Historybook
On this day
Every edition looks back before it looks forward: the events that share today's date, from moonshots to misadventures.
October 23
- 1915Some 25,000 women march in New York City demanding the right to vote
- 1941Disney's 'Dumbo' premieres in New York City
- 1956The Hungarian Revolution begins as protesters rise up against Soviet rule
- 1983A truck bombing at the Marine barracks in Beirut kills 241 US service members
- 2001Apple unveils the iPod, promising '1,000 songs in your pocket'
October 22
- 1797André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first parachute descent, jumping from a balloon over Paris
- 1844Millerites await the Second Coming in what becomes known as the Great Disappointment
- 1962President John F. Kennedy announces a naval blockade of Cuba during the missile crisis
- 1964Jean-Paul Sartre declines the Nobel Prize in Literature
- 1975Soviet probe Venera 9 sends the first photos from the surface of Venus
October 21
- 1797The USS Constitution, later nicknamed 'Old Ironsides,' is launched in Boston Harbor
- 1805Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar
- 1879Thomas Edison successfully tests his first practical incandescent light bulb
- 1959The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City
- 1967Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters march on the Pentagon
October 20
- 1944Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore at Leyte, fulfilling his vow to return to the Philippines
- 1968Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis
- 1973The Sydney Opera House officially opens after 14 years of construction
- 1973President Nixon fires Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox in the 'Saturday Night Massacre'
- 2011Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is captured and killed in his hometown of Sirte
October 19
- 1781British General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, effectively ending the American Revolution
- 1943Streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis, is isolated at Rutgers
- 1987'Black Monday': the Dow plunges 22.6%, its worst one-day percentage drop ever
- 2005Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity
October 18
- 1851Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick' is first published in London under the title 'The Whale'
- 1867The United States takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia
- 1922The British Broadcasting Company, forerunner of the BBC, is founded in London
- 1977Reggie Jackson hits three home runs as the Yankees clinch the World Series
October 17
- 1777British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga, a turning point in the American Revolution
- 1931Gangster Al Capone is convicted of tax evasion in Chicago
- 1933Albert Einstein arrives in the United States after fleeing Nazi Germany
- 1979Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor
- 1989The Loma Prieta earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area during the World Series
October 16
- 1793Marie Antoinette is executed by guillotine during the French Revolution
- 1859Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry
- 1923Walt Disney and his brother Roy found the company that becomes the Walt Disney Company
- 1962The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as President Kennedy learns of Soviet missiles in Cuba
- 1964China detonates its first atomic bomb, becoming the world's fifth nuclear power
October 15
- 1917Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad in France for espionage
- 1951'I Love Lucy' premieres on CBS, reshaping American television comedy
- 1989Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howe to become the NHL's all-time points leader
- 1997Andy Green's ThrustSSC sets the first supersonic land speed record in Nevada
October 14
- 1066William the Conqueror defeats King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings
- 1926A.A. Milne's 'Winnie-the-Pooh' is first published in London
- 1947Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier flying the Bell X-1 rocket plane
- 1962A U-2 spy plane photographs Soviet missiles in Cuba, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1964Martin Luther King Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize, then its youngest recipient
October 13
- 1792The cornerstone of the White House is laid in Washington, D.C.
- 1884Greenwich is adopted as the world's prime meridian at an international conference
- 1943Italy declares war on Germany, its former Axis partner, during World War II
- 1972Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes; 16 survivors endure 72 days
- 2010All 33 Chilean miners are rescued after 69 days trapped underground
October 12
- 1492Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas, reaching the Americas
- 1810The first Oktoberfest is held in Munich to celebrate a Bavarian royal wedding
- 1960Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev famously bangs his shoe at the United Nations
- 1984An IRA bomb at Brighton's Grand Hotel narrowly misses Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
- 2000Suicide bombers attack the USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors
October 11
- 1962Pope John XXIII opens the Second Vatican Council in Rome
- 1968Apollo 7, NASA's first crewed Apollo mission, launches into orbit
- 1975'Saturday Night Live' premieres on NBC with George Carlin as host
- 1984Kathryn Sullivan becomes the first American woman to walk in space
October 10
- 1911The Wuchang Uprising begins, sparking the revolution that toppled China's Qing dynasty
- 1935George Gershwin's opera 'Porgy and Bess' premieres on Broadway
- 1964The Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, the first Games held in Asia
- 1973Spiro Agnew resigns as US vice president amid tax evasion charges
October 9
- 1888The Washington Monument officially opens to the public in Washington, D.C.
- 1936Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity across the desert to Los Angeles
- 1940John Lennon is born in Liverpool, England
- 1967Revolutionary Che Guevara is executed in Bolivia a day after his capture
- 2012Taliban gunmen shoot 15-year-old education activist Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan's Swat Valley
October 8
- 1871The Great Chicago Fire begins, destroying much of the city over two days
- 1945Percy Spencer files the patent for the microwave oven
- 1956Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in World Series history
- 1967Che Guevara is captured by Bolivian forces, a day before his execution
October 7
- 1849Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore at age 40 under mysterious circumstances
- 1959Soviet probe Luna 3 photographs the far side of the Moon for the first time
- 2001US-led forces begin airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 attacks
- 2003Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California in a historic recall election
October 6
- 1927'The Jazz Singer,' the first feature-length talking picture, premieres in New York
- 1973Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack on Israel, beginning the Yom Kippur War
- 1981Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a military parade in Cairo
- 1995Astronomers announce 51 Pegasi b, the first planet found orbiting a sun-like star
October 5
- 1921The World Series is broadcast on the radio for the first time
- 1947President Harry Truman delivers the first televised presidential address from the White House
- 1962The Beatles release their debut single, 'Love Me Do,' in the United Kingdom
- 1969'Monty Python's Flying Circus' premieres on the BBC
- 2011Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at age 56
October 4
- 1883The Orient Express departs Paris on its first journey toward Constantinople
- 1927Sculptor Gutzon Borglum begins carving Mount Rushmore in South Dakota
- 1957The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, igniting the Space Race
- 1965Pope Paul VI arrives in New York, the first papal visit to the United States
- 2004SpaceShipOne wins the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight
October 3
- 1849Writer Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious on a Baltimore street, days before his death
- 1863President Abraham Lincoln proclaims Thanksgiving a national holiday
- 1942Germany successfully launches the V-2, the first rocket to reach the edge of space
- 1990East and West Germany reunify after 45 years of Cold War division
- 1995O.J. Simpson is acquitted of murder in the 'Trial of the Century'
October 2
- 1869Mahatma Gandhi is born in Porbandar, India
- 1950Charles Schulz's 'Peanuts' comic strip debuts in American newspapers
- 1959'The Twilight Zone,' created by Rod Serling, premieres on CBS
- 1967Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first Black US Supreme Court justice
October 1
- 1890Congress establishes Yosemite National Park in California
- 1908Ford introduces the Model T, the car that put America on wheels
- 1949Mao Zedong proclaims the founding of the People's Republic of China
- 1961Roger Maris hits his 61st home run, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record
- 1971Walt Disney World opens its gates in Orlando, Florida
September 30
- 1846Dentist William Morton uses ether anesthesia on a patient for the first time
- 1927Babe Ruth hits his record-setting 60th home run of the season
- 1938Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, ceding the Sudetenland
- 1955Actor James Dean dies in a California car crash at age 24
- 1960'The Flintstones' premieres as television's first prime-time animated series
September 29
- 1789Congress establishes the first permanent United States military force under the Constitution
- 1907The foundation stone of Washington National Cathedral is laid in the nation's capital
- 1954CERN, Europe's pioneering particle physics laboratory, is officially established near Geneva
- 1988Space Shuttle Discovery launches, NASA's first crewed flight since the Challenger disaster
- 2008The Dow plunges 777 points, then its largest single-day point drop, after the House rejects a bailout
September 28
- 1066William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest
- 1928Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin in a moldy petri dish at his London lab
- 1960Ted Williams hits a home run in his final major league at-bat at Fenway Park
- 1972Paul Henderson's late goal wins the Summit Series for Canada over the Soviet Union
- 1995Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign the Oslo II accord in Washington
September 27
- 1905Albert Einstein submits the physics paper containing his famous equation E=mc²
- 1908The first production Ford Model T rolls out of Detroit's Piquette Avenue plant
- 1940Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact, forming the Axis alliance
- 1964The Warren Commission releases its report on President Kennedy's assassination
September 26
- 1888Poet T.S. Eliot is born in St. Louis, Missouri
- 1957'West Side Story' premieres on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre
- 1960John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon face off in the first televised US presidential debate
- 1969The Beatles release 'Abbey Road' in the United Kingdom
- 1983Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov averts potential nuclear war by judging a missile alert a false alarm
September 25
- 1513Vasco Núñez de Balboa becomes the first European to sight the Pacific from the Americas
- 1789The first US Congress proposes 12 constitutional amendments, including the Bill of Rights
- 1957The Little Rock Nine enter Central High School under escort by federal troops
- 1965Satchel Paige, 59, pitches three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics
- 1981Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first female Supreme Court justice
September 24
- 1789President George Washington signs the Judiciary Act, establishing the US Supreme Court
- 1869The 'Black Friday' gold panic sends Wall Street into chaos
- 1948Soichiro Honda founds the Honda Motor Company in Japan
- 1957President Eisenhower orders federal troops to Little Rock to enforce school desegregation
- 1960The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched
September 23
- 1806Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis, completing their expedition across the American West
- 1846Astronomer Johann Galle discovers Neptune, the first planet found by mathematical prediction
- 1932The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is proclaimed, unifying the regions of Hejaz and Nejd
- 1949President Truman announces the Soviet Union has detonated its first atomic bomb
- 1952Richard Nixon delivers his televised 'Checkers' speech to save his vice presidential candidacy
September 22
- 1862President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
- 1975Sara Jane Moore attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford in San Francisco
- 1980Iraq invades Iran, igniting the eight-year Iran-Iraq War
- 1994'Friends' premieres on NBC, launching a decade-long television phenomenon
September 21
- 1780Benedict Arnold passes plans of West Point to British officer John André
- 1897The New York Sun publishes its famous 'Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus' editorial
- 1937J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' is published for the first time
- 1964Malta gains independence from the United Kingdom
- 1981The Senate confirms Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman on the Supreme Court
September 20
- 1519Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Spain on the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe
- 1946The first Cannes Film Festival opens on the French Riviera
- 1963President John F. Kennedy proposes a joint US-Soviet expedition to the moon at the UN
- 1973Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match
September 19
- 1783The Montgolfier brothers launch a sheep, duck and rooster in a hot-air balloon at Versailles
- 1893New Zealand becomes the first country to grant women the right to vote
- 1970The first Glastonbury Festival is held on a farm in Somerset, England
- 1982Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticon :-) on a Carnegie Mellon message board
- 1995The Washington Post publishes the Unabomber's manifesto at the Justice Department's urging
September 18
- 1793George Washington lays the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in Washington
- 1851The New York Times publishes its first edition, priced at one cent
- 1947The U.S. Air Force is established as an independent military branch
- 1961UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold dies in a plane crash en route to Congo ceasefire talks
- 1970Guitarist Jimi Hendrix dies in London at age 27
September 17
- 1787Delegates sign the US Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
- 1862The Battle of Antietam becomes the bloodiest single day in American military history
- 1908Thomas Selfridge dies in a Wright Flyer crash, aviation's first airplane fatality
- 1976NASA unveils the Space Shuttle Enterprise, its first orbiter, in Palmdale, California
- 1978Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Accords
September 16
- 1620The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England, carrying Pilgrims bound for the New World
- 1810Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores launches Mexico's war for independence from Spain
- 1908William Durant founds General Motors in Flint, Michigan
- 1920A bomb explodes on Wall Street, killing 38 people in America's deadliest terror attack to date
- 1966The Metropolitan Opera House opens at New York's Lincoln Center
September 15
- 1821Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica declare independence from Spain
- 1916Tanks are used in battle for the first time, at the Battle of the Somme
- 1935Nazi Germany enacts the Nuremberg Laws, stripping Jews of citizenship
- 1963A KKK bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church kills four Black girls
- 2008Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy, accelerating the global financial crisis
September 14
- 1814Francis Scott Key writes the poem that becomes 'The Star-Spangled Banner'
- 1901Theodore Roosevelt becomes president after William McKinley dies from an assassin's bullet
- 1960OPEC is founded at a conference in Baghdad by five oil-producing nations
- 1994Baseball's World Series is canceled amid a players' strike, the first cancellation since 1904
September 13
- 1948Margaret Chase Smith becomes the first woman elected to both houses of Congress
- 1970The first New York City Marathon is run, looping entirely through Central Park
- 1985Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. in Japan, launching a gaming empire
- 1993Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands as the Oslo Accords are signed
September 12
- 1940Four French teenagers discover the prehistoric Lascaux cave paintings
- 1962President John F. Kennedy delivers his 'We choose to go to the Moon' speech
- 1977Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in South African police custody
- 1990The Two Plus Four treaty is signed, paving the way for German reunification
September 11
- 1609Henry Hudson sails into New York Harbor and the river that now bears his name
- 1973Chile's President Salvador Allende is overthrown in a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet
- 1985Pete Rose records career hit No. 4,192, breaking Ty Cobb's all-time record
- 2001Nearly 3,000 people are killed in terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon
September 10
- 1846Elias Howe receives a US patent for the sewing machine
- 1897London cab driver George Smith becomes the first person arrested for drunk driving
- 1963Black students enter Alabama public schools after President Kennedy federalizes the National Guard
- 1977Hamida Djandoubi becomes the last person executed by guillotine in France
- 2008CERN powers up the Large Hadron Collider for the first time near Geneva
September 9
- 1776The Continental Congress officially names the new nation the 'United States'
- 1850California is admitted to the Union as the 31st state
- 1947Engineers find a moth in Harvard's Mark II computer, logging the first literal computer 'bug'
- 1956Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show
- 1971The Attica prison uprising begins in upstate New York
September 8
- 1504Michelangelo's statue of David is unveiled in Florence
- 1900A hurricane devastates Galveston, Texas, becoming the deadliest natural disaster in US history
- 1941German forces begin the nearly 900-day Siege of Leningrad
- 1966'Star Trek' premieres on NBC, launching a six-decade science fiction franchise
- 1974President Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon for any crimes committed during Watergate
September 7
- 1822Brazil declares its independence from Portugal
- 1936The last known thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, dies at Hobart Zoo
- 1940Germany begins the Blitz, bombing London for 57 consecutive nights
- 1979ESPN launches, bringing 24-hour sports coverage to American television
September 6
- 1522Magellan's ship Victoria completes the first circumnavigation of the globe
- 1620The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England, carrying the Pilgrims toward the New World
- 1901President William McKinley is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, New York
- 1995Cal Ripken Jr. breaks Lou Gehrig's record by playing his 2,131st consecutive game
- 1997Princess Diana's funeral in London draws billions of television viewers worldwide
September 5
- 1774The First Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia
- 1882The first Labor Day parade is held in New York City
- 1972Palestinian militants attack Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, beginning the Munich massacre
- 1977NASA launches Voyager 1, now the most distant human-made object in space
- 1997Mother Teresa dies in Calcutta at age 87
September 4
- 1781Spanish settlers found El Pueblo de Los Angeles, the future city of Los Angeles
- 1888George Eastman patents his roll-film camera and trademarks the name 'Kodak'
- 1957Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus blocks nine Black students from Little Rock Central High
- 1972Mark Spitz wins a record seventh gold medal at the Munich Olympics
- 1998Larry Page and Sergey Brin found Google in Menlo Park, California
September 3
- 1783The Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the American Revolutionary War
- 1939Britain and France declare war on Germany, beginning World War II in Europe
- 1967Sweden switches from driving on the left side of the road to the right
- 1976NASA's Viking 2 spacecraft lands on Mars and begins sending back photographs
September 2
- 1666The Great Fire of London breaks out in a bakery on Pudding Lane
- 1901Theodore Roosevelt urges 'speak softly and carry a big stick' at the Minnesota State Fair
- 1945Japan formally surrenders aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II
- 1969America's first ATM begins dispensing cash in Rockville Centre, New York
September 1
- 1897The Tremont Street subway opens in Boston, the first in North America
- 1914Martha, the world's last passenger pigeon, dies at the Cincinnati Zoo
- 1939Nazi Germany invades Poland, igniting World War II in Europe
- 1972Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in Reykjavik to become world chess champion
- 1985A joint US-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic
August 31
- 1888Mary Ann Nichols is found murdered in London, the first canonical Jack the Ripper victim
- 1897Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, an early motion picture device
- 1980Polish workers led by Lech Walesa sign the Gdansk Agreement, giving rise to Solidarity
- 1997Princess Diana dies in a car crash in a Paris tunnel at age 36
August 30
- 1901Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner in Britain
- 1963The Washington-Moscow 'hotline' goes into operation between the White House and the Kremlin
- 1967The Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall as the first Black Supreme Court justice
- 1984Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its maiden voyage
- 1993'The Late Show with David Letterman' premieres on CBS
August 29
- 1949The Soviet Union secretly tests its first atomic bomb, ending the US nuclear monopoly
- 1958Michael Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana
- 1966The Beatles play their final full concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park
- 2005Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, devastating the Gulf Coast
August 28
- 1845Scientific American, the longest-running US magazine, publishes its first issue
- 1867The United States takes possession of the Midway Islands in the Pacific
- 1955Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till is abducted and murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the civil rights movement
- 1963Martin Luther King Jr. delivers 'I Have a Dream' at the March on Washington
- 1996Prince Charles and Princess Diana finalize their divorce after 15 years of marriage
August 27
- 1859Edwin Drake drills the first successful US oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania
- 1883Krakatoa erupts in one of history's most violent volcanic explosions, heard thousands of miles away
- 1928The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of policy, is signed in Paris
- 1955The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published
- 2003Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years
August 26
- 1883The Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupts in one of history's deadliest volcanic events
- 1920The 19th Amendment is certified, guaranteeing American women the right to vote
- 1939The first televised Major League Baseball game airs, Reds vs. Dodgers on NBC
- 1978Cardinal Albino Luciani is elected Pope John Paul I in Rome
August 25
- 1609Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to lawmakers in Venice
- 1916The US National Park Service is established under President Woodrow Wilson
- 1944Paris is liberated from Nazi occupation after four years of German rule
- 1989Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Neptune, the first spacecraft to visit the planet