What Happened This Day In History

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Today in History

October 16

1555 The Protestant martyrs Bishop Hugh Latimer and Bishop Nicholas Ridley are burned at the stake for heresy in England.
1701 Yale University is founded as The Collegiate School of Kilingworth, Connecticut by Congregationalists who consider Harvard too liberal.
1793 Queen Marie Antoinette is beheaded by guillotine during the French Revolution.
1846 Ether was first administered in public at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston by Dr. William Thomas Green Morton during an operation performed by Dr. John Collins Warren.
1859 Abolitionist John Brown, with 21 men, seizes the U.S. Armory at Harpers Ferry, Va. U.S. Marines capture the raiders, killing several. John Brown is later hanged in Virginia for treason.
1901 President Theodore Roosevelt incites controversy by inviting black leader Booker T. Washington to the White House.
1908 The first airplane flight in England is made at Farnsborough, by Samuel Cody, a U.S. citizen.
1934 Mao Tse-tung decides to abandon his base in Kiangsi due to attacks from Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. With his pregnant wife and about 30,000 Red Army troops, he sets out on the "Long March."
1938 Billy the Kid, a ballet by Aaron Copland, opens in Chicago.
1940 Benjamin O. Davis becomes the U.S. Army's first African American Brigadier General.
1946 Ten Nazi war criminals are hanged in Nuremberg, Germany.
1969 The New York Mets win the World Series four games to one over the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles.
1973 Israeli General Ariel Sharon crosses the Suez Canal and begins to encircle two Egyptian armies.
1978 The college of cardinals elects 58-year-old Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, a Pole, the first non-Italian Pope since 1523.
1984 A baboon heart is transplanted into 15-day-old Baby Fae–the first transplant of the kind–at Loma Linda University Medical Center, California. Baby Fae lives until November 15.
1995 The Million Man March for 'A Day of Atonement' takes place in Washington, D.C.
1995 Skye Bridge opens over Loch Alsh, Scotland
1998 General Augusto Pinochet, former dictator of Chile, arrested in London for extradition on murder charges
2002 Inaugural opening of Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt., a modern library and cultural center commemorating the famed Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity

Born on October 16

1758 Noah Webster, U.S. teacher, lexicographer and publisher who wrote the American Dictionary of the English Language.
1797 Lord Cardigan, leader of the famed Light Brigade.
1849 George Washington Wiliams, historian, clergyman and politician.
1854 Oscar Wilde, dramatist, poet, novelist and critic.
1886 David Ben-Gurion, Israeli statesman.
1888 Eugene O'Neill, Nobel Prize-winning playwright (A Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Iceman Cometh).
1898 William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
1906 Cleanth Brooks, Kentucky-born writer and educator.
1919 Kathleen Winsor, writer Forever Amber.
1925 Angela Lansbury, stage, screen, and TV actress
1927 Gunther Grass, novelist, playwright, painter and sculptor best known for his first novel, The Tin Drum.
1930 Dan Pagis, Romanian-born Israeli poet.
1931 Charles "Chuck" Colson, special counsel to Pres. Richard Nixon (1969-73); one of the "Watergate Seven," he was sentenced to prison for obstruction of justice.
1949 Suzanne Somers, actress (Three's Company TV series).
1958 Tim Robbins, actor, screenwriter, director, producer; won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Mystic River 2003.
1969 Roy Hargrove, jazz trumpeter; won Grammy Awards for albums in 1998 (Habana) and 2002 (Directions in Music).
1977 John Mayer, singer, songwriter, musician, producer; won Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Your Body is a Wonderland," 2003).
2003 Princess Kritika of Nepal.

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October 17

1244 The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza.
1529 Henry VIII of England strips Thomas Wolsey of his office for failing to secure an annulment of his marriage.
1346 English forces defeat the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville's Cross, Scotland.
1691 Maine and Plymouth are incorporated in Massachusetts.
1777 British Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 men at Saratoga, N.Y.
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he has been banished by the Allies.
1849 Composer and pianist Frederic Chopin dies in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 39.
1863 General Ulysses S. Grant is named overall Union Commander of the West.
1877 Brigadier General Alfred Terry meets with Sitting Bull in Canada to discuss the Indians' return to the United States.
1913 Zeppelin LII explodes over London, killing 28.
1933 Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler's Germany, Albert Einstein immigrates to the United States. He makes his new home in Princeton, N.J.
1941 The U.S. destroyer Kearney is damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 Americans are killed.
1956 The nuclear power station Calder Hall is opened in Britain. Calder Hall is the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network.
1972 Peace talks between Pathet Lao and Royal Lao government begin in Vietnam.
1989 The worst earthquake in 82 years strikes San Francisco bay area minutes before the start of a World Series game there. The earthquake registers 6.9 on the Richter scale–67 are killed and damage is estimated at $10 billion.
1994 Dmitry Kholodov, a Russian journalist, assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces; his murkier began a series of killings of journalists in Russia.
2001 Rehavam Ze'evi, Israeli tourism minister and founder of the right-wing Moledet party, assassinated by a member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); he was the first Israeli minister ever assassinated.
2003 Taipei 101 is completed in Taipei, becoming the world's tallest high-rise.

Born on October 17

1821 Alexander Gardner, American photographer who documented the Civil War and the West.
1859 Childe Hassam, American impressionist painter and illustrator.
1895 Doris Humphrey, modern dance choreographer.
1903 Nathaneal West, novelist and screenwriter (Miss Lonely Hearts, The Day of the Locust).
1915 Arthur Miller, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge).
1918 Rita Hayworth, film actress.
1930 Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author and columnist.
1938 Evel Knievel, U.S. daredevil motorcycle stunt man.
1942 Gary Puckett, singer, songwriter; lead singer of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap ("Woman, Woman"; "Young Girl").
1946 Michael Hossack, drummer for the Doobie Brothers band
1946 Adam Michnik, Polish historian and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wybocza, Poland's largest newspaper; named Europe's Man of the Year by La Vie magazine (1989).
1948 Margo Kidder, actress; best known for playing Lois Lane in four Superman movies between 1978 and 1987.
1958 Alan Jackson, country singer with over 60 million records sold worldwide; his many awards include 2 Grammys and 16 Country Music Association awards; "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning"; "Don't Rock the Jukebox."
1960 Rob Marshall, theater and film director, choreographer; awards include 4 Emmys and an Academy Award for Best Picture (Chicago, 2002).
1968 Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician, leader of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers; oldest son of reggae great Bob Marley.

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Today in History
October 18

1648 The "shoemakers of Boston"–the first labor organization in what would become the United States–was authorized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1685 Edict of Nantes lifted by Louis XIV. The edict, signed at Nantes, France, by King Henry IV in 1598, gave the Huguenots religious liberty, civil rights and security. By revoking the Edict of Nantes, Louis XIV abrogated their religious liberties.
1813 The Allies defeat Napoleon Bonaparte at Leipzig.
1867 The Alaska territory is formally transferred to the U.S. from Russian control.
1867 The rules for American football are formulated at meeting in New York among delegates from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton and Yale universities.
1883 The weather station at the top of Ben Nevis, Scotland, the highest mountain in Britain, is declared open. Weather stations were set up on the tops of mountains all over Europe and the Eastern United States in order to gather information for the new weather forecasts.
1910 M. Baudry is the first to fly a dirigible across the English Channel–from La Motte-Breil to Wormwood Scrubbs.
1912 The First Balkan War breaks out between the members of the Balkan League–Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro–and the Ottoman Empire.
1918 Czechs seize Prague and renounce Hapsburg's rule.
1919 Madrid opens a subway system.
1921 Russian Soviets grant Crimean independence.
1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt bans war submarines from U.S. ports and waters.
1944 Lt. General Joseph Stilwell is recalled from China by president Franklin Roosevelt.
1950 The First Turkish Brigade arrives in Korea to assist the U.N. forces fighting there.
1967 A Russian unmanned spacecraft makes the first landing on the surface of Venus.
1968 US athletes Tommi Smith and John Carlos suspended by US Olympic Committee for giving "black power" salute while receiving their medals at the Olympic Games in Mexico City.
2003 Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigns in the wake of protests centered around Bolivia's natural gas resources.
2007 Suicide attack on a motorcade in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 139 and wounds 450; the subject of the attack, Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is not harmed.

Born on October 18

1896 H.L. Davis, novelist and poet.
1904 A.J. Libeling, journalist and author.
1926 Chuck Berry, rock 'n' roll performer.
1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
1926 Ntozake Shange (Paulette Williams), poet, playwright and novelist.
1950 Wendy Wasserstein, playwright (The Heidi Chronicles).
1951 Terry McMillan, novelist (Waiting to Exhale).
1952 Chuck Lorre (Charles Levine), TV writer, director, producer and composer. Created several successful sitcoms including Dharma & Greg and The Big Bang Theory.
1952 Bao Ninh (Hoang Au Phuong), Vietnamese author known for his novel The Sorrow of War about the Vietnam War, in which he served.
1956 Craig Bartlett, animator, writer; known for his work on Rugrats , Hey Arnold! and Dinosaur Train animated TV series.
1956 Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakian-born tennis player; won a record 9 Wimbledon singles competitions.
1960 Erin Moran, actress; best known for her role as Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days TV series and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.
1960 Jean-Claude Van Damme, martial artist, actor, director (Bloodsport, The Expendables 2).
1961 Wynton Marsalis, Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter; presently (2013) artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.
1970 Jose Padilla, American terrorist convicted of conspiring with overseas terrorists in death plots; held from May 8, 2002, as an enemy combatant, he was tried in a civilian court in 2006

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Today in History
October 18


1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

IMO They should not be celebrating his birthday

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Today in History
October 20

480 BC Greeks defeat the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis.
1587 In France, Huguenot Henri de Navarre routs Duke de Joyeuse's larger Catholic force at Coutras.
1709 Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy take Mons in the Netherlands.
1714 George I of England crowned.
1805 Austrian general Karl Mac surrenders to Napoleon's army at the battle of Ulm.
1818 The United States and Britain establish the 49th Parallel as the boundary between Canada and the United States.
1870 The Summer Palace in Beijing, China, is burnt to the ground by a Franco-British expeditionary force.
1903 The Joint Commission, set up on January 24 by Great Britain and the United States to arbitrate the disputed Alaskan boundary, rules in favor of the United States. The deciding vote is Britain's, which embitters Canada. The United States gains ports on the panhandle coast of Alaska.
1904 Bolivia and Chile sign a treaty ending the War of the Pacific. The treaty recognizes Chile's possession of the coast, but provides for construction of a railway to link La Paz, Bolivia, to Arica, on the coast.
1924 Baseball's first 'colored World Series' is held in Kansas City, Mo.
1938 Czechoslovakia, complying with Nazi policy, outlaws the Communist Party and begins persecuting Jews.
1941 German troops reach the approaches to Moscow.
1944 U.S. troops land on Leyte in the Philippines, keeping General MacArthur's pledge "I shall return."
1945 Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon form the Arab League to present a unified front against the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
1947 The House Un-American Activities Committee opens public hearings on alleged communist infiltration in Hollywood. Among those denounced as having un-American tendencies are: Katherine Hepburn, Charles Chaplin and Edward G. Robinson. Among those called to testify is Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan, who denies that leftists ever controlled the Guild and refuses to label anyone a communist.
1968 Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis.
1973 Arab oil-producing nations ban oil exports to the United States, following the outbreak of Arab-Israeli war.
1977 Charter plane crashes in Mississippi, killing three members of popular Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with their assistant road manager, the pilot and co-pilot.
1991 Oakland Hills firestorm destroys nearly 3,500 homes and apartments and kills 25 people.
2011 In the Libyan civil war, rebels capture deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte, killing him soon afterward.

Born on October 20

1632 Sir Christopher Wren, astronomer and architect.
1854 Arthur Rimbaud, poet.
1874 Charles Ives, composer.
1884 Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born film actor famous for his portrayal of Count Dracula (1931).
1891 Sir James Chadwick, physicist who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the neutron.
1901 Adelaide Hall, cabaret singer.
1925 Art Buchwald, humorist.
1931 Mickey Mantle, baseball great who played for the New York Yankees
1932 Michael McClure, beat poet.
1940 Robert Pinsky, former U.S. Poet Laureate.
1946 Lewis Grizzard, journalist and humorist who gained popularity through his syndicated Atlanta Journal-Constitution column; he authored 25 books, including collections of his columns.
1946 Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian playwright and novelist; awarded Nobel Prize in Literature, 2004.
1948 Tom Petty, singer, songwriter, musician; lead singer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and a founder of the Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch bands; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2002.
1971 Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus, Jr.), rapper, songwriter, actor; his debut album, Doggy style, came in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot R&B / Hip-Hop charts.

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Today in History
October 21

1096 Seljuk Turks at Chivitot slaughter thousands of German crusaders.
1529 The Pope names Henry VIII of England Defender of the Faith after defending the seven sacraments against Luther.
1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats his enemies in battle and affirms his position as Japan's most powerful warlord.
1790 The Tricolor is chosen as the official flag of France.
1805 Vice Admiral and Viscount Horatio Nelson wins his greatest victory over a Franco-Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. Nelson is fatally wounded in the battle, but lives long enough to see victory.
1837 Under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops siege the Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida.
1861 The Battle of Ball's Bluff, Va. begins, a disastrous Union defeat which sparks Congressional investigations.
1867 Many leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache sign a peace treaty at Medicine Lodge, Kan. Comanche Chief Quanah Parker refused to accept the treaty terms.
1872 The U.S. Naval Academy admits John H. Conyers, the first African American to be accepted.
1879 After 14 months of testing, Thomas Edison first demonstrates his electric lamp, hoping to one day compete with gaslight.
1904 Panamanians clash with U.S. Marines in Panama in a brief uprising.
1917 The first U.S. troops enter the front lines at Sommerviller under French command.
1939 As war heats up with Germany, the British war cabinet holds its first meeting in the underground war room in London.
1940 Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.
1942 Eight American and British officers land from a submarine on an Algerian beach to take measure of Vichy French to the Operation Torch landings.
1950 North Korean Premier Kim Il-Sung establishes a new capital at Sinuiju on the Yalu River opposite the Chinese City of Antung.
1959 The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens in Manhattan.
1961 Bob Dylan records his first album in a single day at a cost of $400.
1967 The "March on the Pentagon," protesting American involvement in Vietnam , draws 50,000 protesters.
1969 Israel's Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan resigns over disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policies related to the Palestinians.
1983 The United States sends a ten-ship task force to Grenada.
1994 North Korea and the US sign an agreement requiring North Korea to halts its nuclear weapons program and agree to international inspections.

Born on October 21

1760 Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese printmaker.
1772 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet ("The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan").
1833 Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes.
1917 Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpeter.
1929 Ursula K. Le Guin, science fiction writer (The Left Hand of Darkness)
1938 Carl Brewer, Canadian hockey player; won three Stanley Cups (1962-64) as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
1950 Ronald McNair, astronaut; died when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch on Jan. 2, 1986.
1952 Patti Davis, actress, author; daughter of former US Pres. Ronald Reagan.
1956 Carrie Fisher, actress, author, screenwriter; best known as Prince Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy and he bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge; daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds.
1969 Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain; presently (2013) First Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Supreme Commander, he is heir apparent to the Bahrain kingdom.

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Today in History

October 22

741 Charles Martel of Gaul dies at Quiezy. His mayoral power is divided between his two sons, Pepin III and Carloman.
1746 Princeton University, in New Jersey, receives its charter.
1797 The first successful parachute descent is made by Andre-Jacqes Garnerin, who jumps from a balloon at some 2,200 feet over Paris.
1824 The Tennessee Legislature adjourns ending David "Davy" Crockett's state political career.
1836 Sam Houston sworn in as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1862 Union troops push 5,000 confederates out of Maysbille, Ark., at the Second Battle of Pea Ridge.
1859 Spain declares war on the Moors in Morocco.
1907 Ringling Brothers buys Barnum & Bailey.
1914 U.S. places economic support behind Allies.
1918 The cities of Baltimore and Washington run out of coffins during the "Spanish Inflenza" epidemic.
1938 Chester Carlson invents the photocopier. He tries to sell the machine to IBM, RCA, Kodak and others, but they see no use for a gadget that makes nothing but copies.
1954 As a result of the Geneva accords granting Communist control over North Vietnam, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes a crash program to train the South Vietnamese Army.
1955 The prototype of the F-105 Thunder Chief makes its maiden flight.
1962 U.S. reveals Soviet missile sites in Cuba. President Kennedy orders a naval and air blockade on further shipment of military equipment to Cuba. Following a confrontation that threatens nuclear war, Kennedy and Khrushchev agree on October 28 on a formula to end the crisis. On November 2 Kennedy reports that Soviet missile bases in Cuba are being dismantled.
1964 Jean Paul Satre declines the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1966 The Soviet Union launches Luna 12 for orbit around the moon
1972 Operation Linebacker I, the bombing of North Vietnam with B-52 bombers, ends.
1978 Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II; born Karol Jozef Wojtyla. The Polish-born Wojtyla was the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI died in 1523; he would become the second-longest serving pope in the history of the Papacy and exercise considerable influence on events of the later portion of the 20th century.
1981 The US Federal Labor Relations authority decertified the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) from representing federal air traffic controllers, as a result of a PATCO strike in August that was broken by the Reagan Administration.
1999 Maurice Papon, formerly an official in the Vichy France government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity for his role in deporting more than 1,600 Jews to concentration camps.
2005 Tropical Storm Alpha forms, making 2005 the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record with 22 named storms.

Born on October 22

1811 Franz Liszt, piano virtuoso.
1882 N.C. Wyeth, painter famous for his illustrations of Treasure Island and Robin Hood.
1887 John Reed, American journalist, poet and revolutionary, (Ten Days That Shook the World).
1903 George Beadle, American geneticist.
1919 Doris Lessing, novelist (Children of Violence, The Golden Notebook).
1920 Timothy Leary, American psychologist who experimented with psychedelic drugs.
1925 Robert Rauschenberg, pop artist.
1935 Ann Rule, true crime author (The Stranger Beside Me).
1936 Bobby Seale, American political activist; co-founder of the Black Panther Party.
1938 Christopher Lloyd, actor; (Back to the Future Film series; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; won three Emmys, two of them for his role as Jim Ignatoski in Taxi TV series).
1939 Joaquim Chissano, second President of Mozambique (1986–2005); credited with transforming Mozambique into one of Africa's most successful democracies.
1942 Annette Funicello, actress, singer; one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Micky Mouse Club TV series.
1948 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Pres. Gerald Ford on Sept. 5, 1975.
1952 Jeff Goldblum, actor (Jurassic Park; Independence Day).

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Today in History
October 23

4004 BC According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m.
1641 Rebellion in Ireland. Catholics, under Phelim O'Neil, rise against the Protestants and massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000).
1694 American colonial forces led by Sir William Phips, fail in their attempt to seize Quebec.
1707 The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
1783 Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.
1861 President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
1918 President Wilson feels satisfied that the Germans are accepting his armistice terms and agrees to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans have agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.
1929 The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.
1942 The Western Task Force, destined for North Africa, departs from Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1952 The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded to Ukranian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery of an effective treatment of tuberculosis.
1954 In Paris, an agreement is signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union.
1973 A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Syria.
1983 A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem terrorist, crashes into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The bomb kills 237 Marines and injures 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurs at French military headquarters, where 58 die and 15 are injured.
1989 The Hungarian Republic replaces the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
1998 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
2002 Chechen terrorists take 700 theater-goers hostage at the House of Culture theater in Moscow.
2004 An earthquake in Japan kills 35, injures 2,200, and leaves 85,000 homeless or displaced.
2011 Libiyan National Transition Council declares the Libyan civil war is over.
2012 The world's oldest teletext service, BBC's Ceefax, ceases operation.

Born on October 23

1750 Nicolas Appert, the inventor of canning.
1805 John Bartlett, lexicographer best known for Bartlett's Quotations.
1844 Sarah Bernhardt, French actress.
1869 John Heisman, American college football coach for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.
1925 Johnny Carson, American television personality who hosted the Tonight Show.
1940 Pele, legendary Brazilian soccer player who scored 1,281 goals in 22 years
1942 Michael Crichton, writer (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain).
1951 Fatmir Sejdiu, first President of the Republic of Kosovo (2006– ).
1953 Altug Taner Akcam, Turkish historian and sociologist; among the first Turkish historians to discuss the Armenian genocide; sued Turkish government before European Court of Human Rights for denying his rights, under a law that punishes incidents of insulting "Turkishness."
1954 Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born American film director; won Academy Award for Best Director in 2005 (Brokeback Mountain) and 2012 (Life of Pi).
1959 Alfred "Weird Al" Yankovic, singer, songwriter, satirist; known for his humorous rewrites of popular songs and parodies of pop culture.
1962 Doug Flutie, collegiate and pro football quarterback; won Heisman Trophy and Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award (1984).
1991 Princess Mako of Akishino, first-born granddaughter of Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

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Today in History
October 24

439 Carthage, the leading Roman city in North Africa, falls to Genseric and the Vandals.
1531 Bavaria, despite being a Catholic region, joins the League of Schmalkalden, a Protestant group which opposes Charles V.
1648 The signing of the Treaty of Westphalia ends the German Thirty Years' War.
1755 A British expedition against the French held Fort Niagara in Canada ends in failure.
1836 The match is patented.
1861 Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line, putting the Pony Express out of business.
1863 General Ulysses S. Grant arrives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to find the Union Army there starving.
1897 The first comic strip appears in the Sunday color supplement of the New York Journal called the 'Yellow Kid.'
1901 Anna Edson Taylor, 43, is the first woman to go safely over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch.
1916 Henry Ford awards equal pay to women.
1917 The Austro-German army routs the Italian army at Caporetto, Italy.
1929 Black Thursday–the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression.
1930 John Wayne debuts in his first starring role in The Big Trail .
1931 Al (Alphonse) Capone, the prohibition-era Chicago gangster, is sent to prison for tax evasion.
1934 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called Mahatma or "Great Soul," resigns from Congress in India.
1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act becomes law, establishing the 40-hour work week.
1944 The aircraft carrier USS Princeton is sunk by a single Japanese plane during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1945 The United Nations comes into existence with the ratification of its charter by the first 29 nations.
1945 Vidkun Quisling, Norway's wartime minister president, is executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.
1952 Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that if elected, he will go to Korea.
1970 Leftist Salvador Allende elected president of Chile.
1973 Yom Kippur War ends.
1980 Poland's government legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
1992 Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves in the 11th inning of the 6th game, to become the first Major League Baseball team from outside the US to win the series.
2003 The supersonic Concorde jet made its last commercial passenger flight from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport, traveling at twice the speed of sound.
2008 Many stock exchanges worldwide suffer the steepest declines in their histories; the day becomes known as "Bloody Friday."

Born on October 24

1632 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch naturalist.
1788 Sarah Josepha Hale, magazine editor and poet whose book Poems for Our Children included "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (the first words to be recorded in sound)
1904 Moss Hart, American playwright who, with George S. Kaufman, wrote plays such as You Can't Take it with You and The Man who came to Dinner.
1911 Sonny Terry, blues performer.
1923 Denise Levertov, English poet.
1929 George Henry Crumb, American composer.
1930 The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.), singer, songwriter, musician; an early star of rock 'n' roll ("Chantilly Lace"), he died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the pilot, Roger Peterson.
1933 Ronald and Reginald Kray, gangsters whose gang, The Firm, was the most infamous organized crime group in London's East End in the 1950s and '60s.
1941 Dr. William H. Dobelle, biomedical researcher who developed technology that restored limited sight to blind patients.
1942 Frank Delany, Irish author, journalist, broadcaster; best known for his novel Ireland and non-fiction book Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea.
1958 Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, US Army's Deputy Director of Operations during the Iraq War that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein; presently (2013) commander of Third Army.

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Today in History
October 25

1415 An English army under Henry V defeats the French at Agincourt, France. The French had out numbered Henry's troops 60,000 to 12,000 but British longbows turned the tide of the battle.
1760 George III of England crowned.
1854 During the Crimean War, a brigade of British light infantry is destroyed by Russian artillery as they charge down a narrow corridor in full view of the Russians.
1916 German pilot Rudolf von Eschwege shoots down his first enemy plane, a Nieuport 12 of the Royal Naval Air Service over Bulgaria.
1923 The Teapot Dome scandal comes to public attention as Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, subcommittee chairman, reveals the findings of the past 18 months of investigation. His case will result in the conviction of Harry F. Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, and later Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, the first cabinet member in American history to go to jail. The scandal, named for the Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming, involved Fall secretly leasing naval oil reserve lands to private companies.
1940 German troops capture Kharkov and launch a new drive toward Moscow.
1944 The Japanese are defeated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the world's largest sea engagement. From this point on, the depleted Japanese Navy increasingly resorts to the suicidal attacks of Kamikaze fighters.
1950 Chinese Communist Forces launch their first-phase offensive across the Yalu River into North Korea.
1951 In a general election, England's Labour Party loses to Conservatives. Winston Churchill becomes prime minister, and Anthony Eden becomes foreign secretary.
1954 President Eisenhower conducts the first televised Cabinet meeting.
1958 The last U.S. troops leave Beirut.
1960 Martin Luther King, Jr., is sentenced to four months in jail for a sit-in.
1962 Adlai Stevenson shows photos to the UN Security Council that prove Soviet missiles have been installed in Cuba.
1962 In South Africa, civil rights activist Nelson Mandela is sentenced to 5 years in prison.
1971 United Nations expels the Republic of China and seats the People's Republic of China.
1983 1,800 U.S. troops and 300 Caribbean troops land on Grenada. U.S. forces soon turn up evidence of a strong Cuban and Soviet presence–large stores of arms and documents suggesting close links to Cuba.
1991 The last soldiers of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the Republic of Slovenia.
2009 Terrorist bombings in Baghdad kill over 150 and wound over 700.

Born on October 25

1825 Johann Strauss, composer.
1838 Georges Bizet, composer, best known for his opera Carmen.
1881 Pablo Picasso, painter and sculptor or over 6,000 works.
1888 Richard E. Byrd, U.S. aviator and explorer who made the first flight over the North Pole.
1889 Abel Gance, film director (Napoleon).
1902 Henry Steele Commager, American historian who wrote the fifty-five volume Rise of the American Nation.
1914 John Berryman, poet.
1941 Anne Tyler, novelist (The Accidental Tourist, Ladder of Years).
1957 Nancy Cartwright, voice actress; voice of Bart Simpson and other characters in the long-running animated TV series The Simpsons.
1964 Nicole, German singer, won 1982 Errovision Song Contest singing "Ein biBchen Frieden" ("A Little Peace"); the English version reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.
1970 Adam Pascal, actor, singer (Rent; Aida).
1971 Midori Goto, violinist.
1984 Katy Perry, singer, songwriter; ("Part of Me"; "Roar") named Billboard magazine's Woman of the Year 2012.
2001 Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant; heiress apparent to the Belgian throne.

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October 28

312 Constantine the Great defeats Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge.
969 After a prolonged siege, the Byzantines end 300 years of Arab rule in Antioch.
1216 Henry III of England is crowned.
1628 After a fifteen-month siege, the Huguenot town of La Rochelle surrenders to royal forces.
1636 Harvard College, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, is founded in Cambridge, Mass.
1768 Germans and Acadians join French Creoles in their armed revolt against the Spanish governor of New Orleans.
1793 Eli Whitney applies for a patent on the cotton gin, a machine which cleans the tight-clinging seeds from short-staple cotton easily and effectively–a job which was previously done by hand.
1863 In a rare night attack, Confederates under Gen. James Longstreet attack a Federal force near Chattanooga, Tennessee, hoping to cut their supply line, the "cracker line." They fail.
1886 The Statue of Liberty, originally named Liberty Enlightening the World, is dedicated at Liberty Island, N. Y., formerly Bedloe's Island, by President Grover Cleveland
1901 Race riots sparked by Booker T. Washington's visit to the White House kill 34.
1904 The St. Louis police try a new investigation method: fingerprints.
1914 The German cruiser Emden, disguised as a British ship, steams into Penang Harbor near Malaya and sinks the Russian light cruiser Zhemchug.
1914 George Eastman announces the invention of the color photographic process.
1919 Over President Wilson's veto, Congress passes the National Prohibition Act, or Volstead Act, named after its promoter, Congressman Andrew J. Volstead. It provides enforcement guidelines for the Prohibition Amendment.
1927 Pan American Airways launches the first scheduled international flight.
1940 Italy invades Greece, launching six divisions on four fronts from occupied Albania.
1944 The first B-29 Superfortress bomber mission flies from the airfields in the Mariana Islands in a strike against the Japanese base at Truk.
1960 In a note to the OAS (Organization of American States), the United States charges that Cuba has been receiving substantial quantities of arms and numbers of military technicians" from the Soviet bloc.
1962 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders Soviet missiles removed from Cuba, ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1965 Construction completed on St. Louis Arch; at 630 feet (192m), it is the world's tallest arch.
1971 Britain launches the satellite Prospero into orbit, using a Black Arrow carrier rocket; this is the first and so far (2013) only British satellite launched by a British rocket.
1982 The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party wins election, giving Spain its first Socialist government since the death of right-wing President Francisco Franco.
2005 Libby "Scooter" Lewis, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, resigns after being indicted for "outing" CIA agent Valerie Plame.
2007 Argentina elects its first woman president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Born on October 28

1875 Gilbert Grosvenor, editor, turned the National Geographic Society's irregularly published pamphlet into a periodical with a circulation of nearly two million.
1896 Howard Hansen, composer, director of the Eastman School of music.
1903 Evelyn Waugh, English novelist who wrote Decline and Fall and Brideshead Revisited.
1909 Francis Bacon, English artist who painted expressionist portraits.
1912 Richard Doll, English epidemiologist who established a link between tobacco smoke and cancer.
1914 Jonas Salk, U.S. scientist who developed the first vaccine against polio.
1926 Bowie Kuhn, Commissioner of Major League Baseball (1969–1984).
1936 Charlie Daniels, country / Southern rock singer, songwriter, musician ("The Devil Went Down to Georgia").
1938 Anne Perry, an author of historical detective fiction, she was herself convicted at age 15 of aiding in the murder of a friend's mother in New Zealand; their crime was the basis for the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.
1944 Anton Schlecker, founder of the Schlecker Company, which operated retail stores across Europe.
1949 Bruce Jenner, athlete, actor; won gold medal in the Decathlon at the Summer Olympics in Montreal (1976).
1951 Joe R. Lansdale, author ("Hap and Leonard" novel series, "Bubba Ho-Tep"); won World Horror Convention Grand Master Award 2007.
1955 William "Bill" Gates, the chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, the world's largest software firm.
1967 Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein.
1967 Julia Roberts, actress (Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias; won Academy Award for Best Actress in Erin Brockovich).
1967 John Romero, game designer, developer; co-founded id Software (Doom, Quake).
1972 Brad Paisley, country / Southern rock singer, songwriter, musician ("I'm Gonna Miss Her," "Letter to Me"); his many awards include the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year 2010.

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October 29

1618 Sir Walter Raleigh is executed. After the death of Queen Elizabeth, Raleigh's enemies spread rumors that he was opposed the accession of King James.
1787 Mozart's opera Don Giovanni opens in Prague.
1814 The Demologos, the first steam-powered warship, launched in New York City.
1901 Leon Czolgosz is electrocuted for the assassination of US President William McKinley. Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot McKinley on September 6 during a public reception at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, N.Y. Despite early hopes of recovery, McKinley died September 14, in Buffalo, NY.
1927 Russian archaeologist Peter Kozloff apparently uncovers the tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi Desert, a claim still in dispute.
1929 Black Tuesday–the most catastrophic day in stock market history, the herald of the Great Depression. 16 million shares were sold at declining prices. By mid-November $30 billion of the $80 billion worth of stocks listed in September will have been wiped out.
1945 The first ball-point pen goes is sold by Gimbell's department store in New York for a price of $12.
1949 Alonzo G. Moron of the Virgin Islands becomes the first African-American president of Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia.
1952 French forces launch Operation Lorraine against Viet Minh supply bases in Indochina.
1964 Thieves steal a jewel collection–including the world's largest sapphire, the 565-carat "Star of India," and the 100-carat DeLong ruby–from the Museum of Natural History in New York. The thieves were caught and most of the jewels recovered.
1969 The U.S. Supreme Court orders immediate desegregation, superseding the previous "with all deliberate speed" ruling.
1969 First computer-to-computer link; the link is accomplished through ARPANET, forerunner of the Internet.
1972 Palestinian guerrillas kill an airport employee and hijack a plane, carrying 27 passengers, to Cuba. They force West Germany to release 3 terrorists who were involved in the Munich Massacre.
1983 More than 500,000 people protest in The Hague, The Netherlands, against cruise missiles.
1986 The last stretch of Britain's M25 motorway opens.
1998 South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports condemns both sides on the Apartheid issue for committing atrocities.
1998 John Glenn, at age 77, becomes the oldest person to go into outer space. He is part of the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-95.
1998 The deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record up to that time, Hurricane Mitch, makes landfall in Honduras (in 2005 Hurricane Wilma surpassed it); nearly 11,000 people died and approximately the same number were missing.
2004 For the first time, Osama bin Laden admits direct responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US; his comments are part of a video broadcast by the Al Jazeera network.
2008 Delta and Northwest airlines merge, forming the world's largest airline.
2012 Hurricane Sandy devastates much of the East Coast of the US; nearly 300 die directly or indirectly from the storm.

Born on October 29

1882 Jean Giraudoux, French dramatist, novelist and diplomat, famous for his book Tiger at the Gates.
1891 Fanny Brice, comedian, singer and actress.
1897 Joseph G. Göbbels, German Nazi Propaganda Minister who committed suicide in Hitler's bunker.
1905 Henry Green, novelist (Living, Party Going).
1910 A. J. Ayer, English philosopher.
1921 Bill Maudlin, American cartoonist whose GI characters "Willie" and "Joe" appeared in Stars and Stripes newspapers during World War II.
1938 Ralph Bakshi, Palestinian-American director of live films and animated full-length films for adults including 1972's Fritz the Cat (first animated film to be rated X by the Motion Picture Association of America), Wizards (1977) and The Lord of the Rings (1978).
1943 Don Simpson, film producer, screenwriter, actor; (co-producer Flashdance, 1985; Top Gun, 1986).
1945 Melba Moore, disco and R&B singer, actress ("You Stepped into My Life," "Lean on Me").
1946 Peter Green, guitarist, songwriter, founder of the band Fleetwood Mac; regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
1947 Richard Dreyfuss, actor (American Graffiti, Jaws; won Academy Award for Best Actor for 1977's The Goodbye Girl).
1948 Kate Jackson, actress, director, producer (original Charlie's Angels TV series, Scarecrow and Mrs. King TV series).
1954 Lee Child, author; creator of the Jack Reacher novel series.
1958 David Remnick, journals, author, magazine editor (The New Yorker); won Pulitzer Prize for Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (1994).
1971 Winona Ryder, actress, producer (Beetlejuice; Girl, Interrupted).

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Today in History
October 30

1270 The Seventh Crusade ends by the Treaty of Barbary.
1485 Henry VII of England crowned.
1697 The Treaty of Ryswick ends the war between France and the Grand Alliance.
1838 Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Lorian County, Ohio becomes the first college in the U.S. to admit female students.
1899 Two battalions of British troops are cut off, surrounded and forced to surrender to General Petrus Joubert's Boers at Nicholson's Nek.
1905 The czar of Russia issues the October Manisfesto, granting civil liberties and elections in an attempt to avert the burgeonng supprot for revolution.
1918 The Italians capture Vittorio Veneto and rout the Austro-Hungarian army.
1918 Turkey signs an armistice with the Allies, agreeing to end hostilities at noon, October 31.
1922 Mussolini sends his black shirts into Rome. The Fascist takeover is almost without bloodshed. The next day, Mussolini is made prime minister. Mussolini centralized all power in himself as leader of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Hitler's Germany.
1925 Scotsman John L. Baird performs first TV broadcast of moving objects.
1938 H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds is broadcast over the radio by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Many panic believing it is an actual newscast about a Martian invasion.
1941 The U.S. destroyer Reuben James, on convoy duty off Iceland, is sunk by a German U-boat with the loss of 96 Americans.
1950 The First Marine Division is ordered to replace the entire South Korean I Corps at the Chosin Reservoir area.
1953 US Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves a top secret document to maintain and expand the country's nuclear arsenal.
1961 The USSR detonates "Tsar Bomba," a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb; it is still (2013) the largest explosive device of any kind over detonated.
1965 US Marines repeal multiple-wave attacks by Viet Cong within a few miles of Da Nang where the Marines were based; a sketch of Marine positions was found on the body of a 13-year-old boy who had been selling the Americans drinks the previous day.
1973 The Bosphorus Bridge is completed at Istanbul, Turkey, connecting Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus Strait.
1974 The "Rumble in the Jungle," a boxing match in Zaire that many regard as the greatest sporting event of the 20th century, saw challenger Muhammad Ali knock out previously undefeated World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman.
1975 Prince Juan Carlos becomes acting head of state in Spain, replacing the ailing dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.
1985 Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for its final successful mission.
1991 BET Holdings Inc., becomes the first African-American company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
2005 The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) that was destroyed during the firebombing of Dresden in WWII is rededicated.

Born on October 30

1735 John Adams, second president of the United States who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolution.
1751 Richard Sheridan, playwright (The Rivals, The School for Scandal).
1839 Alfred Sisley, landscape painter.
1857 Gertrude Atherton, novelist.
1871 Paul Valery, poet and essayist.
1882 William F. "Bull" Halsey, Jr., American admiral who played an instrumental role in the defeat of Japan during World War II. The Japanese surrender was signed on his flagship, the USS Missouri.
1885 Ezra Pound, American poet who promoted Imagism, a poetic movement stressing free phrase rather than forced metric. He was imprisoned for his pro-Fascist radio broadcasts.
1896 Ruth Gordon, Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe–winning actress (Harold and Maude, Rosemary's Baby).
1906 Hermann Fegelein, SS general of WWII who was brother-in-law to Adolf Hitler's mistress Eva Braun.
1915 Fred W. Friendly, president of CBS News and co-creator of the documentary series See It Now, the program largely credited for bringing down Sen. Joe McCarthy.
1930 Clifford "Brpwnie" Brown, influential jazz trumpeter and composer ("Joy Spring," "Daahoud").
1936 Dick Vermeil, head coach of the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles (1976–1982), St. Louis Rams (1997–1999), and Kansas City Chiefs (2001–2005).
1939 Grace Slick, singer, songwriter; lead singer for the bands The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship.
1945 Henry Winkler, actor, director, producer; rose to fame as "The Fonz" on Happy Days TV series, a role that twice earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.
1970 Tory Belleci, filmmaker and model maker known for his work on the Mythbusters TV series; also worked on two Star Wars films.

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Today in History
October 31

1517 Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. Luther's theories and writings inaugurate Protestantism, shattering the external structure of the medieval church and at the same time reviving the religious consciousness of Europe.
1803 Congress ratifies the purchase of the entire Louisiana area in North America, adding territory to the U.S. which will eventually become 13 more states.
1838 A mob of about 200 attacks a Mormon camp in Missouri, killing 20 men, women and children.
1864 Nevada becomes the 36th state.
1941 After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed.
1952 The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1968 The bombing of North Vietnam is halted by the United States.
1971 Saigon begins the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW's.
1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her bodyguard.
1998 Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 people on board.
2000 Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station.
2002 Former Enron Corp. CEO Andrew Fastow convicted on 78 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice and wire fraud; the Enron collapse cost investors millions and led to new oversight legislation.

Born on October 31

1795 John Keats, poet.
1802 Benoit Fourneyron, inventor of the water turbine.
1860 Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts.
1887 Chiang Kai-Shek, Chinese Nationalist.
1896 Ethel Waters, actress and blues singer.
1902 Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet, journalist and short story writer.
1917 William H. McNeil, historian (The Rise of the West).
1925 Charles Moore, influential post-modern architect.
1930 Michael Collins, U.S. astronaut.
1931 Dan Rather, journalist; anchor of CBS Evening News (1981–2005).
1936 Michael Landon, actor (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie TV series).
1937 Tom Paxton, folk singer, songwriter, musician; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2009).
1942 David Ogden Stiers, actor; best known for his role as stuffy Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H* TV series (1977–1983).
1950 Jane Pauley, journalist; co-host of The Today Show (1976–1989) and Dateline NBC (1992–2003).
1950 Antonio Taguba, retired US Army major general best known for authoring the Taguba Report on abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; Taguba is the second American citizen of Philippine birth to reach the rank of general in the US Army.
1961 Sir Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director, producer, screenwriter (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit)
1961 Larry Mullen Jr., musician; drummer for U2 band.
2005 Infanta Leonor of Spain, second in line of succession to the Spanish throne.

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Today in History
October 31

1517 Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. Luther's theories and writings inaugurate Protestantism, shattering the external structure of the medieval church and at the same time reviving the religious consciousness of Europe.
1803 Congress ratifies the purchase of the entire Louisiana area in North America, adding territory to the U.S. which will eventually become 13 more states.
1838 A mob of about 200 attacks a Mormon camp in Missouri, killing 20 men, women and children.
1864 Nevada becomes the 36th state.
1941 After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed.
1952 The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1968 The bombing of North Vietnam is halted by the United States.
1971 Saigon begins the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW's.
1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her bodyguard.
1998 Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 people on board.
2000 Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station.
2002 Former Enron Corp. CEO Andrew Fastow convicted on 78 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice and wire fraud; the Enron collapse cost investors millions and led to new oversight legislation.

Born on October 31

1795 John Keats, poet.
1802 Benoit Fourneyron, inventor of the water turbine.
1860 Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts.
1887 Chiang Kai-Shek, Chinese Nationalist.
1896 Ethel Waters, actress and blues singer.
1902 Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet, journalist and short story writer.
1917 William H. McNeil, historian (The Rise of the West).
1925 Charles Moore, influential post-modern architect.
1930 Michael Collins, U.S. astronaut.
1931 Dan Rather, journalist; anchor of CBS Evening News (1981–2005).
1936 Michael Landon, actor (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie TV series).
1937 Tom Paxton, folk singer, songwriter, musician; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2009).
1942 David Ogden Stiers, actor; best known for his role as stuffy Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H* TV series (1977–1983).
1950 Jane Pauley, journalist; co-host of The Today Show (1976–1989) and Dateline NBC (1992–2003).
1950 Antonio Taguba, retired US Army major general best known for authoring the Taguba Report on abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; Taguba is the second American citizen of Philippine birth to reach the rank of general in the US Army.
1961 Sir Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director, producer, screenwriter (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit)
1961 Larry Mullen Jr., musician; drummer for U2 band.
2005 Infanta Leonor of Spain, second in line of succession to the Spanish throne.

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