“What is history? An echo of the past in the future; a reflex from the future on the past.” – Victor Hugo
October 29
October 29, 1618 – British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh was executed in London for treason on orders from King James I.
October 29, 1929 – The stock market crashed as over 16 million shares were dumped amid tumbling prices. The Great Depression followed in America, lasting until the outbreak of World War II.
Birthday – Nazi propaganda minister Paul Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945) was born in Rheydt, near Dusseldorf, Germany. Considered a master propagandist, he controlled all Nazi newspapers, radio and film production. He was a virulent anti-Semite who advocated the extermination of the Jews. Devoted to Hitler until the end, he died at Hitler’s Berlin bunker in 1945 after poisoning his six children.
October 30
October 30, 1905 – To counter the spread of revolutionary movements in Russia, Czar Nicholas II took a step toward constitutional government by allowing for an elected parliament (Duma) with legislative powers and guaranteeing civil liberties.
October 30, 1938 – The War of the Worlds radio broadcast panicked millions of Americans. Actor Orson Welles and the Mercury Players dramatized the story by H.G. Wells depicting a Martian invasion of New Jersey. Their script utilized simulated radio news bulletins which many listeners thought were real.
October 30, 1990 – For the first time since the Ice Age, Great Britain was connected with the European continent, via a new rail tunnel under the English Channel.
Birthday – John Adams (1735-1826) the 2nd U.S. President was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. He served from March 4, 1797 to March 3, 1801. He had been George Washington’s vice president, and was the father of John Quincy Adams, the 6th President. He died on July 4, 1826, the same day as Thomas Jefferson, on the 50th anniversary of adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Birthday – Emily Post (1872-1960) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She wrote influential books on etiquette and a syndicated newspaper column giving advice on manners in specific situations.
Birthday – Admiral William “Bull” Halsey (1882-1959) was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was the American fleet commander during World War II in the Pacific and played a leading role in the defeat of the Japanese. In 1942, he launched the Doolittle Raid, the first air raid on Japan. From 1942-44, he coordinated successful attacks on the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. In 1944, he led the U.S. fleet to victory at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history.
October 31st – Halloween or All Hallow’s Eve, an ancient celebration combining the Christian festival of All Saints with Pagan autumn festivals.
October 31, 1517 – Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg’s palace church, denouncing the selling of papal indulgences and questioning various ecclesiastical practices. This marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
October 31, 1940 – The Battle of Britain concluded. Beginning on July 10, 1940, German bombers and fighters had attacked coastal targets, airfields, London and other cities, as a prelude to a Nazi invasion of England. British pilots in Spitfires and Hurricanes shot down over 1,700 German aircraft while losing 915 fighters. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” declared Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
October 31, 1941 – Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed after 14 years of work. The memorial contains 60-foot-tall sculptures of the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt – representing America’s founding, political philosophy, preservation, and expansion and conservation.
October 31, 1950 – Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in a National Basketball Association (NBA) game when he took the floor for the Washington Capitols in Rochester, New York.
October 31, 1952 – The U.S. detonated its first hydrogen bomb at the Elugelab Atoll in the Eniwetok Proving Grounds in the Pacific Marshall Islands.
October 31, 1961 – The body of Joseph Stalin was removed from the mausoleum in Red Square and reburied within the Kremlin walls among the graves of lesser Soviet heroes. This occurred as part of Russia’s de-Stalinization program under his successor Nikita Khrushchev. Stalin’s name was also removed from public buildings, streets, and factories. Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.
October 31, 1968 – During the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson ordered a halt of American bombing of North Vietnam.
October 31, 1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by three Sikh members of her bodyguard while walking in the garden of her New Delhi home.
Birthday – Chinese soldier and statesman Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) was born in Chekiang. Educated at the Wampoa Military Academy, he led the KMT (nationalist) forces in the struggle against the Communist army led by Mao Zedong.
November 1
November 1st – All Hallows Day, also known as All Saints Day among Roman Catholics, commemorating those who have no special feast day.
November 1, 1700 – Charles II of Spain died and was succeeded by Philip V, resulting in the War of Spanish Succession.
November 1, 1776 – Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in California. Each year, the swallows of Capistrano leave their nests there around St. John’s Day (October 23rd) and return the following year near St. Joseph’s Day (March 19th).
November 1, 1848 – The first medical school for women opened in Boston. The Boston Female Medical School was founded by Samuel Gregory with just twelve students. In 1874, the school merged with the Boston University School of Medicine, becoming one of the first co-ed medical schools.
November 1, 1936 – The Rome-Berlin Axis was proclaimed by Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini following a visit to Berlin by Italian Foreign Secretary Ciano.
November 1, 1950 – President Harry S. Truman was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by two members of a Puerto Rican nationalist movement.
November 1, 1963 – South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were killed in a military coup.
November 1, 1993 – The European Union came into existence as a result of the Maastricht Treaty.
November 1, 1995 – The first all-race local government elections took place in South Africa, marking the end of the apartheid system.
November 2
November 2, 1721 – Peter I was proclaimed Emperor of all the Russias.
November 2, 1930 – Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.
November 2, 1947 – The first and only flight of Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose” flying boat occurred in Long Beach Harbor, California. It flew about a mile at an altitude of 70 feet. Costing $25 million, the 200-ton plywood eight-engine Hercules was the world’s largest airplane, designed, built and flown by Hughes. It later became a tourist attraction alongside the Queen Mary ship at Long Beach and has since been moved to Oregon.
November 2, 1962 – During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy announced on TV, “the Soviet bases in Cuba are being dismantled, their missiles and related equipment being crated, and the fixed installations at these sites are being destroyed.”
Birthday – American frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was born in Berks County, near Reading, Pennsylvania.
Birthday – James K. Polk (1795-1849) the 11th U.S. President was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He served from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849. He declined to be a candidate for a second term, saying he was “exceedingly relieved” at the completion of his presidency.
November 3
November 3, 1534 – King Henry VIII became Supreme Head of the Church of England following the passage of the Act of Supremacy by Parliament.
November 3, 1839 – The first Opium War between China and Britain began after British frigates blew up several Chinese junks.
November 3, 1903 – Panama declared itself independent of Colombia following a revolt engineered by the U.S.
November 3, 1918 – Part of the German fleet mutinied at Kiel in the closing days of World War I.
November 3, 1948 – Dewey Defeats Truman banner headline appeared on the front page of the Chicago Tribune newspaper. Harry Truman actually defeated Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey for the presidency.
November 3, 1957 – Soviet Russia launched the world’s first inhabited space capsule, Sputnik II, which carried a dog named Laika.
November 3, 1983 – White South Africans voted to allow Indians and “Coloreds” (persons of mixed race) limited power in the government, but continued to exclude blacks.
November 4
November 4, 1922 – King Tut’s tomb was discovered at Luxor, Egypt, by British archaeologist Howard Carter after several years of searching. The child-King Tutankhamen became pharaoh at age nine and died around 1352 B.C. at age 19. The tomb was found mostly intact, containing numerous priceless items now exhibited in Egypt’s National Museum in Cairo.
November 4, 1842 – Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois.
November 4, 1862 – Richard Gatling patented his first rapid-fire machine-gun which used revolving barrels rotating around a central mechanism to load, fire, and extract the cartridges.
November 4, 1890 – The first electrified underground railway system was officially opened in London.
November 4, 1942 – During World War II, British troops led by Bernard Montgomery defeated the Germans under Erwin Rommel at El Alamein after a twelve-day battle.
November 4, 1956 – Soviet Russian troops moved in to crush an uprising in Hungary.
November 4, 1979 – About 500 young Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran, and took 90 hostages, including 52 Americans that they held captive for 444 days.
(Photo H 6 here)
November 4, 1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated as he left a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Birthday – American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) was born in Oologah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). “All I know is what I read in the newspapers,” he once joked. He was killed in an airplane crash with aviator Wiley Post near Point Barrow, Alaska.
Birthday – Famed TV journalist Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was a leading correspondent for United Press International during World War II. From 1962 to 1981, he was the anchorman of the CBS Evening News and was widely regarded as America’s most trusted journalist.