On This Day

September 12, 2012

1609 - English explorer Henry Hudson sailed down what is now known as the Hudson River.

1814 - During the War of 1812, the Battle of North Point was fought in Maryland.

1866 - "The Black Crook" opened in New York City. It was the first American burlesque show.

1873 - The first practical typewriter was sold to customers.

1878 - Patent litigation involving the Bell Telephone Company against Western Union Telegraph Company and Elisha Gray began. The issues were over various telephone patents.

1914 - The first battle of Marne ended when the allied forces stopped the German offensive in France.

1916 - Adelina and August Van Buren finished the first successful transcontinental motorcycle tour to be attempted by two women. They started in New York City on July 5, 1916.

1918 - During World War I, At the Battle of St. Mihiel, U.S. Army personnel operate tanks for the first time. The tanks were French-built.

1922 - The Episcopal Church removed the word "Obey" from the bride's section of wedding vows.

1928 - Katharine Hepburn made her stage debut in the play "The Czarina." Four years later she made her film debut in "A Bill of Divorcement."

1938 - In a speech, Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

1940 - The Lascaux paintings were discovered in France. The cave paintings were 17,000 years old and were some of the best examples of art from the Paleolithic period.

1943 - During World War II, Benito Mussolini was taken by German paratroopers from the Italian government that was holding him.

1944 - U.S. Army troops entered Germany, near Trier, for the first time during World War II.

1953 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.

1953 - Nikita Krushchev was elected as the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1954 - "Lassie" made its television debut on CBS. The last show aired on September 12, 1971.

1963 - The last episode of "Leave it to Beaver" was aired. The show had debuted on October 4, 1957.

1966 - "Family Affair" premiered on CBS television.

1974 - Violence occurred on the opening day of classes in Boston, MA, due opposition to court-ordered school "busing."

1974 - Emperor Haile Selassie was taken out of power by Ethiopia's military after ruling for 58 years.

1977 - South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko died at the age of 30. The student leader died while in police custody which triggered an international outcry.

1979 - Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to get 3,000 career hits and 400 career home runs.

1983 - Arnold Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen. He had emigrated from Austria 14 years earlier.

1984 - Michael Jordan signed a seven-year contract to play basketball with the Chicago Bulls.

1984 - Dwight Gooden (New York) Mets set a rookie strikeout record with his 251st strikeout of the season.

1991 - The space shuttle Discovery took off on a mission to deploy an observatory that was to study the Earth's ozone layer.

1992 - Police in Peru captured Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman.

1992 - Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first African-American woman in space. She was the payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. Also onboard were Mission Specialist N. Jan Davis and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. Lee. They were the first married couple to fly together in space. And, Mamoru Mohri became the first Japanese person to fly into space.

September 13, 2012

1759 - The French were defeated by the British on the Plains of Abraham in the final French and Indian War.

1788 - The Constitutional Convention decided that the first federal election was to be held on Wednesday the following February. On that day George Washington was elected as the first president of the United States. In addition, New York City was named the temporary national capital.

1789 - The United States Government took out its first loan.

1847 - U.S. forces took the hill Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War.

1862 - During the American Civil War General Lee's Order No. 191 was found by federal soldiers in Maryland.

1898 - Hannibal Williston Goodwin patented celluloid photographic film, which is used to make movies.

1922 - In El Azizia, Libya, the highest shade temperature was recorded at 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

1937 - The first broadcast of "Kitty Keene, Incorporated" was heard on the NBC Red network.

1943 - Chiang Kai-shek became the president of China.

1948 - The School of Performing Arts opened in New York City. It was the first public school to specialize in performing arts.

1948 - Margaret Chase Smith was elected to the U.S. Senate and became the first woman to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

1949 - The Ladies Professional Golf Association of America was formed.

1959 - The Soviet Union's Luna 2 became the first space probe to reach the moon. It was launched the day before.

1960 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned payola.

1970 - The first New York City Marathon took place. Fireman Gary Muhrucke won the race.

1971 - In New York, National Guardsmen stormed the Attica Correctional Facility and put an end to the four-day revolt. A total of 43 people were killed in the final assault. A committee was organized to investigate the riot on September 30, 1971.

1971 - The World Hockey Association was formed.

1977 - The first diesel automobiles were introduced by General Motors.

1981 - U.S. Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig said the U.S. had physical evidence that Russia and its allies used poisonous biological weapons in Laos, Cambodia and Afghanistan.

1988 - Forecasters reported that Hurricane Gilbert's barometric pressure measured 26.13. It was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

1993 - "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" premiered on NBC.

1993 - Israel and Palestine signed their first major agreement. Palestine was granted limited self-government in the Gaza Strip and in Jericho.

1994 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a $30 billion crime bill into law.

1998 - The New York Times closed its Web site after hackers added offensive material.

2001 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Limited commercial flights resumed in the U.S. for the first time in two days.

September 14, 2012

1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge. Two weeks earlier Burr had been found innocent of treason.

1812 - Moscow was set on fire by Russians after Napoleon Bonaparte's troops invaded.

1814 - Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner," a poem originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry," after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, MD, during the War of 1812. The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.

1847 - U.S. forces took control of Mexico City under the leadership of General Winfield Scott.

1866 - George K. Anderson patented the typewriter ribbon.

1899 - In New York City, Henry Bliss became the first automobile fatality.

1901 - U.S. President William McKinley died of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42, succeeded him.

1915 - Carl G. Muench received a patent for Insulit, the first sound-absorbing material to be used in buildings.

1938 - The VS-300 made its first flight. The craft was based on the helicopter technology patented by Igor Sikorsky.

1940 - The Selective Service Act was passed by the U.S. Congress providing the first peacetime draft in the United States.

1948 - In New York, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the site of the United Nations' world headquarters.

1959 - Luna II, a Soviet space probe, became the first man-made object on the moon when it crashed on the surface.

1960 - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded. The core members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

1963 - Mary Ann Fischer gave birth to America's first surviving quintuplets.

1965 - "My Mother The Car" premiered on NBC TV. The series was canceled after only a few weeks after the debut.

1972 - "The Waltons" premiered on CBS-TV.

1975 - Pope Paul VI declared Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first U.S.-born saint.

1978 - "Mork & Mindy" premiered on ABC-TV.

1983 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 416-0 in a resolution condemning the Soviet Union for the shooting down of a Korean jet on September 1.

1984 - Joe Kittinger became the first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1987 - Tony Magnuson cleared 9.5 feet above the top of the U-ramp and set a new skateboard high jump record.

1989 - Joseph T. Wesbecker shot and killed eight people and wounded twelve others at a printing plant in Louisville, KY. Wesbecker, 47 years old, was on disability for mental illness. He took his own life after the incident.

1994 - It was announced that the season was over for the National Baseball League on the 34th day of the players strike. The final days of the regular season were canceled.

1998 - Jaime Jarrin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - Israel announced that they had successfully tested its Arrow-2 missile defense system. The system successfully destroyed a simulated target.

1999 - Disney World closed down for the first time in its 28-year history. The closure was due to Hurricane Floyd heading for Florida.

1999 - It was announced that "US" magazine would change from monthly to weekly and change its name to "USWeekly."

2001 - Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console in Japan.

2001 - The FBI released the names of the 19 suspected hijackers that had taken part in the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S.

2009 - Greyhound UK began operations as an hourly service between London and Portsmouth or Southampton.

September 17, 2012

1394 - In France, Charles VI published an ordinance that expelled all Jews from France.

1778 - The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation.

1787 - The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by delegates at the Constitutional Convention.

1796 - U.S. President George Washington's Farewell Address was read before the U.S. Congress.

1862 - The Battle of Antietam took place during the American Civil War. More than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. The Rebel advance was ended with heavy losses to both armies.

1872 - Phillip W. Pratt patented a version of the sprinkler system.

1911 - The first transcontinental airplane flight started. It took C.P. Rogers 82 hours to fly from New York City to Pasadena, CA.

1920 - The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH. It was the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).

1930 - Construction on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began in Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, NV.

1932 - Sir Malcolm Campbell set a speed record when he reached 276.27 mph over a half mile.

1937 - At Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln's face was dedicated.

1939 - The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.

1944 - Operation "Market Garden" was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.

1947 - The first U.S. Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, was sworn in to office.

1953 - Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. He retired in 1971 known as 'Mr. Cub'.

1953 - The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA, successfully separated Siamese twins. Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were connected at the waist when born.

1955 - "The Perry Como Show" moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV.

1961 - The Minnesota Vikings were debuted as the new National Football League (NFL) team.

1962 - U.S. space officials announced the selection of Neil A. Armstrong and eight others as new astronauts.

1963 - "The Fugitive" premiered on ABC-TV. The show starred David Janssen.

1964 - "Bewitched" premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 - "Hogan's Heroes" debuted on CBS-TV.

1966 - "Mission Impossible" premiered on CBS-TV.

1972 - "M*A*S*H" premiered on CBS-TV.

1976 - NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, CA.

1983 - Vanessa Williams, as Miss New York, became the first black woman to be crowned Miss America.

1983 - Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds) retired after 16 years as a catcher.

1983 - Carl Yastrzemski (Boston Red Sox) broke Hank Aaron's major league record for games played when he started his 3,299th game. (MLB)

1984 - 9,706 immigrants became naturalized citizens when they were sworn in by U.S. Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL. It was the largest group to become U.S. citizens.

1984 - Gordon P. Getty was named the richest person in the U.S. His fortune was $4.1 billion.

1984 - Reggie Jackson hit his 500th career home run. It was exactly 17 years from the day he hit his first major league home run.

1988 - Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared himself president of Haiti after President Henri Hamphy was ousted.

1991 - The United Nations General Assembly opened its 46th session. The new members were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

1992 - Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his probe of the Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation had lasted 5 1/2 years.

1995 - Hong Kong held its last legislative election before being taken over by China in 1997.

1997 - Northern Ireland's main Protestant party joined in peace talks. It was the first time that all of the major players had come together.

1998 - The United States government offered a reward for the capture of Haroun Fazil for his role in the U.S. bombing in Kenya on August 7, 1998.

1998 - The U.S. announced a plan that would compensate victims in the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings on August 7, 1998.

September 18, 2012

1709 - The creator of the first dictionary of the English language, Samuel Johnson, was born in England.

1759 - The French formally surrendered Quebec to the British.

1763 - It was reported, by the Boston Gazette, that the first piano had been built in the United States. The instrument was named the spinet and was made by John Harris.

1789 - Alexander Hamilton negotiated and secured the first loan for the United States. The Temporary Loan of 1789 was repaid on June 8, 1790 at the sum of $191,608.81.

1793 - U.S. President George Washington laid the actual cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

1810 - Chile declared its independence from Spain.

1830 - The "Tom Thumb", the first locomotive built in America, raced a horse on a nine-mile course. The horse won when the locomotive had some mechanical difficulties.

1850 - The Fugitive Slave Act was declared by the U.S. Congress. The act allowed slave owners to claim slaves that had escaped into other states.

1851 - The first issue of "The New York Times" was published.

1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse became the first white woman to ever be named chief of an Indian tribe. The tribe was the Six Nations Tribe at Towanda Reservation in New York.

1895 - Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment.

1927 - Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System made its debut with its network broadcast over 16 radio stations. The name was later changed to CBS.

1940 - "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe was published by Harper and Brothers.

1947 - The U.S. Air Force was established as a separate military branch by the National Security Act.

1955 - The "Ed Sullivan Show" began on CBS-TV. The show had been "The Toast of the Town" since 1948.

1963 - "The Patty Duke Show" premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 - The first episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" was shown on NBC-TV. The last show was televised on September 1, 1970.

1981 - A museum honoring former U.S. President Ford was dedicated in Grand Rapids, MI.

1984 - The 39th session of the U.N. General Assembly was opened with an appeal to the U.S. and Soviet Union to resume arms negotiations.

1991 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush said that he would send warplanes to escort U.N. helicopters that were searching for hidden Iraqi weapons if it became necessary.

1994 - Haiti's military leaders agreed to depart on October 15th. This action averted a U.S.-led invasion to force them out of power.

1997 - Ted Turner, U.S. Media magnate, announced that over the next ten years he would give $1 billion to the United Nations.

1998 - The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted to release to videotape of President Clinton's grand jury testimony from August 17.

1998 - The FDA approved a once-a-day easier-to-swallow medication for AIDS patients.

2003 - Robert Duvall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

September 19, 2012

1356 - The Battle of Poitiers was fought between England and France. Edward "the Black Prince" captured France's King John.

1777 - The Battle of Saratoga was won by American soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

1796 - U.S. President Washington's farewell address was published.

1819 - John Keats wrote "Ode to Autumn."

1876 - Melville R. Bissell patented the carpet sweeper.

1891 - "The Merchant of Venice" was performed for the first time at Manchester.

1893 - In New Zealand, the Electoral Act 1893 was consented to giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.

1955 - Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman starred in the "Producer's Showcase" presentation of "Our Town" on NBC-TV.

1955 - Argentina President Juan Peron was ousted after a revolt by the army and navy.

1957 - The U.S. conducted its first underground nuclear test. The test took place in the Nevada desert.

1959 - Nikita Khruschev was not allowed to visit Disneyland due to security reasons. Khrushchev reacted angrily.

1960 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in New York to visit the United Nations, checked out of the Shelburne Hotel angrily after a dispute with the management.

1970 - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" premiered on CBS-TV.

1982 - Scott Fahlman became the first person to use :-) in an online message.

1983 - Lebanese army units defending Souk el-Gharb were supported in their effort by two U.S. Navy ships off Beirut.

1984 - China and Britain completed a draft agreement transferring Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule by 1997.

1986 - U.S. health officials announced that AZT, though an experimental drug, would be made available to AIDS patients.

1988 - Israel successfully launched the Horizon-I test satellite.

1990 - Iraq began confiscating foreign assets of countries that were imposing sanctions against the Iraqi government.

1992 - The U.N. Security Council recommended suspending Yugoslavia due to its role in the Bosnian civil war.

1994 - U.S. troops entered Haiti peacefully to enforce the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1995 - The U.S. Senate passed a welfare overhaul bill.

1995 - The commander of American forces in Japan and the U.S. ambassador apologized for the rape of a schoolgirl committed by three U.S. servicemen.

1996 - The government of Guatemala and leftist rebels signed a peace treaty to end their long war.

2002 - In Ivory Coast, around 750 rebel soldiers attempted to overthrow the government. U.S. troops landed on September 25th to help move foreigners, including Americans, to safer areas.

2003 - It was reported that AOL Time Warner was going to drop "AOL" from its name and be known as Time Warner Inc. The company had announced its merger and name change on January 10, 2000.

September 20, 2012

1519 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan left Spain to find a route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Magellan was killed during the trip, but one of his ships eventually made the journey.

1870 - The Papal States came under the control of Italian troops, leading to the unification of Italy.

1881 - Chester A. Arthur became the 21st president of the U.S. President James A. Garfield had died the day before.

1884 - The Equal Rights Party was formed in San Francisco, CA.

1921 - KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, started a daily radio newscast. It was one of the first in the U.S.

1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival premiered. The original premier was delayed in 1939 due to World War II.

1946 - WNBT-TV in New York became the first station to promote a motion picture. Scenes from "The Jolson Story" were shown.

1953 - The TV show "Letter to Loretta" premiered. The name was changed to "The Loretta Young Show" on February 14, 1954.

1953 - Jimmy Stewart debuted on the radio western "The Six Shooter" on NBC.

1955 - "You'll Never Be Rich" premiered on CBS-TV. The name was changed less than two months later to "The Phil Silvers Show."

1962 - James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted.

1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

1977 - The first of the "boat people" arrived in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new U.S. resettlement program.

1982 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the U.S., France, and Italy were going to send peacekeeping troops back to Beirut.

1984 - "The Cosby Show" premiered on NBC-TV.

1988 - The United Nations opened it 43rd General Assembly.

1989 - F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as president of South Africa.

1991 - U.N. weapons inspectors left for Iraq in a renewed search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

1992 - French voters approved the Maastricht Treaty.

1995 - AT&T announced that it would be splitting into three companies. The three companies were AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and NCR Corp.

1995 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit. This allowed the states to decide their own speed limits.

September 21, 2012

1792 - The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

1784 - "The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser" was published for the first time in Philadelphia. It was the first daily paper in America.

1893 - Frank Duryea took what is believed to be the first gasoline- powered automobile for a test drive. The "horseless carriage" was designed by Frank and Charles Duryea.

1897 - The New York Sun ran the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial. It was in response to a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon.

1931 - Britain went off the gold standard.

1931 - Japanese forces began occupying China's northeast territory of Manchuria.

1937 - J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" was first published.

1941 - "The Second Mrs. Burton" premiered to the entire CBS Radio Network.

1948 - Milton Berle debuted as the host of "The Texaco Star Theater" on NBC-TV. The show later became "The Milton Berle Show." Berle was the regular host until 1967.

1948 - "Life With Luigi" debuted on CBS Radio.

1949 - Communist leaders proclaimed The People's Republic of China.

1957 - "Perry Mason", the television series, made its debut on CBS-TV. The show was on for 9 years.

1961 - Antonio Abertondo swam the English Channel (in both directions) in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

1964 - Malta gained independence from Britain.

1966 - The Soviet probe Zond 5 returned to Earth. The spacecraft completed the first unmanned round-trip flight to the moon.

1970 - "NFL Monday Night Football" made its debut on ABC-TV. The game was between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. The Browns won 31-21.

1973 - Henry Kissinger was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become 56th Secretary of State. He was the first naturalized citizen to hold the office of Secretary of State.

1981 - The U.S. Senate confirmed Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1981 - Belize gained full independence from Great Britain.

1982 - National Football League (NFL) players began a 57-day strike. It was their first regular-season walkout.

1982 - Amin Gemayel was elected president of Lebanon. He was the brother of Bashir Gemayel who was the president-elect when he was assassinated.

1984 - General Motors and the United Auto Workers union reached an agreement that would end the previous six days of spot strikes.

1985 - North and South Korea opened their borders for their family reunion program.

1993 - Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin announced that he was ousting the Communist-dominated Congress. The action was effectively seizing all state power.

1996 - The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.

1996 - John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, GA.

September 22, 2012

1789 - The U.S. Congress authorized the office of Postmaster General.

1792 - The French Republic was proclaimed.

1862 - U.S. President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that all slaves held within rebel states would be free as of January 1, 1863.

1903 - Italo Marchiony was granted a patent for the ice cream cone.

1914 - Three British cruisers were sunk by one German submarine in the North Sea. 1,400 British sailors were killed. This event alerted the British to the effectiveness of the submarine.

1927 - In Chicago, IL, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight.

1949 - The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb successfully.

1955 - Commercial television began in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted.

1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed a congressional act that established the Peace Corps.

1964 - "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." debuted on NBC-TV.

1966 - The U.S. lunar probe Surveyor 2 crashed into the moon.

1969 - Willie Mays hit his 600th career home run.

1980 - A border conflict between Iran and Iraq developed into a full-scale war.

1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed the U.N. General Assembly and voiced a new hope for arms control. He also criticized the Soviet Union for arresting U.S. journalist Nicholas Daniloff.

1988 - Canada's government apologized for the internment of Japanese-Canadian's during World War II. They also promised compensation.

1990 - Saudi Arabia expelled most of the Yememin and Jordanian envoys in Riyadh. The Saudi accusations were unspecific.

1991 - An article in the London newspaper "The Mail" revealed that John Cairncross admitted to being the "fifth man" in the Soviet Union's British spy ring.

1992 - The U.N. General Assembly expelled Yugoslavia for its role in the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1994 - The U.S. upgraded its military control in Haiti.

1998 - The U.S. and Russia signed two agreements. One was to privatize Russia's nuclear program and the other was to stop plutonium stockpiles and nuclear scientists from leaving the country.

1998 - U.S. President Clinton addressed the United Nations and told world leaders to "end all nuclear tests for all time". He then sent the long-delayed global test-ban treaty to the U.S. Senate.

1998 - Keely Smith received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

September 24, 2012

1789 - The U.S. Congress passed the First Judiciary Act. The act provided for an Attorney General and a lower federal courts.

1869 - Thousands of businessmen were financially ruined after a panic on Wall Street. The panic was caused by an attempt to corner the gold market by Jay Gould and James Fisk.

1915 - "The Lamb," Douglas Fairbanks first film, was shown at the Knickerbocker Theater in New York City, NY.

1929 - The first all-instrument flight took place in New York when Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY2 Biplane over Mitchell Field.

1933 - "Roses and Drums" was heard on WABC in New York City. It was the first dramatic presentation for radio.

1934 - Babe Ruth played his last game as a New York Yankee player.

1938 - Don Budge became the first tennis player to win all four of the major titles when he won the U.S. Tennis Open. He had already won the Australian Open, the French Open and the British Open.

1955 - U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Denver, CO.

1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field.

1957 - U.S. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, AR, to enforce school integration.

1960 - The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier was launched. The USS Enterprise set out from Newport News, VA.

1961 - "The Bullwinkle Show" premiered in prime time on NBC-TV. The show was originally on ABC in the afternoon as "Rocky and His Friends."

1963 - The U.S. Senate ratified a treaty that limited nuclear testing. The treaty was between the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union.

1968 - "60 Minutes" premiered on CBS-TV.

1968 - "The Mod Squad" premiered on ABC-TV.

1977 - "The Love Boat" debuted on ABC-TV. The theme song was sung by jack Jones and was written by Paul Williams and Charles Fox.

1995 - Three decades of Israeli occupation of West Bank cities ended with the signing of a pact by Israel and the PLO.

1996 - The United States, represented by President Clinton, and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.

1998 - The U.S. Federal Reserve released into circulation $2 billion in new harder-to-counterfeit $20 bills.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush froze the assets of 27 suspected terrorists and terrorist groups.

2003 - Anthony Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

September 25, 2012

1492 - The crew of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus' ships, mistakenly thought that they had spotted land.

1493 - Christopher Columbus left Spain with 17 ships on his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere.

1513 - The Pacific Ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He named the body of water the South Sea. He was truly just the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

1690 - One of America's earliest newspapers published its first and last edition. The "Publik Occurences Both Foreign and Domestik" was published at the London Coffee House in Boston, MA, by Benjamin Harris.

1775 - Ethan Allen was captured by the British during the American Revolutionary War. He was leading the attack on Montreal.

1789 - The first U.S. Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.

1847 - During the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces led by General Zachary Taylor captured Monterrey Mexico.

1882 - The first major league double header was played. It was between the Worcester and Providence teams.

1890 - The Sequoia National Park was established as a U.S. National Park in Central California.

1890 - Mormon President Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto in which the practice of polygamy was renounced.

1919 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson collapsed after a speech in Pueblo, CO. The speaking tour was in support of the Treaty of Versailles.

1933 - Tom Mix was heard on NBC Radio for the first time. His show ran until June of 1950.

1956 - A transatlantic telephone-cable system began operation between Newfoundland and Scotland.

1957 - 300 U.S. Army troops stood guard as nine black students were escorted to class at Central High School in Little Rock, AR. The children had been forced to withdraw 2 days earlier because of unruly white mobs.

1965 - Willie Mays, at the age of 34, became the oldest man to hit 50 home runs in a single season. He had also set the record for the youngest to hit 50 ten years earlier.

1973 - The three crewmen of Skylab II landed in the Pacific Ocean after being on the U.S. space laboratory for 59 days.

1978 - Melissa Ludtke, a writer for "Sports Illustrated", filed a suit in U.S. District Court. The result was that Major League Baseball could not bar female writers from the locker room after the game.

1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court when she was sworn in as the 102nd justice. She had been nominated the previous July by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

1983 - A Soviet military officer, Stanislav Petrov, averted a potential worldwide nuclear war. He declared a false alarm after a U.S. attack was detected by a Soviet early warning system. It was later discovered the alarms had been set off when the satellite warning system mistakenly interpreted sunlight reflections off clouds as the presence of enemy missiles.

1986 - An 1894-S Barber Head dime was bought for $83,000 at a coin auction in California. It is one of a dozen that exist.

1987 - The booty collected from the Wydah, which sunk off Cape Cod in 1717, was auctioned off. The worth was around $400 million.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to impose an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba was the only dissenting vote.

1991 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously ordered a worldwide arms embargo against Yugoslavia and all of its warring factions.

1992 - In Orlando, FL, a judge ruled in favor of 12-year-old Gregory Kingsley. He had sought a divorce from his biological parents.

1992 - The Mars Observer blasted off on a mission that cost $980 million. The probe has not been heard from since it reached Mars in August of 1993.

1995 - Ross Perot announced that he would form the Independence Party.

1997 - NBC sportscaster Marv Albert pled guilty to assault and Battery of a lover. He was fired from NBC within hours.

1997 - Mark & Brian received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2001 - Michael Jordan announced that he would return to the NBA as a player for the Washington Wizards. Jordan became the president of basketball operations for the team on January 19, 2000.

2002 - U.S. forces landed in Ivory Coast to aid in the rescue foreigners trapped in a school by fighting between government troops and rebel troops. Rebels had attempted to take over the government on September 19.

September 28, 2012

1066 - England was invaded by William the Conqueror who claimed the English throne.

1542 - San Diego, CA, was discovered by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.

1687 - The Turks surrendered Athens to the Venetians.

1781 - During the Revolutionary War, American forces began the siege on Yorktown, VA.

1787 - The U.S. Congress voted to send the new Constitution of the United States to the state legislatures for their approval.

1850 - The U.S. Navy abolished flogging as a form of punishment.

1850 - U.S. President Millard Fillmore named Brigham Young the first governor of the Utah territory. In 1857, U.S. President James Buchanan removed Young from the position.

1892 - The first nighttime football game in the U.S. took place under electric lights. The game was between the Mansfield State Normal School and the Wyoming Seminary.

1915 - The British defeated the Turks in Mesopotamia at Kut-el-Amara.

1924 - The first around-the-world flight was completed by two U.S. Army planes when they landed in Seattle, WA. The trip took 175 days.

1936 - "Bachelor's Children" debuted on CBS Radio.

1939 - During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed upon a plan on the division of Poland.

1939 - "Fleischmann Hour" aired for the last time on radio.

1944 - "The Boys From Boise" was shown on WABD in New York as the first full-length comedy written for television.

1950 - The United Nations admitted Indonesia.

1955 - The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1961 - "Dr. Kildare" premiered on NBC-TV.

1961 - "Hazel" premiered on NBC-TV.

1967 - The first mayor of Washington, DC, Walter Washington, took office.

1968 - The Atlanta Chiefs won the first North American Soccer League Championship.

1972 - Communist China and Japan agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.

1974 - First Lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy to remove a lump in her breast.

1978 - Heavy fighting occurred in Lebanon between Syrian peacekeeping troops and Lebanese Christian militiamen.

1978 - Don Sherman, editor of Car & Driver, set a new Class E record in Utah. Driving the Mazda RX7 he reached a speed of 183.904 mph.

1984 - Bob Hope showed outtakes of his 34 years in television on NBC.

1991 - In response to U.S. President Bush's reduction of U.S. nuclear arms Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised to reciprocate.

1995 - Yasser Arafat of the PLO and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed an accord that transferred control of the West Bank.

1997 - The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was held in New York City, NY. The official debut of the DVD format was featured.

2000 - The U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved the use of RU-486 in the United States. The pill is used to induce an abortion.

2004 - The U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Secret Service introduced the first newly redesigned $50 bill.

2004 - Nate Olive and Sarah Jones arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border to complete the first known continuous hike of the 1,800-mile trail down the U.S. Pacific Coast. They started the trek on June 8.

October 1, 2012

1596 - The Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for trying to marry Mary the Queen of Scots.

1800 - Spain ceded the territory of Louisiana back to France. Later the property would be purchased by the U.S. effectively doubling its size.

1880 - Thomas Edison began the commercial production of electric lamps at Edison Lamp Works in Menlo Park.

1885 - Special delivery mail service began in the United States. The first routes were in West Virginia.

1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act. The act raised tariffs to a record level.

1896 - Rural Free Delivery was established by the U.S. Post Office.

1903 - The first modern World Series took place between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1908 - The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford. The purchase price of the car was $850.

1918 - Damascus was captured from the Turks during World War I by a force made up of British and Arab forces.

1933 - Babe Ruth made his final pitching appearance. He pitched all nine innings and hit a home run in the 5th inning.

1936 - General Francisco Franco was proclaimed the head of the Spanish state.

1938 - German forces enter Czechoslovakia and seized control of the Sudetenland. The Munich Pact had been signed two days before.

1940 - The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened as the first toll superhighway in the United States.

1943 - Naples was captured by the Allied forces during World War II.

1946 - The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg sentenced 12 Nazi officials to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms and 3 were acquitted.

1946 - The first baseball play-off game for a league championship was played. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.

1949 - Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People's Republic of China when the communist forces had defeated the Nationalists. The Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan.

1952 - "This is Your Life" began airing on NBC-TV.

1961 - Roger Maris (New York Yankees) hit his 61st home run of the season to beat Babe Ruth's major league record of 60.

1962 - Johnny Carson began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. He stayed with the show for 29 years. jack Paar was the previous host.

1964 - The Free Speech Movement was started at the University of California at Berkeley.

1968 - "Night of the Living Dead" premiered in Pittsburgh, PA.

1971 - Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL.

Disney movies, music and books

1972 - The Chinese government approved friendly relations with the United States.

1979 - The United States handed control of the Canal Zone over to Panama.

1980 - Robert Redford became the first male to appear alone on the cover of "Ladies' Home Journal." He was the only male to achieve this in 97 years.

1981 - EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center opened in Florida. The concept was planned by Walt Disney.

1984 - U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan announced that he was taking a leave of absence following his indictment on charges of larceny and fraud. He was later acquitted.

1985 - The PLO's headquarters in Tunisia was raided by Israeli jet fighters.

1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet presidency.

1989 - The authorized Charles Schulz biography, Good Grief, was published.

1989 - 7,000 East Germans were welcomed into West Germany after they were allowed to leave by the communist government.

1990 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and once again condemned Iraq's takeover of Kuwait.

1990 - In Croatia, minority Serbs proclaimed autonomy.

1991 - U.S. President Bush condemned the military coup in Haiti that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. U.S. economic and military aid was suspended.

1991 - The U.S. trust territory of Palau became independent.

1992 - The Strategic Arm Reduction Treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate.

1994 - The U.S. and Japan avoided a trade war by reaching a series of trade agreements.

1994 - The National Hockey League (NHL) team owners began a lockout of the players that lasted 103 days.

1995 - Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine other defendants were convicted in New York of conspiring to attack the U.S. through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.

1996 - Lucent Technologies became an independent company.

1998 - The U.S. government posted a $2.2 million reward for the capture of Augustin Vasquez Mendoza. He is accused of killing an undercover U.S. agent during a drug purchase in 1994.

1999 - The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China was celebrated in Beijing.

2001 - San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban Internet filters designed to keep pornography away from children at city libraries

October 2, 2012

1492 - King Henry VII of England invaded France.

1780 - British army major John Andre was hanged as a spy. He was carrying information about the actions of Benedict Arnold.

1835 - The first battle of the Texas Revolution took place near the Guadalupe River when American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry unit.

1836 - Charles Darwin returned to England after 5 years of acquiring knowledge around the world about fauna, flora, wildlife and geology. He used the information to develop his "theory of evolution" which he unveiled in his 1859 book entitled The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

1869 - Mahatma (Mohandas) K Gandhi was born. He was known for his advocacy of non-violent resistance to fight tyranny.

1870 - Rome was made the capital of Italy.

1876 - The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas opened. It was the state's first venture into public higher education. The school was formally dedicated 2 days later by Texas Gov. Richard Coke.

1889 - The first international Conference of American States began in Washington, DC.

1908 - Addie Joss of Cleveland pitched the fourth perfect game in major league baseball history.

1919 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

1920 - The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates played the only triple-header in baseball history. The Reds won 2 of the 3 games.

1924 - The Geneva Protocol adopted the League of Nations.

1925 - Scottish inventor John Logie Baird completed the first transmission of moving images.

1929 - "The National Farm and Home Hour" debuted on NBC radio.

1933 - "Red Adams" debuted on NBC radio.

1937 - Warner Bros. released "Love Is on the Air." Ronald Reagan made his acting debut in the motion picture. He was 26 years old.

1940 - During World War II, the HMS Empress was sunk while carrying child refugees from Britain to Canada.

1941 - Operation Typhoon was launched by Nazi Germany. The plan was an all-out offensive against Moscow.

1944 - The Nazis crushed the Warsaw Uprising.

1947 - The Federatino Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) formally established Formula One racing in Grand Prix competition.

1948 - The first automobile race to use asphalt, cement and dirt roads took place in Watkins Glen in New York. It was the first road race in the U.S. following World War II.

1949 - "The Aldrich Family" debuted on NBC-TV.

1950 - "Peanuts," the comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz, was published for the first time in seven newspapers.

1953 - "Person to Person" debuted on CBS-TV.

1955 - "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" debuted on CBS-TV.

1958 - Guinea, the French colony in West Africa, proclaimed its independence. Sekou Toure was the first president of the Republic of Guinea.

1959 - "The Twilight Zone" debuted on CBS-TV. The show ran for 5 years for a total of 154 episodes.

1962 - U.S. ports were closed to nations that allowed their ships to carry arms to Cuba, ships that had docked in a socialist country were prohibited from docking in the United States during that voyage, and the transport of U.S. goods was banned on ships owned by companies that traded with Cuba.

1967 - Thurgood Marshall was sworn in. He was the first African-American member of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1988 - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered free elections.

1989 - In Leipzig, East Germany a protest took place demanding the legalization of opposition groups and the adoption of democratic reforms.

1990 - The Allies ceded their rights to areas they occupied in Germany.

1993 - Opponents of Russian President Boris Yeltsin fought police and set up burning barricades.

1998 - Hawaii sued petroleum companies, claiming state drivers were overcharged by about $73 million a year in price-fixing.

1998 - About 10,000 Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq and attacked Kurdish rebels.

2001 - The U.S. Postmaster unveiled the "Tribute to America" stamp. The stamp was planned for release the next month.

2001 - NATO, for the first time, invoked a treaty clause that stated that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. The act was in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the states

October 3, 2012

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November would be recognized as Thanksgiving Day.

1888 - "The Yeomen of the Guard" was performed for the first time. It was the first of 423 shows.

1893 - The motor-driven vacuum cleaner was patented by J.S. Thurman.

1901 - The Victor Talking Machine Company was incorporated. After a merger with Radio Corporation of America the company became RCA-Victor.

1906 - W.T. Grant opened a 25-cent department store.

1922 - Rebecca L. Felton became the first female to hold office of U.S. Senator. She was appointed by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia to fill a vacancy.

1929 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1932 - Iraq was admitted into the League of Nations leading Britain to terminate their mandate over the nation. Britain had ruled Iraq since taking it from Turkey during World War I.

1935 - Italian forces invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).

1941 - Adolf Hitler stated in a speech that Russia was "broken" and they "would never rise again."

1942 - The Office of Economic Stabilization was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also authorized controls on rents, wages, salaries and farm prices.

1944 - During World War II, U.S. troops broke through the Siegfried Line.

1946 - "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day" began airing on NBC-TV.

1951 - CBS-TV aired the first coast-to-coast telecast of a prizefight. Dave Sands defeated Carl Olson at Soldier Field in Chicago.

1952 - Britain became the third nuclear power in the world when they successfully detonated their first atomic bomb. The U.S. and Russia were the only other nuclear powers.

1954 - "Father Knows Best" began airing on CBS-TV.

1955 - "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS-TV.

1955 - "The Mickey Mouse Club" premiered on ABC-TV.

1961 - "The Dick Van Dyke Show" debuted on CBS-TV.

1962 - The Sigma VII blasted off from Cape Canaveral for a nine-hour flight.

1962 - The play, "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!" opened on Broadway.

1974 - Frank Robinson took over the management position of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. He was the first black manager in major league baseball.

1981 - Irish Nationalist in Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland called off their hunger strike. The strike had lasted 7 months and ten people had died.

1986 - "Tough Guys" was released. It was the first comedy to feature Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. It was, however, their seventh movie together.

1988 - The space shuttle Discovery landed safely after its four-day mission. It was the first American shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster.

1989 - East Germany suspended unrestricted travel to Czechoslovakia in an effort to slow the flow of refugees to the West.

1989 - Art Shell became the first African-American head coach in the modern NFL when he took over the Los Angeles Raiders.

1990 - The Berlin Wall was dismantled eleven months after the borders between East and West Germany were dissolved. The unification of Germany ended 45 years of division.

1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made a visit to Kuwait since his country had seized control of the oil-rich nation.

1994 - The headquarters of the Haitian pro-army militia was raided by U.S. soldiers.

2001 - ESPN began its 10th season of National Hockey League (NHL) coverage.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) broke Babe Ruth's major league single-season record for walks at 171.

2003 - Ray Horn, of the duo "Siegfried & Roy," was attacked by tiger during a performance. Roy survived the attack after being dragged offstage. The tiger, a 7-year-old male named Montecore, was debuting in his first show.

2006 - North Korea announced that it would conduct a nuclear test as a key step in the manufacture of atomic bombs that it viewed as a deterrent against a U.S. attack. A date for the test was not announced.

2006 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed at a new high ending the day at 11,727.34. Earlier in the session, the Dow had risen to 11,758.95. Both previous records had been set on January 14, 2000.

October 4, 2012

1535 - The first complete English translation of the Bible was printed in Zurich, Switzerland.

1648 - The first volunteer fire department was established in New York by Peter Stuyvesant.

1777 - At Germantown, PA, Patriot forces and British forces both suffer heavy losses in battle. The battle was seen as British victory, which actually served as a moral boost to the Americans.

1876 - The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas formally dedicated by Texas Gov. Richard Coke. It was the state's first venture into public higher education. The college opened for classed two days earlier.

1881 - Edward Leveaux received a patent for the player piano.

1887 - The Paris Herald Tribune was published for the first time. It was later known as the International Herald Tribune.

1893 - The first professional football contract was signed by Grant Dibert for the Pittsburgh AC.

1895 - The first U.S. Open golf tournament took place in Newport, RI. Horace Rawlins, 19 years old, won the tournament.

1909 - The first airship race in the U.S. took place in St. Louis, MO.

1915 - The Dinosaur National Monument was established. The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.

1927 - The first actual work of carving began on Mount Rushmore.

1931 - The comic strip "Dick Tracy" made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror. The strip was created by Chester Gould.

1933 - "Esquire" magazine was published for the first time.

1940 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met in the Alps at Brenner Pass. Hitler was seeking help from Italy to fight the British.

1948 - The Railroad Hour" debuted on ABC radio.

1953 - "I Led Three Lives" was first seen in syndication. The TV show was never on network.

1954 - "December Bride" debuted on CBS-TV.

1956 - "Playhouse 90" debuted on CBS-TV.

1957 - "Leave it to Beaver" debuted on CBS-TV.

1957 - The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik was the first manmade satellite to enter space. Sputnik I fell out of orbit on January 4, 1958.

1958 - British Overseas Airways Corporation became the first jetliner to offer trans-Atlantic service to passengers with flights between London, England and New York.

1959 - The first World Series to be played west of St. Louis began in Los Angeles, CA.

1965 - Pope Paul VI addressed the U.N. General Assembly and became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere.

1976 - Barbara Walters joined Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the "ABC Evening News" for the first time.

1981 - Bruce Jenner and Harry Belafonte debuted in their first dramatic roles in NBC-TV's "Grambling's White Tiger".

1987 - NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player's strike.

1990 - The German parliament had its first meeting since reunification.

1992 - The 16-year civil war in Mozambique ended.

1993 - Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.

1993 - Dozens of Somalis dragged an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. A videotape showed Michael Durant being taken prisoner by Somali militants.

1994 - South African President Nelson Mandela was welcomed to the White House by U.S. President Clinton.

1997 - Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

1998 - The Vincent Van Gogh exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit featured 70 paintings.

1998 - Davis Gaines performed as the Phantom in the show "Phantom of the Opera" for the 2,000th time.

2001 - NATO granted the United States open access to their airfields and seaports and agreed to deploy ships and early-warning radar planes in the war on terrorism.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire's major league record. Bonds also moved past Reggie Jackson on the all-time list with his 564th career home run.

2001 - Rickey Henderson (San Diego Padres) scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb's major league record.

2001 - In Washington, DC, Reagan National Airport re-opened. The airport had been closed since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

2004 - SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 368,000 feet. It was the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice within a two week window. The ship won the Ansari X Prize of $10 million dollars for their success.

October 5, 2012

1813 - Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee Indians was killed at the Battle of Thames when American forced defeated the British and the allied Indian warriors.

1877 - Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the U.S. Army after a 1,000-mile retreat towards the Canadian border.

1919 - Enzo Ferrari debuted in his first race. He later founded the Auto Avio Construzioni Ferrari, an independent manufacturing company.

1921 - The World Series was broadcast on the radio for the first time. The game was between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees.

1930 - Laura Ingalls became the first woman to make a transcontinental airplane flight.

1930 - "The Fighting Priest" began airing on CBS radio.

1931 - Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon landed in Washington after flying non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. The flight originated in Japan and took about 41 hours.

1934 - "Hollywood Hotel" became the first major network radio to originate from Hollywood, CA.

1937 - U.S. President Roosevelt called for a "quarantine" of aggressor nations.

1947 - U.S. President Harry S Truman held the first televised presidential address from the White House. The subject was the current international food crisis.

1952 - "Inner Sanctum" was heard for the last time on ABC radio.

1955 - The play "The Diary of Anne Frank" opened at the Cort Theatre in New York.

1969 - A Cuban defector landed a Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. The plane entered U.S. air space and landed without being detected.

1969 - "Monty Python's Flying Circus" debuted on BBC television.

1970 - Anwar Sadat took office as President of Egypt replacing Gamal Abdel Nassar. Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

1974 - American David Kunst completed the first journey around the world on foot. It took four years and 21 pairs of shoes. He crossed four continents and walked 14,450 miles.

1985 - An Egyptian policeman went on a shooting rampage at a Sinai beach. Seven Israeli tourists were killed. The policeman died in prison the following January of an apparent suicide.

1986 - "Business World" began airing on ABC-TV.

1986 - Sandinista soldiers captured American Eugene Hasenfus after shooting him down over southern Nicaragua.

1988 - In a debate between candidates for vice president of the U.S., Democratic Lloyd Bentsen told Republican Dan Quayle, "You're no jack Kennedy."

1989 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet. Gyatso was the 15th Dalai Lama.

1990 - The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall opened.

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced that his country would cut its nuclear arsenal in response to the arms reduction that was initiated by U.S. President George Bush.

1993 - China set off an underground nuclear explosion.

1995 - A 60-day cease-fire was agreed upon by Bonsian combatants. The civil war had lasted 3 1/2.

1997 - In London, the Express Newspapers printed an article claiming that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were homosexual and that their marriage was a sham to cover the truth. The paper paid damages in a settlement on October 29, 1998.

1998 - The U.S. paid $60 million for Russia's research time on the international space station to keep the cash-strapped Russian space agency afloat.

1999 - Kevin Spacey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - MCI Worldcom Inc. and Sprint Corp. announced plans to merge.

2006 - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rolled out its $4 generic drug program to the entire state of Florida after a successful test in the Tampa area.

October 5, 2012

1683 - The first Mennonites arrived in America aboard the Concord. The German and Dutch families settled in an area that is now a neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA.

1847 - "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte was first published in London.

1848 - The steamboat SS California left New York Harbor for San Francisco via Cape Horn. The steamboat service arrived on February 28, 1849. The trip took 4 months and 21 days.

1857 - The American Chess Congress held their first national chess tournament in New York City.

1863 - The first Turkish bath was opened in Brooklyn, NY, by Dr. Charles Shepard.

1866 - The Reno Brothers pulled the first train robbery in America near Seymour, IN. The got away with $10,000.

1880 - The National League kicked the Cincinnati Reds out for selling beer.

1884 - The Naval War College was established in Newport, RI.

1889 - In Paris, the Moulin Rouge opened its doors to the public for the first time.

1889 - The Kinescope was exhibited by Thomas Edison. He had patented the moving picture machine in 1887.

1890 - Polygamy was outlawed by the Mormon Church.

1927 - "The Jazz Singer" opened in New York starring Al Jolson. The film was based on the short story "The Day of Atonement" by Sampson Raphaelson.

1928 - War-torn China was reunited under the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek.

1937 - "Hobby Lobby" debuted on CBS radio.

1939 - Adolf Hitler denied any intention to wage war against Britain and France in an address to Reichstag.

1948 - "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.

1949 - U.S. president Harry Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act. The act provided $1.3 billion in the form of military aid to NATO countries.

1954 - E.L. Lyon became the first male nurse for the U.S. Army.

1961 - U.S. president John F. Kennedy advised American families to build or buy bomb shelters to protect them in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

1962 - Robert Goulet began the role of Sir Lancelot in "Camelot".

1973 - Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territory that had been lost in the third Arab-Israel war. Support for Israel led to a devastating oil embargo against many nations including the U.S. and Great Britain on October 17, 1973. The war lasted 2 weeks.

1979 - Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the White House.

1991 - Elizabeth Taylor married Larry Fortensky. The ceremony was held at Michael Jackson's estate near Los Angeles, CA. It was Taylor's 8th marriage and Fortensky's 3rd.

October 7, 2012

1765 - Nine American colonies sent a total of 28 delegates to New York City for the Stamp Act Congress. The delegates adopted the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances."

1777 - During the American Revolution the second Battle of Saratoga began.

1868 - Cornell University was inaugurated in Ithaca, NY.

1913 - For the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory was run on a continuously moving assembly line when the chassis was added to the process.

1918 - The Georgia Tech football team defeated Cumberland College 222-0. Georgia Tech carried the ball 978 yards and never threw a pass.

1939 - "Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy" was heard for the first time on CBS radio.

1940 - "Portia Faces Life" debuted on the NBC Red network.

1949 - The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was formed.

1950 - The U.S.-led U.N. forces crossed the 38th parallel and entered North Korea. China in November proved their threat to enter the war by sending several hundred thousand troops over the border into North Korea.

1951 - The Western Hills Hotel in Fort Worth, TX, became the first hotel to feature all foam-rubber mattresses and pillows.

1956 - A U.S. House subcommittee began investigations of allegedly rigged TV quiz shows.

1963 - U.S. President Kennedy signed a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.

1968 - The Motion Picture Association of America adopted the film-rating system that ranged for "G" to "X."

1981 - The Egyptian parliament, after the assassination of Anwar Sadat, named Vice President Hosni Mubarak the next president of Egypt.

1982 - A record was set when 147,000,000 shares were exchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

1985 - The United States announced that it would no longer automatically comply with World Court decisions.

1989 - In Budapest, Hungary's Communist Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton sent more troops, heavy armor, and naval firepower to Somalia.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf when Iraqi troops were spotted moving toward Kuwait. The U.S. Army was also put on alert.

1998 - The U.S. government filed an antitrust suit that alleged Visa and MasterCard inhibit competition by preventing banks from offering other cards.

1999 - American Home Products Corp. agreed to pay up to $4.83 billion to settle claims that the fen-phen diet drug caused dangerous problems with heart valves.

2000 - Vojislav Kostunica took the oath of office as Yugoslavia's first popularly elected president.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 73rd home run of the season and set a new major league record.

2001 - The U.S. and Great Britain began airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to that state's support of terrorism and Osama bin Laden. The act was the first military action taken in response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

2003 - In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in the recall election of Governor Gray Davis.

2003 - Randy Quaid received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2004 - Billy Bob Thornton got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

October 8, 2012

1895 - The Berliner Gramophone Company was founded in Philadelphia, PA.

1904 - "Little Johnny Jones" opened in Hartford, CT.

1915 - During World War I, the Battle of Loos concluded.

1918 - U.S. Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France. York had originally tried to avoid being drafted as a conscientious objector. After this event his was promoted to sergeant and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

1919 - The first transcontinental air race in the U.S. began.

1935 - "The O’Neills" debuted on CBS radio.

1938 - The cover of "The Saturday Evening Post" portrayed Norman Rockwell.

1944 - "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" debuted on CBS radio.

1945 - U.S. President Truman announced that only Britain and Canada would be given the secret to the atomic bomb.

1950 - U.N. forces crossed into North Korea from South Korea.

1952 - "The Complete Book of Etiquette" was published for the first time.

1956 - Donald James Larsen (New York Yankees) pitched the first perfect game in the history of the World Series.

1957 - The Brooklyn Baseball Club announced that it had accepted a deal to move the Dodgers to Los Angeles.

1966 - The U.S. Government declared that LSD was dangerous and an illegal substance.

1970 - Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature.

1979 - "Sugar Babies" opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway.

1981 - U.S. President Reagan greeted former Presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon to the White House. The group was preparing to leave for Egypt to attend the funeral of Anwar Sadat.

1982 - In Poland, all labor organizations, including Solidarity, were banned.

1991 - A slave burial site was found by construction workers in lower Manhattan. The "Negro Burial Ground" had been closed in 1790. Over a dozen skeletons were found.

1993 - The U.S. government issued a report absolving the FBI of any wrongdoing in its final assault in Waco, TX, on the Branch Davidian compound. The fire that ended the siege killed as many as 85 people.

1996 - Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation to remove his inflamed appendix.

1998 - Taliban forces attacked Iranian border posts. Iran said that three border posts were destroyed before the Taliban forces were forced to retreat. The Taliban of Afghanistan denied the event occurred.

1998 - Canada and Netherlands were voted into the U.N. Security Council.

2001 - Tom Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania, was sworn in as director of the new U.S. department of Homeland Security.

2001 - Rush Limbaugh announced to his listeners that he was totally deaf in his left ear and had only partial hearing in his right ear. The condition had happened in a three month period.

2001 - Two Russian cosmonauts made the first spacewalk to be conducted outside of the international space station without a shuttle present.

2002 - A federal judge approved U.S. President George W. Bush's request to reopen West Coast ports, to end a caustic 10-day labor lockout. The lockout was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day.

2003 - China announced that it would have a human crew orbit the Earth briefly on October 15.

2003 - Vietnam and the United States reached a tentative agreement that would allow the first commercial flights between the two countries since the end of the Vietnam War.

2003 - It was announced that Vivendi Universal and General Electric Co. had reached an agreement to merge. The name for the combined company was NBC Universal.

2003 - Siegfried Fischbacher and his manager announced that the "Siegfried and Roy" show at the Mirage was canceled permanently. It was also said that if Roy Horn survived, after a tiger attack on October 3, the duo would continue to work together.

2004 - The first-ever direct presidential elections were held in Afghanistan.

October 11, 2012

1776 - During the American Revolution the first naval battle of Lake Champlain was fought. The forces under Gen. Benedict Arnold suffered heavy losses.

1811 - The Juliana, the first steam-powered ferryboat, was put into operation by the inventor John Stevens. The ferry went between New York City, NY, and Hoboken, NJ.

1869 - Thomas Edison filed for a patent on his first invention. The electric machine was used for counting votes for the U.S. Congress, however the Congress did not buy it.

1881 - David Henderson Houston patented the first roll film for cameras.

1890 - The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, DC.

1899 - The Boer War began in South Africa between the British and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

1929 - JCPenney opened a store in Milford, DE, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.

1932 - In New York, the first telecast of a political campaign was aired.

1936 - The radio show, "Professor Quiz", aired for the first time.

1939 - U.S. President Roosevelt was presented with a letter from Albert Einstein that urged him to develop the U.S. atomic program rapidly.

1942 - The Battle of Cape Esperance, during World War II, began in the Solomons.

1958 - Pioneer 1, a lunar probe, was launched by the U.S. The probe did not reach its destination and fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.

1968 - Apollo 7 was launched by the U.S. The first manned Apollo mission was the first in which live television broadcasts were received from orbit. Wally Schirra, Don Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham were the astronauts aboard.

1971 - Hugh Downs left the "Today" show and "Concentration". He later became the host of ABC's "20/20".

1975 - "Saturday Night Live" was broadcast for the first time. George Carlin was the guest host.

1975 - Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham were married in Fayetteville, AR.

1983 - The last hand-cranked telephones in the U.S. went out of service. The 440 telephone customers of Bryant Pond, ME, were switched to direct-dial service.

1984 - Construction began on the Kamric/Cinergy Futursonics Studio in Houston, TX.

1984 - American Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first female astronaut to space walk. She was aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

1984 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) made his debut in the National Hockey League (NHL) against the Boston Bruins. He scored a goal on his first shot on his first NHL shift.

1994 - U.S. troops in Haiti took control of the National Palace.

1994 - Iraqi troops began moving away from the Kuwaiti border.

1994 - The Colorado Supreme Court declared that the anti-gay rights measure in the state was unconstitutional.

October 12, 2012

1492 - Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, sighted Watling Island in the Bahamas. He believed that he had found Asia while attempting to find a Western ocean route to India. The same day he claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain.

1792 - The first monument honoring Christopher Columbus was dedicated in Baltimore,

1810 - Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The royalty invited the public to attend the event which became an annual celebration that later became known as Oktoberfest.

1860 - Inventor Elmer Sperry was born on this day. He held patents on more than 400 inventions. The most important being the Sperry Automatic Pilot.

1892 - In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Columbus landing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in public schools.

1895 - In Newport, RI, the first amateur golf tournament was held.

1915 - Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt criticized citizens who identified themselves by dual nationalities.

1915 - British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium during World War I.

1920 - Construction of the Holland Tunnel began. It opened on November 13, 1927. The tunnel links Jersey City, and New York City,

1933 - John Dillinger, bank robber, escaped from a jail in Allen County,The sheriff was killed by his gang as they helped Dillinger escape.

1933 - The U.S. Department of Justice acquired Alcatraz Island from the Army.

1937 - "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons" debuted on radio.

1938 - Filming began on "The Wizard of Oz."

1942 - During World War II, Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

1945 - Private First Class Desmond T. Doss was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for outstanding bravery as a medical corpsman. He was the first conscientious objector in American history to win the award.

1950 - The Kefauver Crime Commission convened in New York to investigate interstate organized crime.

1960 - Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev pounded a shoe on his desk during a dispute at a U.N. General Assembly.

1961 - The first video memoirs by a U.S. president were made. Walter Cronkite interviewed Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1964 - The Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1 into orbit around the Earth. It was the first space flight to have a multi-person crew and the first flight to be performed without space suits.

1972 - During the Vietnam War, a racial brawl broke out aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. Nearly 50 sailors were injured.

1976 - China announced that Hua Guo-feng was named to succeed the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of the Communist Party.

1984 - An attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's life was unsuccessful, but did take the lives of five people. The bomb had been planted by the I.R.A.

1988 - Federal prosecutors announced that the Sundstrand Corp. would pay $115 million dollars to settle with the Pentagon for overbilling airplane parts over a five-year period.

1989 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a statutory federal ban on the destruction of the American flag.

1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" opened at the John Golden Theatre.

1994 - Haitian military leader Raoul Cedras was granted political asylum by Panama.

1994 - The Magellan space probe ended its four-year mission to Venus for the purpose of mapping.

1997 - The St. Francis Basilica and 15th-century bell tower above Foligno city hall in Italy were damaged by 3 earthquakes.

1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Online Copyright Bill.

1999 - Rob Reiner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup that toppled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Supreme Court ruled that the coup was legal but insisted that a civilian government be restored within three years.

2000 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer, experienced a large explosion while refueling. The explosion was the result of a terrorist attack using a small boat. 17 crewmembers were killed and at least 39 were injured.

2000 - In Denver, CO, the U.S. District Court denied Timothy McVeigh's request for a new trial.

2001 - A special episode of America's Most Wanted was aired that focused on 22 wanted terrorists. The show was specifically requested by U.S. President George W. Bush.

2001 - A car bomb exploded in Madrid, Spain, that injured 17 people. Basque separatists claimed responsibility.

2002 - In Bali, Indonesia, over 180 people were killed and over 300 were injured when a bomb was detonated in a nightclub district.

2006 - The Dow Jones industrial average advanced over 11,900 for the first time.

October 14, 2012

1066 - The Battle of Hastings occurred in England. The Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II of England.

1879 - Thomas Edison signed an agreement with Jose D. Husbands for the sale of Edison telephones in Chile.

1887 - Thomas Edison and George E. Gouraud reached an agreement for the international marketing rights for the phonograph.

1912 - Theodore Roosevelt was shot while campaigning in Milwaukee, WI. Roosevelt's wound in the chest was not serious and he continued with his planned speech. William Schrenk was captured at the scene of the shooting.

1922 - Lieutenant Lester James Maitland set a new airplane speed record when he reached a speed of 216.1 miles-per-hour.

1926 - The book "Winnie-the-Pooh," by A.A. Milne, made its debut.

1928 - The first televised wedding took place in Des Plains, IL. James Fowlkes and Cora Dennison were married in a radio studio.

1930 - Ethel Merman debuted on Broadway in "Girl Crazy."

1933 - Nazi Germany announced that it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.

1934 - "Lux Radio Theater" began airing on the NBC Blue radio network.

1936 - The first SSB (Social Security Board) office opened in Austin, TX. From this point, the Board's local office took over the assigning of Social Security Numbers.

1943 - The Radio Corporation of America finalized the sale of the NBC Blue radio network. Edward J. Noble paid $8 million for the network that was renamed American Broadcasting Company.

1944 - German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution after being accused of conspiring against Adolf Hitler and the execution that would follow.

1944 - During World War II, the Second British Parachute Brigade liberated the city of Athens.

1947 - Over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California, pilot Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 rocket plane and became the first person to break the sound barrier.

1954 - C.B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments", starring Charlton Heston, began filming in Egypt. The epic had a cast of 25,000 people.

1960 - U.S. presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggested the idea of a Peace Corps.

1961 - "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying" opened on Broadway.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis began when U.S. reconnaissance aircrafts photographed Soviet construction of intermediate-range missile sites in Cuba.

1964 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in America. He was the youngest person to receive the award.

1968 - The first live telecast to come from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7.

1970 - Anwar el-Sadat became president of Egypt following the death of President Nasser.

1984 - George ‘Sparky’ Anderson became the first baseball manager to win 100 games and a World Series in both leagues. (MLB)

1986 - Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev charged that the U.S. wanted to "bleed the Soviet Union economically" with the arms race in space.

1987 - Jessica McClure, 18 months old, fell down an abandoned well in Midland, TX. The rescue took 58 hours.

2001 - Toys "R" Us introduced the new version of Geoffrey the giraffe in a 60-second commercial before WABC-TV aired Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove."

2002 - Britain stripped power from the Catholic and Protestant politicians of Northern Ireland. Britain resumed sole responsibility for running Northern Ireland.

2011 - The Apple iPhone 4S was released.

October 15, 2012

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte began his exile on the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

1860 - Grace Bedell, 11 years old, wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. The letter stated that Lincoln would look better if he would grow a beard.

1883 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It allowed for individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.

1892 - The U.S. government announced that the land in the western Montana was open to settlers. The 1.8 million acres were bought from the Crow Indians for 50 cents per acre.

1914 - The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed by the U.S. Congress.

1931 - "Cat and the Fiddle" opened in New York for the first of 395 performances.

1937 - "To Have and Have Not" by Ernest Hemingway was published for the first time.

1939 - New York Municipal Airport was dedicated. The name was later changed to La Guardia Airport.

1945 - Pierre Laval, the former premier of Vichy France, was executed for treason.

1946 - Hermann Goering, a Nazi war criminal and founder of the Gestapo, poisoned himself just hours before his scheduled execution.

1951 - "I Love Lucy" premiered on CBS-TV.

1953 - "Teahouse of the August Moon" opened on Broadway. It ran for 1,027 performances.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis began. It was on this day that U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing data discovered Soviet medium-range missle sites in Cuba. On October 22 U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that he had ordred the naval "quarantine" of Cuba.

1964 - It was announced that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had been removed from power. He was replaced with Alexei N. Kosygin.

1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill creating the Department of Transportation.

1973 - "Tomorrow" debuted on NBC-TV.

1983 - U.S. Marines killed five snipers who had pinned them down in Beirut International Airport.

1984 - The Freedom of Information Act was passed.

1989 - South African officials released eight prominent political prisoners.

1989 - Wayne Gretzky, while playing for the Los Angeles Kings, surpassed Gordie Howe's NHL scoring record of 1,850 career points.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton sent warships to enforce trade sanctions that had been imposed on Haitian military rulers.

1993 - South Africa's President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress President Nelson Mandela were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the apartheid system in South Africa.

1997 - British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green broke the land-speed record by driving a jet-powered car faster than the speed of sound.

1997 - The Cassini-Huygens mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL. On January 14, 2005, a probe sent back pictures of Saturn's moon Titan during and after landing.

1998 - The U.N. condemned the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba for the seventh year in a row.

2001 - NASA's Galileo spacecraft passed within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

October 16, 2012

1701 - The Collegiate School was founded in Killingworth, CT. The school moved to New Haven in 1745 and changed its name to Yale College.

1829 - In Boston, MA, the first modern hotel in America opened. The Tremont Hotel had 170 rooms that rented for $2 a day and included four meals.

1859 - Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry, VA (now located in West Virginia).

1869 - A hotel in Boston became the first in the U.S. to install indoor plumbing.

1916 - Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in New York City, NY.

1923 - Walt Disney contracted with M.J. Winkler to distribute the Alice Comedies. This event is recognized as the start of the Disney Company.

1928 - Marvin Pipkin received a patent for the frosted electric light bulb.

1939 - "Right To Happiness" debuted on the NBC-Blue network.

1939 - "The Man Who Came to Dinner" opened on Broadway.

1941 - The Nazis advanced to within 60 miles of Moscow. Romanians entered Odessa, USSR, and began exterminating 150,000 Jews.

1942 - The ballet "Rodeo" premiered in New York City.

1943 - Chicago's new subway system was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

1944 - "The Robe," by Lloyd Douglas, was published for the first time.

1945 - "His Honor the Barber" debuted on NBC Radio.

1955 - Mrs. Jules Lederer replaced Ruth Crowley in newspapers using the name Ann Landers.

1962 - U.S. President Kennedy was informed that there were missile bases in Cuba, beginning the Cuban missile crisis.

1964 - China detonated its first atomic bomb becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.

1967 - NATO headquarters opened in Brussels.

1970 - Anwar Sadat was elected president of Egypt to succeed Gamal Abdel Nassar.

1973 - Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Vietnamese official declined the award.

1982 - China announced that it had successfully fired a ballistic missile from a submarine.

1987 - Rescuers freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned well that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. The was trapped for 58 hours.

1989 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush signed the Gramm-Rudman budget reduction law that ordered federal programs be cut by $16.1 billion.

1990 - Comedian Steve Martin and his wife Victoria Tennant visited U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia.

1993 - The U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of U.S. warships to enforce a blockade on Haiti to increase pressure on the controlling military leaders.

1994 - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was re-elected to a fourth term.

1995 - The "Million Man March" took place in Washington, DC.

1997 - Charles M. Schulz and his wife Jeannie announced that they would give $1 million toward the construction of a D-Day memorial to be placed in Virginia.

2000 - It was announced that Chevron Corp. would be buying Texaco Inc. for $35 billion. The combined company was called Chevron Texaco Corp. and became the 4th largest oil company in the world.

2002 - It was reported that North Korea had told the U.S. that it had a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an 1994 agreement with the U.S.

2002 - The Arthur Andersen accounting firm was sentenced to five years probation and fined $500,000 for obstructing a federeal investigation of the energy company Enron.

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