01/01 Julian Calendar takes effect, 45 BC 01/01 Haitian Independence Proclaimed, 1803 01/01 Emancipation Proclamation enters effect, 1863 01/01 United Nations created, 1942 01/02 Reconquest of Spain completed, 1492 01/02 Russian Fleet surrenders to Japan at Port Arthur, 1905 01/03 Martin Luther excommunicated, 1521 01/03 Emperor Meiji Restored to throne in Japan, 1868 01/04 Single European Currency debuts, 1999 01/04 New York Stock Exchange opens first permanent headquarters, 1865 01/04 Burma becomes independent, 1948 01/05 Prague Spring begins, 1968 01/05 -50 degrees F, Strawberry UT, 1913 01/05 The FCC hears the first demonstration of FM radio, 1940 01/06 Harold Godwinson crowned King Harold II of England, 1066 01/06 Electric Telegraph first tested by Samuel Morse, 1838 01/07 Pol Pot overthrown, 1979 01/07 Calais, last continental holding of England, falls to France, 1558 01/08 Major General Andrew Jackson leads US troops to victory at Battle of New Orleans, 1815 01/09 Cruise ship RMS Queen Elizabeth destroyed by fire, 1972 01/10 First meeting of United Nations General Assembly in London, 1946 01/10 Thomas Paine's Common Sense published, 1776 01/10 League of Nations instituted, 1920 01/10 Lend-Lease Act introduced, 1941 01/11 Milk delivered in bottles for first time, 1878 01/11 Amelia Earhart flies from Hawaii to California, 1935 01/12 Zulu War begins, 1879 01/12 Siege of Leningrad ends, 1943 01/12 Santa Clara, California founded, 1777 01/13 First live radio concert broadcast, by Enrico Caruso, broadcast from New York, 1910 01/14 United Nations condemns Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1980 01/14 Treaty of Paris ratified by Continental Congress, officially establishing independent United States, 1784 01/15 Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England, 1559 01/16 Prohibition takes effect, 1919 01/16 Reza Shah Pallavi flees Iran, 1979 01/16 First Persian Gulf War begins, 1991 01/16 Chevy Corvette introduced, 1953 01/17 Over $2 million stolen in "Great Brinks Robbery" in Boston, 1950 01/18 James Cook discovers Hawaii, 1778 01/18 Robert Falcon Scott reaches South Pole, 1912 01/18 First Australian penal colony established, 1788 01/19 Indira Ghandi becomes Prime Minister of India, 1966 01/19 First college basketball game played, Chicago beats Iowa 15-12, 1896 01/20 Hong Kong ceded to Britain, 1841 01/20 US Hostages released from Iran, 1981 01/21 First commercial flight of Concorde SST, 1976 01/21 King Louis XVI executed, 1793 01/22 First British colonists arrive in New Zealand, 1840 01/22 First Russian Revolution begins, 1905 01/22 Battle of Tobruk concludes, 1941 01/23 USS Pueblo seized by North Korea, 1968 01/23 First insulin injection for diabetes, 1922 01/23 Peace treaty ending Vietnam war announced, 1973 01/24 Eskimo Pie patented by Christian Nelson, 1922 01/24 Joseph Marshall finds Gold at Sutter's Mill in California, 1848 01/24 Last IJA soldier captured in Guam, 1972 01/24 The Pleasure Garden, first Alfred Hitchcock film opens in London, 1927 01/25 First Winter Olympics held in Charmonix, 1924 01/25 Reporter Nellie Bly arrives in New York, completing circumnavigation of the globe in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 1890 01/26 Republic of India founded, 1950 01/26 Barcelona falls to Nationalist forces, 1939 01/26 Auschwitz liberated, 1945 01/26 Sydney settled, 1788 01/27 Somali dictator Muhammad Siyad Barre flees country, 1991 01/27 Grissom, White and Chaffe die in fire aboard Apollo I, 1967 01/27 Paris Peace Accords signed, ending Vietnam War, 1973 01/28 Space Shuttle Challenger (51-L) explodes 74 seconds after liftoff killing Scobee, Smith, McNair, Resnick, Jarvis, Onizuka and McAuliffe, 1986 01/29 Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove premieres, 1964 01/30 Mohandas Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi, 1948 01/30 King Charles I executed by Cromwell's forces, 1649 01/30 Tet Offensive begins, 1968 01/31 "Ham" the chimpanzee soars into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, 1961 01/31 Explorer I launched, resulting in discovery of Van Allen Belt, 1958 02/01 "Secret Storm", first TV soap opera airs, 1954 02/01 Forces lead by the Ayatollah Khomeini take over Iran, 1979 02/01 Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) disintegrates over Texas during re-entry killing Husband, Anderson, Brown, Chawla, Clark, McCool, Ramon, 2003 02/01 First session of the United States Supreme Court, 1790 02/01 First automobile insurance policy issued by Travellers Insurance of Hartford, CT, 1898 02/01 Land battle of Guadalcanal ends with Japanese evacuation after seven months of fighting, 1943 02/02 Mexican-American war ends with signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848 02/02 Last German troops in Stalingrad surrender, 1943 02/03 Soviet probe Lunik 9 makes first controlled landing on Moon, 1966 02/03 Sixteenth Amendment to US Constitution, establishing first Federal Income Tax, takes effect, 1913 02/04 George Washington elected first President of the United States, 1789 02/04 Confederate States of America formed, 1861 02/04 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta to determine shape of post-war Europe, 1945 02/04 Cybernet inaugurated, 1969 02/04 James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans published, 1826 02/05 New Mexican Constitution proclaimed, founding modern nation of Mexico, 1917 02/05 First Walk/Don't Walk sign installed, New York City, 1952 02/05 Last Soviet troops pull out of Kabul, 1989 02/06 John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men published, 1937 02/07 Beatles arrive in New York, 1964 02/07 Great Baltimore Fire begins, 1904 02/07 Bruce McCandless completes first untethered spacewalk, 1984 02/07 Maastricht Treaty signed, establishing European Union, 1992 02/07 Soviet Communist Party relinquishes monopoly on political power, 1990 02/08 Mary Queen of Scots beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle, 1587 02/08 Russo-Japanese war begins with surprise naval attack on Port Arthur by Japanese forces, 1904 02/09 First US combat troops arrive in Vietnam, 1965 02/09 -51 degrees F, Vanderbilt MI, 1934 02/10 Seven Years' War ends, 1763 02/11 Japan becomes fourth nation to complete successful space launch, 1970 02/11 Nelson Mandela freed, 1990 02/12 Last Emperor of China abdicates throne, 1912 02/12 Anatoly Scharansky released from Soviet prison camp, 1986 02/12 George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue debuts, 1924 02/13 William and Mary proclaimed King and Queen of England after Glorious Revolution, 1689 02/14 Sandinistas agree to free elections in Nicaragua, 1989 02/14 Battle of the Kasserine Pass, 1943 02/15 Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces, 1942 02/15 USS Maine explodes in Havana harbor, leading to Spanish-American war, 1898 02/15 Canadian Maple-Leaf Flag adopted, 1965 02/16 Nylon patented, 1937 02/16 Raiding party led by Stephen Decatur burns captured US frigate in Tripoli harbor, 1804 02/16 Fidel Castro sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba, 1959 02/17 China invades Vietnam, resulting in nine days of fighting before Chinese retreat, 1979 02/18 Charleston, SC surrendered to Union forces, 1865 02/18 Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, Lowell Observatory, AZ, 1930 02/19 US Marines land on Iwo Jima, 1945 02/19 First prototype Ford Thunderbird completed, 1954 02/19 Donner Party rescued after four months, 1847 02/20 John Glenn orbits the Earth 3 times, 1962 02/21 Battle of Verdun begins, 1916 02/21 First telephone directory, New Haven, Connecticut, 1878 02/21 Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto published, 1848 02/21 Richard Nixon arrives in China for historic eight-day visit, 1972 02/22 Walt Disney's Cinderella opens, 1950 02/23 US Flag raised over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, 1945 02/24 Impeachment proceedings against Andrew Johnson begin, 1868 02/24 Tet Offensive ends with recapture of Hue by US and South Vietnamese forces, 1968 02/24 Ground offensive begins in first Gulf War, 1991 02/25 Ferdinand Marcos flees the Philippines, 1986 02/25 Bloodless coup leads to Communist government in Czechoslovakia, 1948 02/26 World Trade Center bombed, killing 6, 1993 02/26 Free elections held in Nicaragua, Sandinistas ousted, 1990 02/27 Reichstag building burns, 1933 02/27 Kuwait liberated, ending offensive ground operations in First Gulf War, 1991 02/28 The "French Connection" drug bust occurs in Marseilles, 1972 02/29 French and Indian raid on Deerfield MA kills 56 as part of Queen Anne's War, 1704 03/01 Yellowstone National Park established by President Grant, 1872 03/01 Peace Corps established by President Kennedy, 1961 03/01 Twenty-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh kidnapped and killed, 1932 03/02 Texas declares independence from Mexico, 1836 03/02 Importation of slaves into United States prohibited, 1807 03/02 Pioneer 10 launched to explore Jupiter and beyond, 1973 03/02 Soviet and Chinese troops clash along Ussuri river, 1969 03/03 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends Russian participation in First World War, 1918 03/03 Finland declares war on Germany, 1945 03/04 United States Constitution takes effect, and Congress meets in New York, 1789 03/05 British troops fire into snowball-throwing crowd in Boston Massacre, 1770 03/06 Alamo falls to forces of Mexican General Santa Anna after 13 days of siege, 1836 03/06 Dutch Resistance ambush, kill SS Lt. General Hanns Rauter in Apeldoorn, 1945 03/07 Nazi forces re-militarize Rheinland in violation of Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Pact, 1936 03/07 Sheikh Mujib Rahman becomes first elected leader of Bangladesh, 1973 03/08 `February Revolution' in Russia begins on February 23 of calendar then in use in Russia, 1917 03/08 Dutch forces on Java surrender to the Japanese, 1942 03/09 USS Monitor battles CSS Virginia (USS Merrimac) in world's first battle between ironclad warships, 1862 03/09 Former Last Emperor of China becomes regent of Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, 1932 03/09 US forces land at Vera Cruz in largest amphibious landing before World War II, 1847 03/10 Alexander Graham Bell conducts first successful telephone experiment, 1876 03/10 Jan Masaryk dead in Czechoslovakia in reported suicide, 1948 03/11 Lend-Lease Act signed, 1941 03/11 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Premier of USSR, 1985 03/11 Lithuania declares independence from USSR, 1990 03/12 Austria annexed by Germany, 1938 03/12 Mahatma Ghandi begins march to sea in protest of British Salt Tax, 1930 03/13 Uranus discovered by William Hershel, 1781 03/13 Tsar Alexander II of Russia assassinated, 1881 03/15 Tsar Nicholas II abdicates throne of Russia, 1917 03/16 Robert Goddard launches first liquid-fueled rocket, Auburn MA, 1926 03/17 Vanguard I launched, 1958. Earth proved pear-shaped 03/18 Aleksei Leonov performs first spacewalk, 1965 03/24 Construction of New York subway system begins, 1900 03/26 Popeye statue unveiled, Crystal City TX Spinach Festival, 1937 03/27 Khrushchev becomes Premier of Soviet Union, 1958 03/29 Swedish settled Christiana (Wilmington) DE, 1638 03/30 Alaska purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, 1867 03/30 Five rings around Uranus discovered, 1977 03/30 Pencil with eraser patented, 1858 03/31 Pioneer 10 mission ends, having travelled 6 billion miles and provided close-up pictures of Jupiter and first data on interstellar space, 1997 04/04 Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, 1968 04/04 NATO Established, 1949 04/05 US nationalises Gold at a value of $20.67, 1933 04/06 Joseph Smith founds Mormon Church, 1830 04/09 Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, 1865 04/12 Confederate troops fire first shots of Civil War at Ft Sumter, 1861 04/12 Space Shuttle Columbia launched, 1981 04/12 Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space, 1961 04/14 Lincoln shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, 1865 04/14 Titanic hits iceberg and sinks, 1912 04/15 Ray Kroc opens first McDonalds in Des Plaines, IL, 1955 04/18 First Laundromat opens, Fort Worth Texas, 1934 04/18 San Francisco earthquake, 1906 04/19 Warsaw Ghetto uprising, 1943 04/23 Hank Aaron hits his first home run, 1954 04/26 William Shakespeare baptised in Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1564, birthdate unknown 04/27 Magellan killed in Philippines, 1521 04/29 Zipper patented by Gideon Sindback, 1913 05/06 Hindenburg explodes and burns upon landing at Lakehurst, NJ, 1939 05/07 Germany surrenders after WWII, 1945 05/09 94 degrees, New York, 1979 05/10 Germany invades Low Countries, 1940 05/10 Nazi bookburning, 1933 05/14 Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804 05/14 Nation of Israel proclaimed, 1948 05/15 Asylum for Inebriates founded, Binghamton NY, 1854 05/17 24" rain in 11 hours, Pearl River, S. China, 1982 05/18 Battle of Las Piedras in Uruguay 05/18 Napoleon crowned Emperor, 1804 05/21 Battle of Iquique in Chile 05/21 US explodes first hydrogen bomb, 1956 05/22 US Civil War ends, 1865 05/23 Israeli raid into Argentina to capture Adolf Eichmann, 1960 05/24 Battle of Pinchincha in Ecuador 05/25 Successful test of the limelight in Purfleet, England, 1830 05/27 Golden Gate Bridge opens, 1937 05/29 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norkay climb Mt. Everest, 1953 06/04 Roquefort cheese developed, 1070 06/05 Robert Kennedy assassinated, 1968 08/15 US leaves the Gold Standard, 1971 06/06 First drive-in movie, 1933 06/06 Normandy landing, 1944 06/11 Death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C. 06/13 Pioneer 10 flies past Neptune's orbit, the first human artifact to travel beyond the orbits of all known planets, 1983 06/14 Sandpaper invented by I. Fischer, Jr., 1834 06/15 Ben Franklin's kite experiment, 1752 06/15 Magna Carta signed, 1215 06/15 Series of photographs by Edward Muggeridge prove to Leland Stanford that all the hooves of a horse are off the ground during the gallop, 1878 06/16 "The Blues Brothers" premieres in Chicago, 1980 06/17 China explodes its first Hydrogen bomb, 1967 06/19 Lizzie Borden acquitted, 1893 06/20 Victoria crowned, 1837 06/21 Berlin airlift begins, 1948 06/23 Slavery abolished in England, 1772 06/25 Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn, 1876 06/25 North Korea invades South Korea, 1950 06/26 Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 06/26 St. Lawrence Seaway dedicated by Eisenhower & Queen Elizabeth II, 1959 06/26 Toothbrush invented, 1498 06/27 100 degrees, Fort Yukon, 1915 06/28 Supreme Court decides in favor of Alan Bakke, 1978 06/30 "That" explosion in Siberia, 1908 06/30 China and Soviet Union announce split over ideology, 1960 07/01 Battle of Gettysburg begins, 1863 07/03 290 people killed after Iran Airlines A300 shot down by USA, 1988 07/04 Battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg won by Union forces, 1863 07/04 Cloudy, 76 degrees, Philadelphia PA, 1776 07/04 New York abstains on Declaration of Independence vote, 1776 07/04 Thoreau enters woods, 1845 07/06 First `talkie' (talking motion picture) premiere in New York, 1928 07/06 Lawrence of Arabia captures Aqaba, 1917 07/07 First radio broadcast of "Dragnet", 1949 07/08 First public reading of the Declaration of Independence, 1776 07/08 Liberty Bell cracks while being rung at funeral of John Marshall, 1835 07/09 10-hour working day set by law, NH, 1847 07/10 134 degrees in Death Valley, 1913 07/13 Women first compete in Olympic games, 1908 07/16 Detonation of the first atomic bomb at Alamogordo, NM, 1945 07/17 Disneyland opens, 1955 07/18 Ty Cobb gets 4000th base hit, 1927 07/20 Armstrong and Aldrin land on moon, 1969 07/21 First Train Robbery, Jesse James gets $3000 near Adair, Iowa, 1873 07/23 Ice cream cone introduced, St. Louis MO, 1904 07/24 Scopes Monkey Trial, 1925 07/30 "In God We Trust" made U.S. motto, 1956 07/31 Harry S. Truman dedicates N.Y. Int'l Airport @ Idlewild Field, 1948, later JFK 08/03 Columbus sets sail for Cathay, 1492 08/03 USS Nautilus crosses under north polar ice cap, 1958 08/04 Axe murder of Andrew and Abbey Borden, 1892 08/04 Britain declares war on Germany starting World War I, 1914 08/06 Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, 1945 08/06 Caricom in Barbados 08/06 Cy Young pitches first game, 1890 08/08 Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, 1945 08/08 Montenegro declares war on Germany, 1914 08/08 Richard Nixon resigns the US presidency, 1974 08/08 The Great Train Robbery -- $7,368,000, 1963 08/09 Helter Skelter... the Charles Manson murders take place, 1969 08/09 Persia defeats Spartan King Leonidas at Thermopylae, 480 BC 08/09 US/Canada border defined in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842 08/10 Chicago incorporated as a village of 300 people, 1833 08/10 US and Panama agree to transfer the canal in the year 2000, 1977 08/11 France Ends War in Indochina, 1954 08/12 First test flight of Space Shuttle "Enterprise" from 747, 1977 08/12 Last U.S. ground troops out of Vietnam, 1972 08/13 Berlin wall erected, 1961 08/13 Li'l Abner debut, 1934 08/14 Social Security begins in U.S., 1935 08/15 Gandhi's movement obtains independence for Pakistan and India, 1947 08/15 Hurricane hits Plimoth Plantation, 1635 08/16 Roller Coaster patented, 1898 08/17 First public bath opened in N.Y., 1891 08/18 Anti-Cigarette League of America formed 08/19 Air Force cargo plane snares payload from Discoverer 14 spy satellite, marking start of practical military reconnaissance from space, 1960 08/19 Gail Borden patents condensed milk, 1856 08/22 Death of King Richard III, 1485, Last of the Plantagenets 08/22 Joe Walker sets X-15 all time altitude mark (67 miles), 1963 08/22 St. Columbia reports seeing monster in Loch Ness, 565 08/24 "Alice's Restaurant" premieres in New York and Los Angeles, 1969 08/24 -126.9 F at Vostok, Antarctica, 1960 08/24 British troops burn Washington, 1814 08/25 Gen. DeGaulle leads French forces into Paris, 1944 08/26 Women get the right to vote, Nineteenth Amendment to US Constitution becomes law, 1920 08/27 Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes" published, 1912 08/27 Krakatoa, Java explodes with a force of 1,300 megatons, 1883 08/28 King leads over 200K in civil rights rally in Washington, DC, 1963 08/29 Star in Cygnus goes nova and becomes 4th brightest in sky, 1975; Nova Cygni 1975. 08/30 Japan Stationery Co. sells first felt-tipped pen, 1960 08/30 Washington-to-Moscow hot line connected, 1963 08/31 269 people killed after Korean Airlines 747 shot down by USSR, 1983 08/31 Mary Anne Nichols becomes Jack the Ripper's first victim, 1888 08/31 Non-aggression pact signed by USSR and Afghanistan, 1926 09/01 Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in World Chess Match, 1972 09/01 Joshua A. Norton proclaims himself 'Emperor Norton I', 1859 09/02 Great Britain adopts Gregorian Calendar, 1752 09/02 Japan signs unconditional surrender on US battleship `Missouri', 1945 09/05 The first Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia, 1774 09/06 149 Pilgrims set forth from England aboard the Mayflower, 1620 09/06 Pres. McKinley shot, 1901 09/08 "Star Trek" debuts on NBC (1966) 09/08 Jack the Ripper kills again, Annie Chapman is second victim, 1888 09/08 President Ford pardons Richard M. Nixon, 1974 09/09 California becomes the 31st state, 1850 09/09 United Colonies is renamed the United States, 1776 09/11 Twin Towers fall in terrorist attacks, 2001 09/12 German paratroopers rescue Mussolini from captivity in Rome, 1943 09/12 Germany annexes Sudetenland, 1938 09/13 136.4 F at el Azizia, Libya, 1922 09/13 British defeat the French at Abraham near Quebec City, 1788 09/13 Building of Hadrian's Wall begun, 122 09/13 Chiang Kai-Shek becomes president of China, 1943 09/14 Benjamin Franklin is sent to France as an American minister, 1778 09/14 Salem, Massachusetts, is founded, 1629 09/14 The Selective Service Act establishes the first peacetime draft, 1940 09/15 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev begins his 13 day tour of the US, 1959 09/15 The U.S. Foreign Affairs Dept. becomes the U.S. State Department, 1789 09/16 The village of Shawmut, Massachusetts, becomes the city of Boston, 1630 09/17 Battle of Antietam, 1862 09/20 Equal Rights Party nominates Belva Lockwood for President, 1884 09/20 First meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1848 09/20 First meeting of the National Research Council, 1916 09/20 Magellan leaves Spain on the first Round the World passage, 1519 09/20 The Roxy Theater opens in Hollywood, 1973 09/22 Allied forces form the independent nation West Germany, 1953 09/22 President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, 1862 09/22 The first Soviet atomic bomb explodes, 1949 09/23 Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law, 1972 09/23 The New York Knickerbockers becomes the first U.S. Baseball club, 1845 09/25 Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first woman on US Supreme Court, 1981 09/27 The first passenger was hauled in a locomotive in England, 1825 09/28 John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" published, 1678 09/28 A Greek soldier runs 26+ miles after the Persian defeat at Marathon, 490BC 09/30 Red Jack kills 2, Elizabeth Stride (\#3) and Catherine Eddowes (\#4), 1888 09/30 The first tooth is extracted under anesthesia in Charleston, Mass, 1846 09/30 The verdicts of the Nuremberg trials are announced, 1946 10/01 NASA officially begins operations, 1958 10/02 Thurgood Marshall sworn in as the first black Supreme Court Justice, 1967 10/04 Crimean war begins, 1853 10/04 Sputnik 1, world's first orbiting satellite launched, 1957 10/06 Antioch College is the first public school to admit men and women, 1853 10/06 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated in Cairo, 1981 10/06 Israel is attacked by the alliance of Egypt and Syria, 1973 10/07 Foundation of the German Democratic Republic in 1949 10/07 Georgia Tech. beats Cumberland Univ. 222-0, 1916 10/07 Mother Teresa of Calcutta awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 1979 10/08 Great Chicago Fire, 1871 10/09 First two-way telephone conversation, 1876 10/11 "Saturday Night Live" premiers on NBC-TV, 1975 10/11 The Gang of Four are arrested in Peking, 1976 10/11 The first steam powered ferry ran between New York and Hoboken, 1811 10/11 The second Vatican Ecumenical Council opens in Rome, 1962 10/12 Bahama Natives discover Columbus of Europe lost on their shores, 1492 10/12 Khrushchev pounds his desk with shoe during a speech to the UN, 1960 10/12 Man O'War's last race, 1920 10/13 Italy declares war on Germany, 1943 10/13 U.S. Navy born, 1775, authorized by the Second Continental Congress 10/14 Battle of Hastings won by William the Conqueror and the Normans, 1066 10/14 Chuck Yeager breaks sound barrier, 1947 10/18 Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor org., 1648 10/18 Soviets announce their probe took photos of the Moon's far side, 1959 10/19 Mao Tse-tung establishes the People's Republic of China, 1949 10/19 Napoleon's beaten army begins the long retreat from Moscow, 1812 10/20 OPEC embargo, 1973 10/21 Edison makes the first practical incandescent lamp, 1879 10/21 Guggenheim Museum opens, 1959 10/23 Battle of Leyte Gulf begins, 1944 10/25 The UN removes Taiwan and admits the People's Republic of China, 1971 10/26 UN's World Health Organization declares smallpox eradicated, 1978 10/27 New York's Boss Tweed is arrested on fraud charges, 1871 10/27 The first New York Subway is opened, 1904 10/28 Columbus discovers Cuba, 1492 10/28 Constantine's army defeats forces of Maxentius at Mulvian Bridge, 312 10/28 Harvard was founded in Massachusetts, 1636 10/28 Statue of Liberty was dedicated on Bedloe's Island, 1886 10/29 Stock Market Crash, 1929 10/30 Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast, 1938 10/31 Luther nails 95 Theses to door of Castle Church, Wittenberg, 1517 11/01 Austria-Hungary become two separate nations, 1918 11/02 Luftwaffe completes 57 consecutive nights of bombing of London, 1940 11/02 Two Frenchmen make the first free hot air balloon flight, 1783 11/03 Beef rises to 3 cents a pound, IL, 1837 11/03 Linus Pauling wins Nobel Chemistry Prize, 1954 11/03 Sputnik II launched, 1957, bearing spacedog Laika 11/04 Iranian militants seize US embassy personnel in Tehran, 1979 11/04 Soviet forces crush the anti-communist revolt in Hungary, 1956 11/05 Guy Fawkes' Plot, 1605 11/06 Anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution (2 days) in U.S.S.R. 11/07 Lewis and Clark Expedition in sight of the Pacific Ocean, 1805 11/09 Blackout of New York, New England, and Eastern Canada, 1965 11/09 Giant panda discovered (?!), China, 1927 11/09 Jack the Ripper kills fifth and final victim, Jane Kelly, 1888 11/09 Roosevelt establishes the Civil Works Administration, 1933 11/10 41 Women arrested in suffragette demonstrations near White House, 1917 11/10 Cpt. Wirz, commandant of Andersonville Prison hanged, 1865 11/10 Henry Morton Stanley asks David Livingstone, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?", 1871 11/11 Washington becomes the 42nd state, 1889 11/12 Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Birthday in Taiwan 11/12 U.S. first exports oil to Europe, 1861 11/15 Niagara Falls power plant startup, 1896 11/16 Opening of the Suez Canal, 1869 11/17 46,000 meteoroids fall over AZ in 20 minutes, 1966 11/18 First hydrogen bomb blasts Enewetok, 1952 11/18 Local standard time zones established for US, 1883 11/19 Gettysburg Address delivered, 1863 11/22 Kennedy shot in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald, 1963 11/23 First broadcast of Dr. Who, 1963 11/24 Lee Harvey Oswald killed by Jack Ruby, 1963 11/25 Alfred Nobel invents dynamite, 1867 11/27 Alfred Nobel establishes Nobel Prize, 1895 11/27 Friction match invented, England, 1826 11/27 Hoosac Railroad Tunnel completed, 1873, in NW Massachusetts 11/29 Sand Creek massacre, Colorado, USA, 1864 11/29 King Tut's tomb opened, 1922 12/01 Martin Luther King Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery buses, 1955 12/01 Rosa Parks refuses to move to back of the bus (Montgomery, AL), 1953 12/03 First neon light display, Paris, 1910 12/03 First successful human heart transplant led by Dr. Barnard, 1967 12/04 Washington takes leave of his officers at Fraunce's Tavern, NYC, 1783 12/05 End of Prohibition, 1933 (at least the alcohol part) 12/05 Phi Beta Kappa founded, 1776 12/05 The Eighteenth Amendment repealed, ending Prohibition, 1933 12/05 Nelson Mandela dies aged 95, 2013 12/07 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, 1941 12/09 Ball-bearing roller skates patented, 1884 12/10 Metric system established in France, 1799 12/12 First wireless message sent across Atlantic by Marconi, 1901 12/13 Apollo 17 leaves the moon, with "last" men to walk on moon aboard, 1972 12/13 Dartmouth College chartered, 1769 12/15 Bill of Rights adopted, 1791 12/15 James Naismith invents basketball, Canada, 1891 12/16 Kazakhstan declares independence from USSR, 1991 12/20 U.S. buys ~1,000,000 sq. miles of Louisiana for ~$20/sq.mi. 12/27 Ether first used as anesthetic in childbirth, 1845 12/28 Comet Kohoutek at perihelion, 1973 12/29 Massacre at Wounded Knee, 1890 12/30 First Los Angeles freeway dedicated, 1940