in 1925, John William Carson, who will become known to most of America as the longtime host of the popular late-night TV program The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, is born in Corning, Iowa. As host of the highly rated Tonight Show, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1992, Carson became a bona fide American institution and entertainment icon.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1942: Michael Crichton is born </h2>On this day in 1942, Michael Crichton is born in Chicago.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1976: Chicago has its first #1 hit with If You Leave Me Now </h2>Chicagoone of history's most prolific rock bandshas its first #1 hit on October 23, 1976, with If You Leave Me Now.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1890: President Benjamin Harrison extends borders of Nebraska </h2>On this day in 1890, Benjamin Harrison issues a proclamation that extends the northern boundary of Nebraska into the Dakota territory. The decree also declares that all Indian claims to Nebraska territory have been officially extinguished.  <em class="date">Oct 23, 1993: Carter homers to win World Series </h2>On October 23, 1993, Toronto Blue Jay Joe Carter does what every kid dreams ofhe wins the World Series for his team by whacking a ninth-inning home run over the SkyDomes left-field wall. It was the first time the World Series had ended with a home run since Pittsburghs Bill Mazeroski homered to break a 9-9 tie with the Yankees in the seventh game of the 1960 series, and it was the first time in baseball history that a team won the championship with a come-from-behind home run.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Oct 24, 1901: First barrel ride down Niagara Falls </h2>On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1931: George Washington Bridge is dedicated </h2>On this day in 1931, eight months ahead of schedule, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River. The 4,760-footlong suspension bridge, the longest in the world at the time, connected Fort Lee, New Jersey with Washington Heights in New York City. This will be a highly successful enterprise, FDR told the assembled crowd at the ceremony. The great prosperity of the Holland Tunnel and the financial success of other bridges recently opened in this region have proven that not even the hardest times can lessen the tremendous volume of trade and traffic in the greatest of port districts.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1947: Commuter trains collide in England </h2>Two rush-hour commuter trains collide in South Croydon, England, killing 32 people on this day in 1947. Heavy fog and a serious mistake by a signalman caused the deadly crash.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1648: Thirty Years War ends </h2>The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1945: U.N. formally established </h2>Less than two months after the end of World War II, the United Nations is formally established with the ratification of the United Nations Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of other signatories.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 2003: The Concorde makes its final flight </h2>The supersonic Concorde jet makes its last commercial passenger flight, traveling at twice the speed of sound from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport on this day in 2003. The British Airways jet carried 100 passengers, including actress Joan Collins, model Christie Brinkley, and an Ohio couple who reportedly paid $60,000 on eBay for two tickets (a roundtrip trans-Atlantic fare typically cost about $9,000). A large crowd of spectators greeted the plane's arrival in London, which coincided with two other final Concorde flights from Edinburgh and the Bay of Biscay.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1958: Raymond Chandler starts his last novel </h2>On this day, mystery writer Raymond Chandler starts working on his last novel, The Poodle Springs Story, but he will die before completing it.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1962: James Brown records breakthrough Live at the Apollo album </h2>James Brown began his professional career at a time when rock and roll was opening new opportunities for black artists to connect with white audiences. But the path he took to fame did not pass through Top 40 radio or through The Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand. James Brown would make his appearance in all of those places eventually, but only after a decade spent performing almost exclusively before black audiences and earning his reputation as the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. On this day in 1962, he took a major step toward his eventual crossover and conquest of the mainstream with an electrifying performance on black America's most famous stagea performance recorded and later released as Live at the Apollo (1963), the first breakthrough album of James Brown's career.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1861: Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line </h2>On this day in 1861, workers of the Western Union Telegraph Company link the eastern and western telegraph networks of the nation at Salt Lake City, Utah, completing a transcontinental line that for the first time allows instantaneous communication between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Stephen J. Field, chief justice of California, sent the first transcontinental telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, predicting that the new communication link would help ensure the loyalty of the western states to the Union during the Civil War.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1951: Truman declares war with Germany officially over </h2>On this day in 1951, President Harry Truman finally proclaims that the nation's war with Germany, begun in 1941, is officially over. Fighting had ended in the spring of 1945.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1992: Toronto Blue Jays finally win a World Series for Canada </h2>On October 24, 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves in the sixth game of the World Series to win the championship. It was the first time a Canadian team had ever won the trophy, and it was a truly international victorythe Blue Jays 25-man roster included several players of Puerto Rican descent, a Jamaican, three Dominicans and no actual Canadians.  <em class="date">Oct 24, 1954: U.S. president pledges support to South Vietnam </h2>President Eisenhower pledges support to Diem's government and military forces.  history.com