This Day in History

10/8/1871: Great Chicago Fire Begins​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-chicago-fire-begins

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.

Despite the fire's devastation, much of Chicago's physical infrastructure, including its water, sewage and transportation systems, remained intact. Reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great economic development and population growth, as architects laid the foundation for a modern city featuring the world's first skyscrapers. At the time of the fire, Chicago's population was approximately 324,000; within nine years, there were 500,000 Chicagoans. By 1893, the city was a major economic and transportation hub with an estimated population of 1.5 million. That same year, Chicago was chosen to host the World's Columbian Exposition, a major tourist attraction visited by 27.5 million people, or approximately half the U.S. population at the time.

In 1997, the Chicago City Council exonerated Mrs. O'Leary and her cow. She turned into a recluse after the fire, and died in 1895.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Continentals raid Unadilla, 1778

Automotive
- Frank Duryea, winner of the first American "horseless carriage" race, is born, 1869

Civil War
- Union troops stop Rebels at the Battle of Perryville, 1862

Cold War
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature, 1970

Crime
- Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians, 1990

Disaster
- Fire rips through Chicago, 1871

General Interest
- First transcontinental air race, 1919
- Che Guevara defeated, 1967
- Massive earthquake hits Kashmir region, 2005

Hollywood
- Matt Damon born, 1970

Literary
- Lord Peter Wimsey marries Harriet Vane, 1937

Music
- Jerry Lee Lewis records "Great Balls Of Fire" in Memphis, Tennessee, 1957

Old West
- The Great Fire destroys much of Chicago, 1871

Presidential
- U.S. House of Representatives initiates Clinton impeachment inquiry, 1998

Sports
- Don Larsen is perfect in World Series, 1956

Vietnam War
- U.S. and South Vietnamese navies commence Operation Sealords, 1968
- Communists reject Nixon's peace proposal, 1970
- Possible breakthrough at Paris peace talks, 1972

World War I
- U.S. soldier Alvin York displays heroics at Argonne, 1918

World War II
- Germans overrun Mariupol, in southern Russia, 1941

 

10/9/1967: Che Guevara Is Executed​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/che-guevara-is-executed

On this day in 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and assassinated him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara's remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna was born to a well-off family in Argentina in 1928. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, he took time off to travel around South America on a motorcycle; during this time, he witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes. He received a medical degree in 1953 and continued his travels around Latin America, becoming involved with left-wing organizations. In the mid 1950s, Guevara met up with Fidel Castro and his group of exiled revolutionaries in Mexico. Guevara played a key role in Castro's seizure of power from Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and later served as Castro's right-hand man and minister of industry. Guevara strongly opposed U.S. domination in Latin America and advocated peasant-based revolutions to combat social injustice in Third World countries. Castro later described him as "an artist of revolutionary warfare."

Guevara resigned—some say he was dismissed—from his Cuban government post in April 1965, possibly over differences with Castro about the nation’s economic and foreign policies. Guevara then disappeared from Cuba, traveled to Africa and eventually resurfaced in Bolivia, where he was killed. Following his death, Guevara achieved hero status among people around the world as a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolution. A 1960 photo taken by Alberto Korda of Guevara in a beret became iconic and has since appeared on countless posters and T-shirts. However, not everyone considers Guevara a hero: He is accused, among other things, of ordering the deaths of hundreds of people in Cuban prisons during the revolution.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Lord Dartmouth orders British officers to North Carolina, 1775

Automotive
- Meteorite crashes into Chevy Malibu, 1992

Civil War
- Union cavalry defeat Rebels at the Battle of Tom's Brook, 1864

Cold War
- Professional revolutionary "Che" Guevara is executed in Bolivia, 1967

Crime
- A Chicago bootlegger escapes from prison, 1942

Disaster
- Landslide kills thousands in Italy, 1963

General Interest
- Rhode Island founder banished from Massachusetts, 1635
- St. Paul's Cathedral bombed, 1940
- Oskar Schindler dies, 1974
- Sakharov wins Peace Prize, 1975

Hollywood
- Footloose, Steel Magnolias director Herbert Ross dies, 2001

Literary
- Miguel de Cervantes is baptized, 1547

Music
- Disco/Classical hybrid "A Fifth Of Beethoven" is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts, 1976

Old West
- Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to Los Angeles, 1936

Presidential
- President Grant announces death of former President Pierce, 1869

Sports
- The Gashouse Gang wins the World Series, 1934

Vietnam War
- The National Guard breaks up protests at home, 1969
- Khmer Republic proclaimed in Cambodia., 1970

World War I
- Belgrade falls to Austria-Hungary, 1915

World War II
- Churchill and Stalin confer, 1944

 

10/10/1985: Achille Lauro Hijacking Ends​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/achille-lauro-hijacking-ends

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.

On October 7, four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. Some 320 crewmembers and 80 passengers, were taken hostage. Hundreds of other passengers had disembarked the cruise ship earlier that day to visit Cairo and tour the Egyptian pyramids. Identifying themselves as members of the Palestine Liberation Front--a Palestinian splinter group--the gunmen demanded the release of 50 Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel. If their demands were not met, they threatened to blow up the ship and kill the 11 Americans on board. The next morning, they also threatened to kill the British passengers.

The Achille Lauro traveled to the Syrian port of Tartus, where the terrorists demanded negotiations on October 8. Syria refused to permit the ship to anchor in its waters, which prompted more threats from the hijackers. That afternoon, they shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Jewish-American who was confined to a wheelchair as the result of a stroke. His body was then pushed overboard in the wheelchair.

Yasir Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned the hijacking, and PLO officials joined with Egyptian authorities in attempting to resolve the crisis. On the recommendation of the negotiators, the cruise ship traveled to Port Said. On October 9, the hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities and freed the hostages in exchange for a pledge of safe passage to an undisclosed destination.

The next day--October 10--the four hijackers boarded an EgyptAir Boeing 737 airliner, along with Mohammed Abbas, a member of the Palestine Liberation Front who had participated in the negotiations; a PLO official; and several Egyptians. The 737 took off from Cairo at 4:15 p.m. EST and headed for Tunisia. President Ronald Reagan gave his final order approving the plan to intercept the aircraft, and at 5:30 p.m. EST, F-14 Tomcat fighters located the airliner 80 miles south of Crete. Without announcing themselves, the F-14s trailed the airliner as it sought and was denied permission to land at Tunis. After a request to land at the Athens airport was likewise refused, the F-14s turned on their lights and flew wing-to-wing with the airliner. The aircraft was ordered to land at a NATO air base in Sicily, and the pilot complied, touching down at 6:45 p.m. The hijackers were arrested soon after. Abbas and the other Palestinian were released, prompting criticism from the United States, which wanted to investigate their possible involvement in the hijacking.

On July 10, 1986, an Italian court later convicted three of the terrorists and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 15 to 30 years. Three others, including Mohammed Abbas, were convicted in absentia for masterminding the hijacking and sentenced to life in prison. They received harsher penalties because, unlike the hijackers, who the court found were acting for "patriotic motives," Abbas and the others conceived the hijacking as a "selfish political act" designed "to weaken the leadership of Yasir Arafat." The fourth hijacker was a minor who was tried and convicted separately.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Howe named commander in chief of British army, 1775

Automotive
- Whitesnake's iconic video features Jaguars, 1987

Civil War
- Confederate General Magruder is sent to Texas, 1862

Cold War
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to African diplomat, 1957

Crime
- A former postal worker commits mass murder, 1991

Disaster
- Great Hurricane ravages West Indies, 1780

General Interest
- Battle of Tours, 732
- Birth of the U.S. Naval Academy, 1845
- October Crisis in Canada, 1970
- Vice President Agnew resigns, 1973

Hollywood
- Superman Christopher Reeve dies at age 52, 2004

Literary
- Darwin publishes work on mold and worms, 1881

Music
- Porgy and Bess, the first great American opera, premieres on Broadway, 1935

Old West
- Custer's funeral is held at West Point, 1877

Presidential
- Truman signs Mutual Security Act, 1951

Sports
- Braves beat the Yanks to win World Series, 1957

Vietnam War
- 1st Cavalry Division commences operations, 1965
- U.S. Navy transfers vessels to South Vietnamese, 1969

World War I
- Eighth Battle of the Isonzo , 1916

World War II
- Eight hundred children are gassed to death at Auschwitz, 1944

10/11/2002: Jimmy Carter Wins Nobel Prize​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jimmy-carter-wins-nobel-prize

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."

Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia, served one term as U.S. president between 1977 and 1981. One of his key achievements as president was mediating the peace talks between Israel and Egypt in 1978. The Nobel Committee had wanted to give Carter (1924- ) the prize that year for his efforts, along with Anwar Sadat and Menachim Begin, but was prevented from doing so by a technicality--he had not been nominated by the official deadline.

After he left office, Carter and his wife Rosalynn created the Atlanta-based Carter Center in 1982 to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering. Since 1984, they have worked with Habitat for Humanity to build homes and raise awareness of homelessness. Among his many accomplishments, Carter has helped to fight disease and improve economic growth in developing nations and has served as an observer at numerous political elections around the world.

The first Nobel Prizes--awards established by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) in his will--were handed out in Sweden in 1901 in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The Nobel Prize in economics was first awarded in 1969. Carter was the third U.S. president to receive the award, worth $1 million, following Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Woodrow Wilson (1919).

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Benedict Arnold fights valiantly at Valcour Island, 1776

Automotive
- Blind driver breaks land-speed record, 2008

Civil War
- Rebels raid Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 1862

Cold War
- Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, 1986

Crime
- A mail car explodes in a train robbery, 1923

Disaster
- Yellow fever breaks out in Philadelphia, 1793

General Interest
-Benedict Arnold and the Battle of Valcour Island, 1776
- Boer War begins in South Africa, 1899
- Pope opens Vatican II, 1962
- Apollo 7 launched, 1968

Hollywood
-Saturday Night Live debuts, 1975

Literary
- Elmore Leonard is born, 1925

Music
- Bruce Springsteen scores his first pop hit with "Born to Run", 1975

Old West
- Meriwether Lewis dies along the Natchez Trace, Tennessee, 1809

Presidential
- Bill Clinton marries Hillary Rodham, 1975

Sports
- Martinez-Zimmer scuffle interrupts ALCS, 2003

Vietnam War
- Viet Minh take control in the north, 1954
- Kennedy ponders the Vietnam situation, 1961

World War I
- Bulgaria enters World War I , 1915

World War II
- United States defeats Japanese in the Battle of Cape Esperance, 1942

 

10/12/1942: Columbus Reaches the New World​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbus-reaches-the-new-world

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.

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Little is known of his early life, but he worked as a seaman and then a maritime entrepreneur. He became obsessed with the possibility of pioneering a western sea route to Cathay (China), India, and the gold and spice islands of Asia. At the time, Europeans knew no direct sea route to southern Asia, and the route via Egypt and the Red Sea was closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire, as were many land routes. Contrary to popular legend, educated Europeans of Columbus' day did believe that the world was round, as argued by St. Isidore in the seventh century. However, Columbus, and most others, underestimated the world's size, calculating that East Asia must lie approximately where North America sits on the globe (they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed).

With only the Atlantic Ocean, he thought, lying between Europe and the riches of the East Indies, Columbus met with King John II of Portugal and tried to persuade him to back his "Enterprise of the Indies," as he called his plan. He was rebuffed and went to Spain, where he was also rejected at least twice by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. However, after the Spanish conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada in January 1492, the Spanish monarchs, flush with victory, agreed to support his voyage.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. On October 12, the expedition reached land, probably Watling Island in the Bahamas. Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and in December the expedition landed on Hispaniola, which Columbus thought might be Japan. He established a small colony there with 39 of his men. The explorer returned to Spain with gold, spices, and "Indian" captives in March 1493 and was received with the highest honors by the Spanish court. He was the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland in the 10th century.

During his lifetime, Columbus led a total of four expeditions to the New World, discovering various Caribbean islands, the Gulf of Mexico, and the South and Central American mainlands, but he never accomplished his original goal—a western ocean route to the great cities of Asia. Columbus died in Spain in 1506 without realizing the great scope of what he did achieve: He had discovered for Europe the New World, whose riches over the next century would help make Spain the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- British troops head up East River, 1776

Automotive
- Silent-film star Tom Mix dies in Arizona car wreck; brained by "Suitcase of Death", 1940

Civil War
- Confederate leader Robert E. Lee dies, 1870

Cold War
- Nikita Khrushchev throws a tantrum at the United Nations, 1960

Crime
- The victim of an anti-gay assault dies, 1998

Disaster
- Fire rages in Minnesota, 19-

General Interest
- The origin of Oktoberfest, 1810
- British nurse executed in WWI, 1915
- Conscientious objector wins Medal of Honor, 1945
- USSR leads the space race, 1964
- USS Cole attacked by terrorists, 2000
- Terrorists kill 202 in Bali, 2002

Hollywood
- Al Gore wins Nobel Prize in the wake of An Inconvenient Truth, 2007

Literary
- Actress, playwright, novelist Alice Childress is born, 1912

Music
- John Denver dies in an aircraft accident, 1997

Old West
- The Cowboy actor Tom Mix dies in an Arizona car accident, 1940

Presidential
- Thomas Jefferson composes romantic letter, 1786

Sports
- Athletics score 10 in eighth inning of championship game, 1929

Vietnam War
- Dean Rusk criticizes Congress while fighting continues in South Vietnam, 1967
- Nixon announces another round of troop withdrawals, 1970
- Racial violence breaks out aboard U.S. Navy ships, 1972

World War I
- British nurse Edith Cavell executed , 1915

World War II
- Gen. Joseph Stilwell dies, 1946

10/13/1792: White House Cornerstone Laid​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/white-house-cornerstone-laid

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.

The city of Washington was created to replace Philadelphia as the nation's capital because of its geographical position in the center of the existing new republic. The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded land around the Potomac River to form the District of Columbia, and work began on Washington in 1791. French architect Charles L'Enfant designed the area's radical layout, full of dozens of circles, crisscross avenues, and plentiful parks. In 1792, work began on the neoclassical White House building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue under the guidance of Irish American architect James Hoban, whose design was influenced by Leinster House in Dublin and by a building sketch in James Gibbs' Book of Architecture. President George Washington chose the site.

On November 1, President John Adams was welcomed into the executive mansion. His wife, Abigail, wrote about their new home: "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house, and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but wise men ever rule under this roof!"

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the White House was set on fire along with the U.S. Capitol by British soldiers in retaliation for the burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. troops. The burned-out building was subsequently rebuilt and enlarged under the direction of James Hoban, who added east and west terraces to the main building, along with a semicircular south portico and a colonnaded north portico. The smoke-stained stone walls were painted white. Work was completed on the White House in the 1820s.

Major restoration occurred during the administration of President Harry Truman, and Truman lived across the street for several years in Blair House. Since 1995, Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Lafayette Square has been closed to vehicular traffic for security reasons. Today, more than a million tourists visit the White House annually. It is the oldest federal building in the nation's capital.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Continental Congress authorizes first naval force, 1775

Automotive
- World's first traveling art museum opens in Virginia, 1953

Civil War
- Ohio voters reject Vallandigham, 1863

Cold War
- Popular sci-fi film reflects America's ambivalence about nuclear weapons, 1957

Crime
- Grand jury dismissed in JonBenet Ramsey murder case, 1999

Disaster
- Chilean miners are rescued after 69 days underground, 2010

General Interest
- Continental Navy established, 1775
- Sir Isaac Brock saves Canada, 1812
- B'nai B'rith founded, 1843
- Palestinians hijack German airliner, 1977

Hollywood
- Jimmy Stewart stars in Harvey, 1950

Literary
- Poet Robert Lowell sentenced to prison, 1943

Music
- Singer Charlie Rich protests John Denver's big win at the CMA Awards, 1975

Old West
- Texans ratify a state constitution and approve annexation, 1845

Presidential
- White House cornerstone is laid, 1792

Sports
- American Basketball Association debuts, 1967

Vietnam War
- McNamara claims that war is progressing satisfactorily, 1966
- Sir Robert Thompson advises President Nixon, 1970

World War I
- Poet Charles Sorley killed at Loos, 1915

World War II
- Italy declares war on Germany, 1943

 

10/14/1947: Yeager Breaks Sound Barrier​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeager-breaks-sound-barrier

U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Yeager, born in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923, was a combat fighter during World War II and flew 64 missions over Europe. He shot down 13 German planes and was himself shot down over France, but he escaped capture with the assistance of the French Underground. After the war, he was among several volunteers chosen to test-fly the experimental X-1 rocket plane, built by the Bell Aircraft Company to explore the possibility of supersonic flight.

For years, many aviators believed that man was not meant to fly faster than the speed of sound, theorizing that transonic drag rise would tear any aircraft apart. All that changed on October 14, 1947, when Yeager flew the X-1 over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California. The X-1 was lifted to an altitude of 25,000 feet by a B-29 aircraft and then released through the bomb bay, rocketing to 40,000 feet and exceeding 662 miles per hour (the sound barrier at that altitude). The rocket plane, nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis," was designed with thin, unswept wings and a streamlined fuselage modeled after a .50-caliber bullet.

Because of the secrecy of the project, Bell and Yeager's achievement was not announced until June 1948. Yeager continued to serve as a test pilot, and in 1953 he flew 1,650 miles per hour in an X-1A rocket plane. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1975 with the rank of brigadier general.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Patriots sting Loyalists at Shallow Ford, North Carolina, 1780

Automotive
- Elwood Haynes, "Grandsire of Gasoline Cars," is born, 1857

Civil War
- Union repels Rebels at the Battle of Bristoe Station, 1863

Cold War
- The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, 1962

Crime
- Trial begins in Amityville murders, 1975

Disaster
- Coal miners die in Wales, 1913

General Interest
- The Battle of Hastings, 1066
- Theodore Roosevelt shot in Milwaukee, 1912
- King wins Nobel Peace Prize, 1964

Hollywood
- Pulp Fiction debuts, 1994

Literary
- Victor Hugo marries Adele Foucher, 1822

Music
- "Wake Up Little Susie" becomes the Everly Brothers' first #1 hit, 1957

Old West
- Ralph Lauren, designer of popular western-style clothing, is born in New York, 1939

Presidential
- Dwight D. Eisenhower is born, 1890

Sports
- Steve Bartman catches ball, 2003

Vietnam War
- Khrushchev ousted as premier of Soviet Union, 1964
- U.S. servicemen sent to Vietnam for second tours, 1968

World War I
- Adolf Hitler wounded in British gas attack, 1918

World War II
- "The Desert Fox" commits suicide, 1944

10/15/1917: Mata Hari Executed​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mata-hari-executed

Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.

She first came to Paris in 1905 and found fame as a performer of exotic Asian-inspired dances. She soon began touring all over Europe, telling the story of how she was born in a sacred Indian temple and taught ancient dances by a priestess who gave her the name Mata Hari, meaning "eye of the day" in Malay. In reality, Mata Hari was born in a small town in northern Holland in 1876, and her real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. She acquired her superficial knowledge of Indian and Javanese dances when she lived for several years in Malaysia with her former husband, who was a Scot in the Dutch colonial army. Regardless of her authenticity, she packed dance halls and opera houses from Russia to France, mostly because her show consisted of her slowly stripping nude.

She became a famous courtesan, and with the outbreak of World War I her catalog of lovers began to include high-ranking military officers of various nationalities. In February 1917, French authorities arrested her for espionage and imprisoned her at St. Lazare Prison in Paris. In a military trial conducted in July, she was accused of revealing details of the Allies' new weapon, the tank, resulting in the deaths of thousands of soldiers. She was convicted and sentenced to death, and on October 15 she refused a blindfold and was shot to death by a firing squad at Vincennes.

There is some evidence that Mata Hari acted as a German spy, and for a time as a double agent for the French, but the Germans had written her off as an ineffective agent whose pillow talk had produced little intelligence of value. Her military trial was riddled with bias and circumstantial evidence, and it is probable that French authorities trumped her up as "the greatest woman spy of the century" as a distraction for the huge losses the French army was suffering on the western front. Her only real crimes may have been an elaborate stage fallacy and a weakness for men in uniform.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- British retreat from Middleburgh, 1780

Automotive
- "Funeral coaches" exempted from car-seat law, 2004

Civil War
- Confederate submarine sinks during tests, 1863

Cold War
- Mikhail Gorbachev wins Nobel Peace Prize, 1990

Crime
- A murderous husband is executed, 1948

Disaster
- Hurricane Hazel hits the Carolinas and Ontario, 1954

General Interest
- Vichy leader executed for treason, 1945
- Gretzky breaks scoring record, 1989
- Thomas confirmed to the Supreme Court, 1991

Hollywood
- Drew Carey debuts as new host of The Price is Right, 2007

Literary
- P.G. Wodehouse is born, 1881

Music
- Duke Ellington records his first big hit, "Mood Indigo", 1930

Old West
- Chiricahua Apache leader Victorio is killed south of El Paso, Texas, 1880

Presidential
- Gerald Ford marries Elizabeth Bloomer, 1948

Sports
- Wayne Gretzky breaks NHL points record, 1989

Vietnam War
- First draft card burned, 1965
- Operation Attleboro continues in Tay Ninh Province, 1966
- National Moratorium demonstrations held across the United States, 1969

World War I
- Mata Hari is executed, 1917

World War II
- Herman Goering dies, 1946

 

10/16/1934: The Long March​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-long-march

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 Cheng—the "Long March"—the retreat lasted 368 days and covered 6,000 miles, nearly twice the distance from New York to San Francisco.

Civil war in China between the Nationalists and the Communists broke out in 1927. In 1931, Communist leader Mao Zedong was elected chairman of the newly established Soviet Republic of China, based in Kiangsi province in the southwest. Between 1930 and 1934, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek launched a series of five encirclement campaigns against the Soviet Republic. Under the leadership of Mao, the Communists employed guerrilla tactics to resist successfully the first four campaigns, but in the fifth, Chiang raised 700,000 troops and built fortifications around the Communist positions. Hundreds of thousands of peasants were killed or died of starvation in the siege, and Mao was removed as chairman by the Communist Central Committee. The new Communist leadership employed more conventional warfare tactics, and its Red Army was decimated.

With defeat imminent, the Communists decided to break out of the encirclement at its weakest points. The Long March began at 5:00 p.m. on October 16, 1934. Secrecy and rear-guard actions confused the Nationalists, and it was several weeks before they realized that the main body of the Red Army had fled. The retreating force initially consisted of 86,000 troops, 15,000 personnel, and 35 women. Weapons and supplies were borne on men's backs or in horse-drawn carts, and the line of marchers stretched for 50 miles. The Communists generally marched at night, and when the enemy was not near, a long column of torches could be seen snaking over valleys and hills into the distance.

The first disaster came in November, when Nationalist forces blocked the Communists' route across the Hsiang River. It took a week for the Communists to break through the fortifications and cost them 50,000 men—more than half their number. After that debacle, Mao steadily regained his influence, and in January he was again made chairman during a meeting of the party leaders in the captured city of Tsuni. Mao changed strategy, breaking his force into several columns that would take varying paths to confuse the enemy. There would be no more direct assaults on enemy positions. And the destination would now be Shensi Province, in the far northwest, where the Communists hoped to fight the Japanese invaders and earn the respect of China's masses.

After enduring starvation, aerial bombardment, and almost daily skirmishes with Nationalist forces, Mao halted his columns at the foot of the Great Wall of China on October 20, 1935. Waiting for them were five machine-gun- and red-flag-bearing horsemen. "Welcome, Chairman Mao," one said. "We represent the Provincial Soviet of Northern Shensi. We have been waiting for you anxiously. All that we have is at your disposal!" The Long March was over.

The Communist marchers crossed 24 rivers and 18 mountain ranges, mostly snow-capped. Only 4,000 troops completed the journey. The majority of those who did not perished. It was the longest continuous march in the history of warfare and marked the emergence of Mao Zedong as the undisputed leader of the Chinese Communists. Learning of the Communists' heroism and determination in the Long March, thousands of young Chinese traveled to Shensi to enlist in Mao's Red Army. After fighting the Japanese for a decade, the Chinese Civil War resumed in 1945. Four years later, the Nationalists were defeated, and Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China. He served as chairman until his death in 1976.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Philadelphia Resolutions criticize Tea Act, 1773

Automotive
- Chevrolet introduces the El Camino, 1958

Civil War
- Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on Harpers Ferry, 1859

Cold War
- China joins A-bomb club, 1964

Crime
- Twenty-three diners massacred at Texas restaurant, 1991

Disaster
- Stampede kills 84 at World Cup match, 1996

General Interest
- Marie-Antoinette is beheaded, 1793
- Nazi war criminals executed, 1946
- Baby Jessica rescued from a well as the world watches, 1987

Hollywood
- Angela Lansbury born, 1925

LITERARY
- Oscar Wilde's birthday, 1854

Music
- "Disco Duck" hits the #1 spot on the U.S. pop chart, 1976

Old West
- Psychopathic gunfighter "Wild Bill" Longley is born in Texas, 1851

Presidential
- Lincoln speaks out against slavery, 1854

Sports
- Fred Snodgrass drops ball and loses World Series, 1912

Vietnam War
- Bombing halt discussed, 1968
- Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho awarded Nobel Peace Prize, 1973

World War I
- British soldier Henry Farr executed for cowardice, 1916

World War II
- Alfred Rosenberg is executed, 1946

 

10/17/1931: Capone Goes to Prison​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/capone-goes-to-prison

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.

Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to Italian immigrants. He was expelled from school at 14, joined a gang and earned his nickname "Scarface" after being sliced across the cheek during a fight. By 1920, Capone had moved to Chicago, where he was soon helping to run crime boss Johnny Torrio's illegal enterprises, which included alcohol-smuggling, gambling and prostitution. Torrio retired in 1925 after an attempt on his life and Capone, known for his cunning and brutality, was put in charge of the organization.

Prohibition, which outlawed the brewing and distribution of alcohol and lasted from 1920 to 1933, proved extremely lucrative for bootleggers and gangsters like Capone, who raked in millions from his underworld activities. Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.'s "Most Wanted" list by 1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. He became Chicago's crime kingpin by wiping out his competitors through a series of gangland battles and slayings, including the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Capone's men gunned down seven rivals. This event helped raise Capone's notoriety to a national level.

Among Capone's enemies was federal agent Elliot Ness, who led a team of officers known as "The Untouchables" because they couldn't be corrupted. Ness and his men routinely broke up Capone's bootlegging businesses, but it was tax-evasion charges that finally stuck and landed Capone in prison in 1931. Capone began serving his time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, but amid accusations that he was manipulating the system and receiving cushy treatment, he was transferred to the maximum-security lockup at Alcatraz Island, in California's San Francisco Bay. He got out early in 1939 for good behavior, after spending his final year in prison in a hospital, suffering from syphilis.

Plagued by health problems for the rest of his life, Capone died in 1947 at age 48 at his home in Palm Island, Florida.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Americans win more than a battle at Saratoga, 1777

Automotive
- OPEC states declare oil embargo, 1973

Civil War
- The Confederate's James Longstreet returns to command, 1864

Cold War
- U.S. aid to Contras signed into law, 1986

Crime
- A shoemaker leads German soldiers in a robbery, 1906

Disaster
- Loma Prieta earthquake strikes near San Francisco, 1989

General Interest
- Patriot victory at Saratoga, 1777
- Algerians massacred in Paris, 1961
- OPEC enacts oil embargo, 1973
- Earthquake rocks San Francisco, 1989

Hollywood
- Benji debuts, 1974

Literary
- Nathanael West is born, 1903

Music
- R&B legends the Drifters earn a #1 pop hit with "Save the Last Dance For Me", 1960

Old West
- The first resolution formally creating the Texas Rangers is approved, 1835

Presidential
- Ford explains his pardon of Nixon to Congress, 1974

Sports
- Olympic protestors stripped of their medals, 1968

Vietnam War
- President Johnson goes to Asia, 1966

World War I
- Serbia and Greece declare war on Ottoman Empire in First Balkan War, 1912

World War II
- Konoye government falls, 1941

10/18/1867: U.S. Takes Possession of Alaska​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-takes-possession-of-alaska

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.

Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden," among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson's own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal. Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska's Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America's oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated. The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means "great land." Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward's Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Mason and Dixon draw a line, 1767

Automotive
- R. Buckminster Fuller tries to patent his Dymaxion Car, 1933

Civil War
- Controversial Union General Sickles visits his troops, 1863

Cold War
- East Germany and Hungary move toward democracy, 1989

Crime
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrested for drug possession, 1968

Disaster
- Pipeline explosions kills 700 in Nigeria, 1998

General Interest
- Ferdinand and Isabella marry, 1469
- Peking's Summer Palace destroyed, 1860
- U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico, 1898
- Edison dies, 1931

Hollywood
- Roseanne debuts, 1988

Literary
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Music
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Old West
- The United States formally takes possession of Alaska from Russia, 1867

Presidential
- JFK records his impressions of secret meetings, 1962

Sports
- Mr. October hits three homers in three swings, 1977

Vietnam War
- Emperor Bao Dai attempts to dismiss Diem, 1955
- Stock market soars with rumors of bombing halt in Vietnam, 1968

World War I
- Third Battle of the Isonzo , 1915

World War II
- Vice Admiral Halsey named new commander of the South Pacific, 1942

10/19/1781: Victory at Yorktown​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-at-yorktown

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.

Lord Cornwallis was one of the most capable British generals of the American Revolution. In 1776, he drove General George Washington's Patriots forces out of New Jersey, and in 1780 he won a stunning victory over General Horatio Gates' Patriot army at Camden, South Carolina. Cornwallis' subsequent invasion of North Carolina was less successful, however, and in April 1781 he led his weary and battered troops toward the Virginia coast, where he could maintain seaborne lines of communication with the large British army of General Henry Clinton in New York City. After conducting a series of raids against towns and plantations in Virginia, Cornwallis settled in the tidewater town of Yorktown in August. The British immediately began fortifying the town and the adjacent promontory of Gloucester Point across the York River.

General George Washington instructed the Marquis de Lafayette, who was in Virginia with an American army of around 5,000 men, to block Cornwallis' escape from Yorktown by land. In the meantime, Washington's 2,500 troops in New York were joined by a French army of 4,000 men under the Count de Rochambeau. Washington and Rochambeau made plans to attack Cornwallis with the assistance of a large French fleet under the Count de Grasse, and on August 21 they crossed the Hudson River to march south to Yorktown. Covering 200 miles in 15 days, the allied force reached the head of Chesapeake Bay in early September.

Meanwhile, a British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves failed to break French naval superiority at the Battle of Virginia Capes on September 5, denying Cornwallis his expected reinforcements. Beginning September 14, de Grasse transported Washington and Rochambeau's men down the Chesapeake to Virginia, where they joined Lafayette and completed the encirclement of Yorktown on September 28. De Grasse landed another 3,000 French troops carried by his fleet. During the first two weeks of October, the 14,000 Franco-American troops gradually overcame the fortified British positions with the aid of de Grasse's warships. A large British fleet carrying 7,000 men set out to rescue Cornwallis, but it was too late.

On October 19, General Cornwallis surrendered 7,087 officers and men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport ships. Pleading illness, he did not attend the surrender ceremony, but his second-in-command, General Charles O'Hara, carried Cornwallis' sword to the American and French commanders. As the British and Hessian troops marched out to surrender, the British bands played the song "The World Turned Upside Down."

Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown effectively ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, 1781

Automotive
-John Z. DeLorean is arrested in $24 million cocaine deal, 1982

Civil War
- Yankees are victorious at the Battle of Cedar Creek, 1864

Cold War
- The first Cold War world's fair closes, 1958

Crime
- John DeLorean is arrested for drug dealing, 1982

Disaster
- Fire sweeps through Oakland hills, 1991

General Interest
- Napoleon retreats from Moscow, 1812
- Ethiopia stands alone, 1935
- Guildford Four are cleared, 1989

Hollywood
- First Blockbuster store opens, 1985

Literary
- John le Carre is born, 1931

Music
- "Take on Me" music video helps Norway's a-Ha reach the top the U.S. pop charts, 1985

Old West
- Construction begins on the Sutro Tunnel in Virginia City, Nevada, 1869

Presidential
- Editorial accuses Jefferson of affair with slave, 1796

Sports
- Rocket Richard scores 500 goals, 1957

Vietnam War
- Communists attack Plei Me Special Forces camp, 1965
- Kissinger discusses draft peace treaty with President Thieu, 1972

World War I
- First Battle of Ypres , 1914

World War II
- Chinese and Suluks revolt against Japanese in North Borneo, 1943

10/20/1947: Congress Investigates Reds in Hollywood​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-investigates-reds-in-hollywood

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.

After World War II, the Cold War began to heat up between the world's two superpowers—the United States and the communist-controlled Soviet Union. In Washington, conservative watchdogs worked to out communists in government before setting their sights on alleged "Reds" in the famously liberal movie industry. In an investigation that began in October 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) grilled a number of prominent witnesses, asking bluntly "Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" Whether out of patriotism or fear, some witnesses—including director Elia Kazan, actors Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor and studio honchos Walt Disney and Jack Warner—gave the committee names of colleagues they suspected of being communists.

A small group known as the "Hollywood Ten" resisted, complaining that the hearings were illegal and violated their First Amendment rights. They were all convicted of obstructing the investigation and served jail terms. Pressured by Congress, the Hollywood establishment started a blacklist policy, banning the work of about 325 screenwriters, actors and directors who had not been cleared by the committee. Those blacklisted included composer Aaron Copland, writers Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman and Dorothy Parker, playwright Arthur Miller and actor and filmmaker Orson Welles.

Some of the blacklisted writers used pseudonyms to continue working, while others wrote scripts that were credited to other writer friends. Starting in the early 1960s, after the downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the most public face of anti-communism, the ban began to lift slowly. In 1997, the Writers' Guild of America unanimously voted to change the writing credits of 23 films made during the blacklist period, reversing—but not erasing—some of the damage done during the Red Scare.

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American Revolution
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Automotive
- Last Volvo PV rolls off the assembly line, 1965

Civil War
- Controversial Union General Daniel Sickles is born, 1819

Cold War
- The Red Scare comes to Hollywood, 1947

Crime
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Disaster
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General Interest
- Battle of Navarino, 1827
- Mao's Long March concludes, 1935
- MacArthur returns, 1944
- Sydney Opera House opens, 1973

Hollywood
- Burt Lancaster dies, 1994

Literary
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Music
- Three members of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a Mississippi plane crash, 1977

Old West
- U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase, 1803

Presidential
- Kennedy press secretary misleads press, 1962

Sports
- Fosbury flops to an Olympic record, 1968

Vietnam War
- Relations between South Vietnam, the United States, and Cambodia deteriorate, 1964
- Watergate special prosecutor dismissed, 1973

World War I
- Turks send British officer to negotiate armistice terms , 1918

World War II
- U.S. forces land at Leyte Island in the Philippines, 1944

 

10/21/1959: Guggenheim Museum Opens in New York City​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/guggenheim-museum-opens-in-new-york-city

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.

Mining tycoon Solomon R. Guggenheim began collecting art seriously when he retired in the 1930s. With the help of Hilla Rebay, a German baroness and artist, Guggenheim displayed his purchases for the first time in 1939 in a former car showroom in New York. Within a few years, the collection—including works by Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Marc Chagall—had outgrown the small space. In 1943, Rebay contacted architect Frank Lloyd Wright and asked him to take on the work of designing not just a museum, but a "temple of spirit," where people would learn to see art in a new way.

Over the next 16 years, until his death six months before the museum opened, Wright worked to bring his unique vision to life. To Wright's fans, the museum that opened on October 21, 1959, was a work of art in itself. Inside, a long ramp spiraled upwards for a total of a quarter-mile around a large central rotunda, topped by a domed glass ceiling. Reflecting Wright's love of nature, the 50,000-meter space resembled a giant seashell, with each room opening fluidly into the next.

Wright's groundbreaking design drew criticism as well as admiration. Some felt the oddly-shaped building didn't complement the artwork. They complained the museum was less about art and more about Frank Lloyd Wright. On the flip side, many others thought the architect had achieved his goal: a museum where building and art work together to create "an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony."

Located on New York's impressive Museum Mile, at the edge of Central Park, the Guggenheim has become one of the city's most popular attractions. In 1993, the original building was renovated and expanded to create even more exhibition space. Today, Wright's creation continues to inspire awe, as well as odd comparisons—a Jello mold! a washing machine! a pile of twisted ribbon!—for many of the 900,000-plus visitors who visit the Guggenheim each year.

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- Henry Laurens named minister to Holland, 1779

Automotive
- Henry Ford dedicates the Thomas Edison Institute, 1929

Civil War
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Cold WarR
- Thousands protest the war in Vietnam, 1967

Crime
- A bomb explodes in the Los Angeles Times building, 1910

Disaster
- Mudslide buries school in Wales, 1966

General Interest
- USS Constitution launched, 1797
- Battle of Trafalgar, 1805
- Von Braun moves to NASA, 1959

Hollywood
- Mystic Pizza, with Julia Roberts, opens, 1988

Literary
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge is born, 1772

Music
- Dizzy Gillespie is born, 1917

Old West
- Plains Indians sign key provisions of the Medicine Lodge Treaty in Kansas, 1867

Presidential
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Sports
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Vietnam War
- 100,000 people march on the Pentagon, 1967

World War I
- Germany ceases unrestricted submarine warfare , 1918

World War II
- Germans massacre men, women, and children in Yugoslavia, 1941

10/22/1962: Cuban Missile Crisis​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cuban-missile-crisis

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 sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed 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."

What is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on October 15, 1962—the day that U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day, President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval quarantine and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis escalated to a breaking point as the world tottered on the brink of nuclear war between the two superpowers.

On October 23, the quarantine of Cuba began, but Kennedy decided to give Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev more time to consider the U.S. action by pulling the quarantine line back 500 miles. By October 24, Soviet ships en route to Cuba capable of carrying military cargoes appeared to have slowed down, altered, or reversed their course as they approached the quarantine, with the exception of one ship—the tanker Bucharest. At the request of more than 40 nonaligned nations, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant sent private appeals to Kennedy and Khrushchev, urging that their governments "refrain from any action that may aggravate the situation and bring with it the risk of war." At the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. military forces went to DEFCON 2, the highest military alert ever reached in the postwar era, as military commanders prepared for full-scale war with the Soviet Union.

On October 25, the aircraft carrier USS Essex and the destroyer USS Gearing attempted to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as it crossed over the U.S. quarantine of Cuba. The Soviet ship failed to cooperate, but the U.S. Navy restrained itself from forcibly seizing the ship, deeming it unlikely that the tanker was carrying offensive weapons. On October 26, Kennedy learned that work on the missile bases was proceeding without interruption, and ExCom considered authorizing a U.S. invasion of Cuba. The same day, the Soviets transmitted a proposal for ending the crisis: The missile bases would be removed in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba.

The next day, however, Khrushchev upped the ante by publicly calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey under pressure from Soviet military commanders. While Kennedy and his crisis advisers debated this dangerous turn in negotiations, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, was killed. To the dismay of the Pentagon, Kennedy forbid a military retaliation unless any more surveillance planes were fired upon over Cuba. To defuse the worsening crisis, Kennedy and his advisers agreed to dismantle the U.S. missile sites in Turkey but at a later date, in order to prevent the protest of Turkey, a key NATO member.

On October 28, Khrushchev announced his government's intent to dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba. With the airing of the public message on Radio Moscow, the USSR confirmed its willingness to proceed with the solution secretly proposed by the Americans the day before. In the afternoon, Soviet technicians began dismantling the missile sites, and the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was effectively over. In November, Kennedy called off the blockade, and by the end of the year all the offensive missiles had left Cuba. Soon after, the United States quietly removed its missiles from Turkey.

The Cuban Missile Crisis seemed at the time a clear victory for the United States, but Cuba emerged from the episode with a much greater sense of security. A succession of U.S. administrations have honored Kennedy's pledge not to invade Cuba, and the communist island nation situated just 80 miles from Florida remains a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy. The removal of antiquated Jupiter missiles from Turkey had no detrimental effect on U.S. nuclear strategy, but the Cuban Missile Crisis convinced a humiliated USSR to commence a massive nuclear buildup. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union reached nuclear parity with the United States and built intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking any city in the United States.

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American Revolution
- Peyton Randolph dies, 1775

Automotive
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Civil War
- Confederates arrive at Guntersville, Alabama, 1864

Cold War
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Crime
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Disaster
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General Interest
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Hollywood
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Literary
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Music
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Old West
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Presidential
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Sports
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Vietnam War
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World War I
- Germans capture Langemarck during First Battle of Ypres, 1914

World War II
- Allies confer secretly about Operation Torch, 1942

 

10/23/2002: Hostage Crisis in Moscow Theater​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hostage-crisis-in-moscow-theater

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.

The second act of the musical "Nord Ost" was just beginning at the Moscow Ball-Bearing Plant's Palace of Culture when an armed man walked onstage and fired a machine gun into the air. The terrorists—including a number of women with explosives strapped to their bodies—identified themselves as members of the Chechen Army. They had one demand: that Russian military forces begin an immediate and complete withdrawal from Chechnya, the war-torn region located north of the Caucasus Mountains.

Chechnya, with its predominately Muslim population, had long struggled to assert its independence. A disastrous two-year war ended in 1996, but Russian forces returned to the region just three years later after Russian authorities blamed Chechens for a series of bombings in Russia. In 2000, President Vladimir Putin was elected partly because of his hard-line position towards Chechnya and his public vow not to negotiate with terrorists.

After a 57-hour-standoff at the Palace of Culture, during which two hostages were killed, Russian special forces surrounded and raided the theater on the morning of October 26. Later it was revealed that they had pumped a powerful narcotic gas into the building, knocking nearly all of the terrorists and hostages unconscious before breaking into the walls and roof and entering through underground sewage tunnels. Most of the guerrillas and 120 hostages were killed during the raid. Security forces were later forced to defend the decision to use the dangerous gas, saying that only a complete surprise attack could have disarmed the terrorists before they had time to detonate their explosives.

After the theater crisis, Putin's government clamped down even harder on Chechnya, drawing accusations of kidnapping, torture and other atrocities. In response, Chechen rebels continued their terrorist attacks on Russian soil, including an alleged suicide bombing in a Moscow subway in February 2004 and another major hostage crisis at a Beslan school that September.

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Automotive
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Cold War
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Crime
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Literary
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Music
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Old West
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Presidential
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Sports
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Vietnam War
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World War I
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World War II
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10/25/1881: Pablo Picasso Born​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pablo-picasso-born

Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, is born in Malaga, Spain.

Picasso's father was a professor of drawing, and he bred his son for a career in academic art. Picasso had his first exhibit at age 13 and later quit art school so he could experiment full-time with modern art styles. He went to Paris for the first time in 1900, and in 1901 was given an exhibition at a gallery on Paris' rue Lafitte, a street known for its prestigious art galleries. The precocious 19-year-old Spaniard was at the time a relative unknown outside Barcelona, but he had already produced hundreds of paintings. Winning favorable reviews, he stayed in Paris for the rest of the year and later returned to the city to settle permanently.

The work of Picasso, which comprises more than 50,000 paintings, drawings, engravings, sculptures, and ceramics produced over 80 years, is described in a series of overlapping periods. His first notable period--the "blue period"—began shortly after his first Paris exhibit. In works such as The Old Guitarist (1903), Picasso painted in blue tones to evoke the melancholy world of the poor. The blue period was followed by the "rose period," in which he often depicted circus scenes, and then by Picasso's early work in sculpture. In 1907, Picasso painted the groundbreaking work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which, with its fragmented and distorted representation of the human form, broke from previous European art. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon demonstrated the influence on Picasso of both African mask art and Paul Cezanne and is seen as a forerunner of the Cubist movement, founded by Picasso and the French painter Georges Braque in 1909.

In Cubism, which is divided into two phases, analytical and synthetic, Picasso and Braque established the modern principle that artwork need not represent reality to have artistic value. Major Cubist works by Picasso included his costumes and sets for Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (1917) and The Three Musicians (1921). Picasso and Braque's Cubist experiments also resulted in the invention of several new artistic techniques, including collage.

After Cubism, Picasso explored classical and Mediterranean themes, and images of violence and anguish increasingly appeared in his work. In 1937, this trend culminated in the masterpiece Guernica, a monumental work that evoked the horror and suffering endured by the Basque town of Guernica when it was destroyed by German war planes during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso remained in Paris during the Nazi occupation but was fervently opposed to fascism and after the war joined the French Communist Party.

Picasso's work after World War II is less studied than his earlier creations, but he continued to work feverishly and enjoyed commercial and critical success. He produced fantastical works, experimented with ceramics, and painted variations on the works of other masters in the history of art. Known for his intense gaze and domineering personality, he had a series of intense and overlapping love affairs in his lifetime. He continued to produce art with undiminished force until his death in 1973 at the age of 91.

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American Revolution
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Automotive
- Barney Oldfield defeats boxer Jack Johnson in Brooklyn auto race, 1910

Civil War
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Cold War
- The U.N. seats the People's Republic of China and expels Taiwan, 1971
- United States invades Grenada, 1983

Crime
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Disaster
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General Interest
- Battle of Agincourt, 1415
- Charge of the Light Brigade, 1854
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Hollywood
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Literary
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Music
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Old West
- Indians attack transcontinental railroad survey crew in Utah, 1853

Presidential
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Sports
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Vietnam War
- Nixon suspends bombing of North Vietnam, 1972
- Nixon vetoes War Powers Resolution, 1973

World War I
- French troops celebrate recapture of Fort Douaumont at Verdun, 1916

World War II
- First kamikaze attack of the war begins, 1944

 

10/27/1904: New York Subway Opens​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/new-york-city-subway-opens

At 2:35 on the afternoon of October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city's innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.

While London boasts the world's oldest underground train network (opened in 1863) and Boston built the first subway in the United States in 1897, the New York City subway soon became the largest American system. The first line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), traveled 9.1 miles through 28 stations. Running from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal in midtown, and then heading west along 42nd Street to Times Square, the line finished by zipping north, all the way to 145th Street and Broadway in Harlem. On opening day, Mayor McClellan so enjoyed his stint as engineer that he stayed at the controls all the way from City Hall to 103rd Street.

At 7 p.m. that evening, the subway opened to the general public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride under Manhattan. IRT service expanded to the Bronx in 1905, to Brooklyn in 1908 and to Queens in 1915. Since 1968, the subway has been controlled by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). The system now has 26 lines and 468 stations in operation; the longest line, the 8th Avenue "A" Express train, stretches more than 32 miles, from the northern tip of Manhattan to the far southeast corner of Queens.

Every day, some 4.5 million passengers take the subway in New York. With the exception of the PATH train connecting New York with New Jersey and some parts of Chicago's elevated train system, New York's subway is the only rapid transit system in the world that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No matter how crowded or dirty, the subway is one New York City institution few New Yorkers—or tourists—could do without.

Other Stories:​

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Automotive
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Civil War
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Cold War
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Crime
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Disaster
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General Interest
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- Teddy Roosevelt born, 1858
- Dylan Thomas born, 1914
- U.S. prison population exceeds one million, 1994

Hollywood
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Music
- Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber release Jesus Christ Superstar, 1970

Old West
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Presidential
- Theodore Roosevelt is born, 1858

Sports
- Red Sox win first championship since 1918, 2004

Vietnam War
- Ambassador Harriman sent to explain Manila offer, 1966
- Cambodian troops battle Communists north of Phnom Penh, 1971

World War I
- German general Erich Ludendorff resigns , 1918

World War II
- De Gaulle sets up the Empire Defense Council, 1940

 

10/28/1965: Gateway Arch Completed​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gateway-arch-completed

On this day in 1965, construction is completed on the Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630-foot-high parabola of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri.

The Gateway Arch, designed by Finnish-born, American-educated architect Eero Saarinen, was erected to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to celebrate St. Louis' central role in the rapid westward expansion that followed. As the market and supply point for fur traders and explorers—including the famous Meriwether Lewis and William Clark—the town of St. Louis grew exponentially after the War of 1812, when great numbers of people began to travel by wagon train to seek their fortunes west of the Mississippi River. In 1947-48, Saarinen won a nationwide competition to design a monument honoring the spirit of the western pioneers. In a sad twist of fate, the architect died of a brain tumor in 1961 and did not live to see the construction of his now-famous arch, which began in February 1963. Completed in October 1965, the Gateway Arch cost less than $15 million to build. With foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground, its frame of stressed stainless steel is built to withstand both earthquakes and high winds. An internal tram system takes visitors to the top, where on a clear day they can see up to 30 miles across the winding Mississippi and to the Great Plains to the west. In addition to the Gateway Arch, the Jefferson Expansion Memorial includes the Museum of Westward Expansion and the Old Courthouse of St. Louis, where two of the famous Dred Scott slavery cases were heard in the 1860s.

Today, some 4 million people visit the park each year to wander its nearly 100 acres, soak up some history and take in the breathtaking views from Saarinen's gleaming arch.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston, 1775

Automotive
- Leif Erickson Tunnel completes 1,593-mile I-35, 1992

Civil War
- The Second Battle of Fair Oaks concludes, 1864

Cold War
- The Cuban Missile Crisis comes to an end, 1962

Crime
- Chuck Berry goes on trial for the second time, 1961

Disaster
- Cyclone intensifies near India, 1999

General Interest
- Statue of Liberty dedicated, 1886
- Congress enforces prohibition, 1919

Hollywood
- Julia Roberts born, 1967

Literary
- George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession is performed in New York, 1905

Music
- President Bill Clinton signs the Digital Millennium Copyright Act into law, 1998

Old West
- Workers complete the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, 1965

Presidential
- Grover Cleveland dedicates Statue of Liberty, 1886

Sports
- Princeton-Chicago football game is broadcast across the country, 1922

Vietnam War
- Khrushchev orders withdrawal of missiles from Cuba, 1962
- U.S. officials deny any involvement in bombing of North Vietnam., 1964
- Viet Cong commandos raid U.S. airfields, 1965

World War I
- German sailors begin to mutiny, 1918

World War II
- Italy invades Greece, 1940

 

10/30/1938: Welles Scares Nation​

Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his broadcast of "War of the Worlds"—a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth.

Orson Welles was only 23 years old when his Mercury Theater company decided to update H.G. Wells' 19th-century science fiction novel War of the Worlds for national radio. Despite his age, Welles had been in radio for several years, most notably as the voice of "The Shadow" in the hit mystery program of the same name. "War of the Worlds" was not planned as a radio hoax, and Welles had little idea of the havoc it would cause.

The show began on Sunday, October 30, at 8 p.m. A voice announced: "The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air in 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells."

Sunday evening in 1938 was prime-time in the golden age of radio, and millions of Americans had their radios turned on. But most of these Americans were listening to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy "Charlie McCarthy" on NBC and only turned to CBS at 8:12 p.m. after the comedy sketch ended and a little-known singer went on. By then, the story of the Martian invasion was well underway.

Welles introduced his radio play with a spoken introduction, followed by an announcer reading a weather report. Then, seemingly abandoning the storyline, the announcer took listeners to "the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra." Putrid dance music played for some time, and then the scare began. An announcer broke in to report that "Professor Farrell of the Mount Jenning Observatory" had detected explosions on the planet Mars. Then the dance music came back on, followed by another interruption in which listeners were informed that a large meteor had crashed into a farmer's field in Grovers Mills, New Jersey.

Soon, an announcer was at the crash site describing a Martian emerging from a large metallic cylinder. "Good heavens," he declared, "something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now here's another and another one and another one. They look like tentacles to me ... I can see the thing's body now. It's large, large as a bear. It glistens like wet leather. But that face, it... it ... ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it's so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate."

The Martians mounted walking war machines and fired "heat-ray" weapons at the puny humans gathered around the crash site. They annihilated a force of 7,000 National Guardsman, and after being attacked by artillery and bombers the Martians released a poisonous gas into the air. Soon "Martian cylinders" landed in Chicago and St. Louis. The radio play was extremely realistic, with Welles employing sophisticated sound effects and his actors doing an excellent job portraying terrified announcers and other characters. An announcer reported that widespread panic had broken out in the vicinity of the landing sites, with thousands desperately trying to flee. In fact, that was not far from the truth.

Perhaps as many as a million radio listeners believed that a real Martian invasion was underway. Panic broke out across the country. In New Jersey, terrified civilians jammed highways seeking to escape the alien marauders. People begged police for gas masks to save them from the toxic gas and asked electric companies to turn off the power so that the Martians wouldn't see their lights. One woman ran into an Indianapolis church where evening services were being held and yelled, "New York has been destroyed! It's the end of the world! Go home and prepare to die!"

When news of the real-life panic leaked into the CBS studio, Welles went on the air as himself to remind listeners that it was just fiction. There were rumors that the show caused suicides, but none were ever confirmed.

The Federal Communications Commission investigated the program but found no law was broken. Networks did agree to be more cautious in their programming in the future. Orson Welles feared that the controversy generated by "War of the Worlds" would ruin his career. In fact, the publicity helped land him a contract with a Hollywood studio, and in 1941 he directed, wrote, produced, and starred in Citizen Kane—a movie that many have called the greatest American film ever made.

Other Stories:​

American Revolution
- Naval committee established by Congress, 1775

Automotive
- The World's Columbian Exposition closes in Chicago, 1893

Civil War
- Union General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel dies, 1862

Cold War
- Eisenhower approves NSC 162/2, 1953

Crime
- Oakland, California, enacts anti-drug law, 1890

Disaster
- Perfect storm hits North Atlantic, 1991

General Interest
- Queen of American high society dies, 1908
- Juan Carlos assumes power in Spain, 1975
- Quebec separatists narrowly defeated, 1995

Hollywood
- Henry "The Fonz" Winkler is born, 1945

Literary
- Sense and Sensibility is published, 1811

Music
- Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring premieres at the Library of Congress, 1944

Old West
- The city of Helena, Montana, is founded after miners discover gold, 1864

Presidential
- John Adams is born, 1735

Sports
- Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle, 1974

Vietnam War
- Marines repel attack near Da Nang., 1965
- Heavy monsoon rains hit Vietnam, 1970

World War I
- Ottoman Empire signs treaty with Allies , 1918

World War II
- FDR approves Lend-Lease aid to the USSR, 1941

 

11/2/1947: Spruce Goose Flies​

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/spruce-goose-flies

The Hughes Flying Boat—the largest aircraft ever built—is piloted by designer Howard Hughes on its first and only flight. Built with laminated birch and spruce, the massive wooden aircraft had a wingspan longer than a football field and was designed to carry more than 700 men to battle.

Howard Hughes was a successful Hollywood movie producer when he founded the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932. He personally tested cutting-edge aircraft of his own design and in 1937 broke the transcontinental flight-time record. In 1938, he flew around the world in a record three days, 19 hours, and 14 minutes.

Following the U.S. entrance into World War II in 1941, the U.S. government commissioned the Hughes Aircraft Company to build a large flying boat capable of carrying men and materials over long distances. The concept for what would become the "Spruce Goose" was originally conceived by the industrialist Henry Kaiser, but Kaiser dropped out of the project early, leaving Hughes and his small team to make the H-4 a reality. Because of wartime restrictions on steel, Hughes decided to build his aircraft out of wood laminated with plastic and covered with fabric. Although it was constructed mainly of birch, the use of spruce (along with its white-gray color) would later earn the aircraft the nickname Spruce Goose. It had a wingspan of 320 feet and was powered by eight giant propeller engines.

Development of the Spruce Goose cost a phenomenal $23 million and took so long that the war had ended by the time of its completion in 1946. The aircraft had many detractors, and Congress demanded that Hughes prove the plane airworthy. On November 2, 1947, Hughes obliged, taking the H-4 prototype out into Long Beach Harbor, CA for an unannounced flight test. Thousands of onlookers had come to watch the aircraft taxi on the water and were surprised when Hughes lifted his wooden behemoth 70 feet above the water and flew for a mile before landing.

Despite its successful maiden flight, the Spruce Goose never went into production, primarily because critics alleged that its wooden framework was insufficient to support its weight during long flights. Nevertheless, Howard Hughes, who became increasingly eccentric and withdrawn after 1950, refused to neglect what he saw as his greatest achievement in the aviation field. From 1947 until his death in 1976, he kept the Spruce Goose prototype ready for flight in an enormous, climate-controlled hangar at a cost of $1 million per year. Today, the Spruce Goose is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

Other Stories​

American Revolution
- John Paul Jones sets sail, 1777

Automotive
- First four-cylinder, gas-powered Locomobile hits the road, 1902

Civil War
- Union leader Fremont is removed from the Western Department, 1861

Cold War
- Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated in South Vietnam, 1963

Crime
- A nurse's aide gets life imprisonment, 1989

Disaster
- Truck explosion kills 3,000 in Afghanistan, 1982

General Interests
- Britain supports creation of Jewish homeland, 1917
- Truman defeats Dewey, 1948
- MLK federal holiday declared, 1983

Hollywood
- Friends star David Schwimmer born, 1966

Literary
- Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial ends, 1960

Music
- Miami Vice soundtrack begins an 11-week run at #1, 1985

Old West
- XIT Ranch sells its last head of cattle, 1912

Presidential
- James Polk is born, 1795
- Warren G. Harding is born, 1865

Sports
- Grete Waitz wins her eighth NYC marathon, 1986

Vietnam War
- Diem murdered during coup, 1963
- Johnson meets with "the Wise Men", 1967

World War I
- The Balfour Declaration , 1917

World War II
- British launch Operation Supercharge, 1942

 

I got the 100th post :3

I do hope I am not the only one who still reads these.
It is very interesting to see what went on each day and stuff.
Thank you dears for the effort you put in this every day <3