| October 9, 1919 | October 9, 1974 |
| • The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series, five games to three, defeating the Chicago Wite Sox 10-5 at Comiskey Park. (The victory turned hollow amid charges eight of the White Sox had thrown the series in what became known as the "Black Sox" scandal.) | • Czech-born German businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, died in Frankfurt, West Germany; at his request, he was buried in Jerusalem. |
| October 10, 1845 | October 10, 1973 |
| • The United States Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, MD., as the Naval School. The school officially became the U.S. Naval Academy in 1850, when a new curriculum went into effect, requiring midshipmen to study at the academy for four years and to train aboard ships each summer. | • Spiro Agnew becomes the the first U.S. vice president to resign in disgrace. The same day, the former Maryland governor pleaded no contest to a charge of federal income tax evasion in exchange for the dropping of charges of political corruption. |
| October 11, 1779 | October 11, 1962 |
| • Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski was killed while fighting for American independence during the Revolutionary War's Battle of Savannah, Georgia. | • Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Roman Catholic Church's 21st Ecumenical Council, also known as Vatican II. |
| October 12, 1492 | October 12, 1810 |
| • (Old sytle calendar; Oct 21st New Style), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present day Bahamas. | • Bavarian Crown Prince Louis marries and invites the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities. The decision to repeat the festivities in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the annual Oktoberfest. |
| October 13, 1792 | October 13, 1943 |
| • The cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington. The executive mansion soon became known as the "White House" because its white-gray Virginia freestone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings. | • During World War II, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner. |
| October 14, 1912 | October 14, 1947 |
| • Before a presidential campaign speech in Milwaukee, Theodore Roosevelt is shot at close range. The .32 caliber bullet failed to mortally wound the former president because its force was slowed by a glasses case and a manuscript in the breast pocket of Roosevelt's heavy coat. Despite his wound, he went ahead with a scheduled speech. | • Air Force Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound as he tested a rocket powered research plane, the X-S1, over Muroc, California. |
| October 15, 1964 | October 15, 1991 |
| • It was announced that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev had been removed from office. He was suceeded as premier by Alexei N. Kosygin and as Communist Party Secretary by Leonid I. Brezhnev. | • After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. Thomas seemed headed for an easy confirmation until Anita Hill, a former aide, stepped forward and accused him of sexual harassment. |
| October 16, 1962 | October 16, 1978 |
| • The Cuban missle crisis began as President John F. Kennedy was informed reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missle bases in Cuba. | • The College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, meeting in Vatican City, choose Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland as pope. He chose the name John Paul II. |
| October 17, 1931 | October 17, 1973 |
| • Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000. Although wanted for bootlegging, tax evasion was the only charge the authorities could make stick, as Capone was known for intimidating and bribing witnesses. | • Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back on oil exports to Western nations and Japan. In the days that followed, the oil producers cut off all shipments in an embargo that lasted until March, 1974. |
| October 18, 1867 | October 18, 1968 |
| • The United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for less than 2 cents an acre. The American public believed the land to be worthless and dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden". | • The U.S. Olympic Committee suspended two black athletes, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos , for giving a black power salute as a protest during a victory ceremony in Mexico City. |
| October 19, 1781 | October 19, 1812 |
| • British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, VA., as the American Revolution neared its end. | • French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began their retreat from Moscow. |
| October 20, 1944 | October 20, 1973 |
| • During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2½ years after he'd said, "I shall return". | • After 15 years of construction, the Sydney Opera House is officially opened by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II . Famous for its geometric roof shells, the structure contains several large auditoriums and presents an average of 3,000 events a year to an estimated 2 million people. |
| October 21, 1797 | October 21, 1805 |
| • The USS Constitution, a 44-gun U.S. Navy frigate built to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli, is launched in Boston Harbor. During the War of 1812, the Constitution won its enduring nickname "Old Ironsides" when shots seemed to merely bounce off the ship's sides. | • The Battle of Trafalgar took place off the coast of Spain. A British fleet commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet, thwarting the plans of Napoleon I to invade England. Nelson was killed. |
| October 22, 1797 | October 22, 1962 |
| • The first parachute jump of note is made by French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin from a hydrogen balloon 3,200 feet above Paris. He landed shaken but unhurt a half-mile from the balloon's takeoff point. | • President Kennedy announced he had ordered U.S. air and naval forces to blockade Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missle bases on the island. Kennedy demanded the Soviets dismantle the rocket sites. |
| October 23, 1944 | October 23, 1971 |
| • The Battle of Leyte Gulf began. The Japanese navy, unable to halt American landings on the island of Leyte, suffered the straggering loss of 34 ships in the battle. General Douglas MacArthur made good on his promise to return. | • Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida. Disney World would later include EPCOT Center, based on Walt Disney's vision of a Utopian planned community. (EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) |
| October 24, 1901 | October 24, 1969 |
| • Daredevil Annie Edson Taylor initiates a famous stunt tradition when she goes over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel 5 feet high and 3 feet in diameter. Taylor reaped few financial rewards and died in poverty after 20 years as a Niagara street vendor. | • Movie star Richard Burton dazzles wife Elizabeth Taylor when he buys her a 69-carat Cartier diamond ring costing $1.5 million. His purchase of the famous Cartier diamond was the product of a fight in which Burton called Taylor's hands large and ugly. She responded that in that case, he'd better buy her the 69-carat ring she wanted so that her hands would look smaller and more attractive. |
| October 25, 1854 | October 25, 1962 |
| • The "Charge of the light Brigade" took place during the Crimean War. | • U.S. ambassador Adlai Stevenson demanded before the U.N. Security Council that Soviet delegate Valerian Zorin confirm or deny the existence of Soviet missle bases in Cuba. |
| October 26, 1881 | October 26, 1958 |
| • After years of feuding and mounting tensions, the Earp brothers, along with their friend Doc Holiday, and Clanton-Mclaurys cowboys engage in their world famous shoot out near the OK corral in Tombstone, Ariz., leaving three men dead and three more wounded. | • Pan American Airways flew its first Boeing 707 jetliner from New York to Paris; the trip took eight hours and 41 minutes. |
| October 27, 1904 | October 27, 1954 |
| • The first rapid transit subway system in America is opened in New York City, with Mayor George McClellan at the controls of the train as it runs beneath Manhattan. Today, the New York Subway system is the largest in the world. | • "Disneyland", Walt Disney's first television series, premieres on ABC. The one hour show, introduced by Tinkerbell, presented a rotating selection of cartoons, dramas, movies and other entertainment. The show ran 34 years under various names. |
| October 28, 1886 | October 28, 1965 |
| • The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Cleveland in the presence of its sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. | • The Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630 foot tall parabolic arch made of steel, is completed as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis. |
| October 29, 1929 | October 29, 1956 |
| • "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America's Great Depression began. | • During the Suez Canal crisis, Israel launched an invasion of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. |
| October 30, 1938 | October 30, 1961 |
| • Panic erupted when the radio play War of the Worlds, starring Orson Welles, was broadcast on CBS. Some listeners thought the drama, which employed fake news bulletins and simulated on-scene reports, meant that Martians had invaded Earth. | • The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb with a force estimated at 58 megatons. |
| October 31, 1892 | October 31, 1926 |
| • "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle is published. Conan Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinbrgh, where he met Dr. Joseph Bell, a teacher with extraordinary deductive power and who partly inspired Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes. | • Harry Houdini, the most celebrated magician and escape artist of the 20th century, dies of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital, 12 days after he was punched in the stomach by a student after a lecture in montreal. The punch ruptured Houdini's appendix. |
| November 1, 1512 | November 1, 1952 |
| • Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public. | • The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, in a test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. |
| November 2, 1917 | November 2, 1963 |
| • British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, in what became known as the Balfour Declaration, expressed support for a "National Home" for the Jews of Palestine. | • South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was assassinated in a military coup. |
| November 3, 1839 | November 3, 1957 |
| • The first Opium War between China and Britain erupted as two British frigates and a fleet of war junks clashed off the Chinese coast. | • The Soviet Union launched Sputnik II, the second artificial satellite, into orbit with a dog named Laika, who survived for several days until the batteries of her life-support system ran down. |
| November 4, 1924 | November 4, 1979 |
| • Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming was elected the nation's first woman governor so she could serve the remaining term of her late husband, William B. Ross. | • Student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini send shock waves across America when they storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 90 hostages. The students were enraged that the deposed Shah had been allowed to enter the United States for medical treatment. |
| November 5, 1872 | November 5, 1994 |
| • Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 dollars for attempting to vote in the presidential election for Ulysses S. Grant. | • George Foreman, age 45, becomes boxing's oldest heavyweight champion when he defeats 26-year old Micheal Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas. |
| November 6, 1860 | November 6, 1899 |
| • Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the Presidency. | • James Ward Packard's first Model A automobile is completed and test-driven through the streets of Warren Ohio. The single-seat buggy was built around a one-cylinder engine and featured wire wheels, a steering tiller, automatic spark advance and chain drive. |
| November 7, 1917 | November 7, 1940 |
| • Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Lenin over-threw the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky. | • Only 4 months after its completion, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, also known as "Galloping Gertie" for its tendancy to undulate in the wind, suffers a spectacular collapse. Due to the vertical dipping and weaving, tourists had treated the bridge as a roller coaster ride. |
| November 8, 1793 | November 8, 1950 |
| • The Louvre in Paris opened its doors to the public for the first time. | • During the Korean War, the first Jet plane battle took place as U.S. Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15. |
| November 9, 1965 | November 9, 1989 |
| • At Dusk, the biggest power failure in U.S. history occurs as all of New York state, portions of seven neighboring states and parts of eastern Canada are plunged into darkness. The Great Northeast Blackout was caused by the tripping of a 230-kilovolt transmission line near Ontario, Canada. | • Communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West. Joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall. |
| November 10, 1775 | November 10, 1975 |
| • The Continental Congress passes a resolution that creates the Continental Marines. The date in now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. | • During a severe storm, the giant ore freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, taking all 29 crewmembers with her. |
| November 11, 1620 | November 11, 1918 |
| • Forty-one Pilgrims signed a compact aboard the Mayflower , which was anchored off the Massachusetts coast. The compact called for a "body politick" to enact "just and equal laws". | • At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, World War I ends. The "War to End all Wars" left 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. At least 5 million civilians died from disease, starvation or exposure. |
| November 12, 1927 | November 12, 1954 |
| • Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. | • Ellis Island, the immigration station in New York Harbor, closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since its opening in 1892. |
| November 13, 1969 | November 13, 1982 |
| • In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew accused network television news departments of bias and distortion, and he urged viewers to lodge complaints. | • The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the long awaited V-shaped black granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the Vietnam war, is dedicated in Washington. It soon became one of the most visited memorials in the nation's capital. |
| November 14, 1935 | November 14, 1982 |
| • President Roosevelt proclaimed the Philippine Islands a free commonwealth. | • Lech Walesa, leader of communist Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, returns to his apartment in Gdansk after 11 months of jail time in a remote hunting lodge near the Soviet border. |
| November 15, 1777 | November 15, 1939 |
| • The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, a precursor to the U.S. Constitution. | • President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. |
| November 16, 1864 | November 16, 1933 |
| • Union General William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the Civil War. | • The United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic releations. President Roosevelt sent a telegram to Soviet leader Maxim Litvinov, expressing hope that U.S.-Soviet relations would "forever remain normal and friendly." |