OCTOBER

Oct. 1

                –  birthdays:  1881 – William Boeing (aviation pioneer, founder of Boeing Company)  /  1910 – Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde  /  1924 – Jimmy Carter  (39th President 1977-81)  /  1924 – William Rehnquist (Chief Justice 1986-2005)  /  1935 –  Julie Andrews (actress – Sound of Music, Mary Poppins)  /  1969 – Zach Galifianakys (movie actor – The Hangover)  /  1989 –  Brie Larson (actress – Captain Marvel)

                –  1811 –  the first steamboat (the New Orleans) to sail down the Mississippi reaches New Orleans from Pittsburgh

                –  1847 –  Maria Mitchell, America’s first female astronomer. discovers a comet near the North Star

                –  1880 – “The March King”, John Philip Sousa, is named conductor of the Marine Corps Band

                –  1880 –  Edison opens his first light bulb factory at Menlo Park, N.J.

                –  1890 –  Yosemite National Park is established

                –  1908 –  the Model T Ford goes on sale for $850

                –  1932 –  Babe Ruth’s “called shot”

                –  1961 – Roger Maris breaks Babe Ruth’s home run record with his 61^st home run of the season

                –  1962 –  James Meredith becomes the first African-American to attend Ole Miss University

                –  1962 –  Johnny Carson hosts the Tonight Show for the first time

                –  1971 –  Disney World opens

Quote:  Force cannot change right.  –  Jefferson 

Oct. 2

                –  birthdays:  1800  –  Nat Turner (slave who led the most famous slave rebellion)  /  1890 –  Groucho Marx (leader of the Marx Brothers)   /  1895 –  Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello (comedian, movie star – Abbott and Costello movies)  /  1935 –  Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.  (first African-American astronaut)  /  1945 – Don McClean (singer –  “American Pie”)

                –  1780 – British officer John Andre is executed for his involvement in Benedict Arnold’s attempt to help the British get West Point

                –  1835 –  the Texas Revolution begins as Texans in Gonzales drive off Mexicans attempting to take a cannon

                –  1919 –  Pres. Wilson suffers a stroke

                –  1944 –  the Warsaw Uprising ends after 63 days with the Nazis victorious

                –  1950 –  Charles Schulz’s “Li’l Folks” debuts (later renamed “Peanuts”)

                –  1959 –  The Twilight Zone TV show premieres

                –  1967 –  Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American on the Supreme Court

Quote:  Were it left for me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.  –  Jefferson

Oct. 3

                –  birthdays:  1873 – Emily Post (etiquette expert)  /  1941 – Chubby Checker (rock n’ roller – “The Twist”)   /  1969 –  Gwen Stefani (singer for No Doubt – biggest hit = “Underneath It All” )

                –  1849 –  Edgar Allen Poe is found in a gutter incoherent with no explanation

                –  1913 –  Pres. Wilson signs the first federal income tax law

                –  1941 – The Maltese Falcon premieres

                –  1945 –  Elvis Presley makes his first public appearance at age 10

                –  1955 – Captain Kangaroo debuts

                –  1960 –  The Andy Griffith Show premieres

                –  1974 –  Hall of Famer Jerry West (the NBA logo) retires after fourteen seasons with the Lakers

                –  1976 –  home run king Hank Aaron retires from baseball with 755 home runs

                –  1995 –  O.J. Simpson is found innocent of murder

                –  2008 –  O.J. Simpson found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery

Quote:   Those who bear equally the burdens of government should equally participate of its benefits.  –  Jefferson

Oct. 4

                –  birthdays:  1822 –  Rutherford B. Hayes  /  1861 – Frederic Remington (artist)  /  1895 – Buster Keaton (silent movie star/director – The General)  /  1923 –  Charlton Heston (actor – Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments)  /  1931 –  Dick Tracy (comic book detective)  /  1941 – Anne Rice (author – Interview with a Vampire)  /  1946 – Susan Sarandon (actress – Dead Man Walking)

                –  1777 – Gen. Washington surprises the British at Germantown, but loses the battle

                –  1943 –  Heinrich Himmler praises his SS troops for killing over 1 million Russian Jews

                –  1957 –  the Soviets launch Sputnik

                –  1965 –  Pope Paul VI becomes first Pope to visit America

                –  1970 –  Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose

                –  2006 –  Julian Assange creates Wikileaks

Quote:  We must all hang together or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.  –  Franklin 

Oct. 5

                –  birthdays:  1830 –  Chester Arthur  /  1882 –  Robert Goddard (rocket pioneer)  /  1902 – Ray Kroc (McDonald’s founder)  /  1943 –  Steve Miller (rock star – biggest hit = “Abracadabra”)  /  1959 – Maya Lin (designer of the Vietnam War Memorial)

                –  1813 –  in the War of 1812, Americans defeat the British and their Indian allies in the Battle of the Thames;  Tecumseh is killed

                –  1877 –  Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce tribe surrender just miles from safety in Canada after an epic journey from their reservation in Oregon;  Joseph proclaims:  “I will fight no more forever”

                –  1930 –  Laura Ingalls becomes the first woman to fly across America, from NY to California in 30 hours and 27 minutes

                –  1947 –  Harry Truman makes the first televised address from the White House

                –  1962 –  the Beatles release their first single – “Love Me Do”

                –  1962 –  the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, is released

                –  1969 – Monty Python TV show debuts on BBC

                –  1973 –  Elton John releases Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Quote:  Refuse not to be informed: for that shows pride or stupidity.  –  William Penn

Oct. 6

                –  birthdays:  1846 – George Westinghouse (inventor)  /  1908 – Carole Lombard (actress- married to Clark Gable;  died in a plane crash when returning from a WWII bond tour)  /  1917 – Fannie Lou Hamer (Civil Rights activist)

                –  1781 –  Americans and French start the siege of Yorktown

                –  1866 –  John and Simeon Reno carry out the first train robbery in American History, stealing $13,000 from the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in Indiana

                –  1882 – first World Series game – Cincinnati (AA) beats

Chicago (NL) 4-0

                –  1889 – Edison shows his first motion picture

                –  1927 –  the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, is released

                –  1949 –  Iva Toguri D’Aquino (Tokyo Rose) is sentenced to ten years in prison for propaganda broadcasts in WWII aimed at demoralizing American soldiers and sailors

                –  1949 – Truman signs the Mutual Defense Assistance Act creating NATO             

Quote:  It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the lie after it is told.  –  Thomas Paine

Oct. 7

                –  birthdays:  1896 –  Elijah Muhhamad (founder of the Nation of Islam)  /  1943 – Oliver North (Iran-Contra Scandal)  /  1951 – John Cougar Mellencamp (rock star – biggest hit = “Jack and Diane”)  /  1952 – Vladimir Putin 

                –  1780 – American backwoodsmen destroy a Loyalist force in the Battle of King’s Mountain

                –  1913 – Henry Ford’s car factory begins to use a moving assembly line

                –  1916 –  Georgia Tech (coached by John Heisman) defeats Cumberland 222-0

                –  1955 – Alan Ginsburg recites his poem “Howl” for the first time in San Francisco;  it becomes one of the great works of the Beat Generation

                –  1984 –  Walter Payton breaks Jim Brown’s all-time rushing record

                –  1985 –  Palestinian terrorists hijack an Italian cruise ship called the Achille Lauro and kill a 69-year old wheelchair-bound American named Leon Klinghoffer

Quote:  A good example is the best sermon.  –  Franklin

Oct. 8

                –  1869 –  J. Frank Duryea – (inventor of the first American car)  /  1890 –  Eddie Rickenbacker (America’s “ace of aces” in WWI)  /  1941 – Jesse Jackson (Civil Rights activist)  /  1943 –  Chevy Chase (comedian – Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon’s Vacation)  / 1943 –  R.L. Stine (author – the Goosebumps series)  1948 – Johnny Ramone (guitarist – The Ramones  – biggest hit =  “Rockaway Beach”)  /  1949 – Sigourney Weaver (actress – Alien franchise)  /  Matt Damon (actor – Good Will Hunting)  /  Bruno Mars (singer –  biggest hit =  “That’s What I Like”)

                –  1777 – Gen. Horatio Gates surrounds Burgoyne at Saratoga

                –  1871 – the Great Chicago Fire starts

                –  1918 –  Alvin York becomes the most decorated American soldier of WWI by killing 25 German machine gunners and capturing 132

                –  1927 – Laurel and Hardy make their first film

                –  1934 – Bruno Hauptman is indicted for the murder of the Lindbergh baby

                –  1945 –  the microwave oven is patented

                –  1956 – Yankees pitcher Don Larson pitches the only perfect game in World Series history

                –  1971 –  John Lennon releases his hit single “Imagine”

                –  2001 –  Pres. George W. Bush establishes the Department of Homeland Security

Quote:  Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.  –  William Prescott (or Israel Putnam) at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Oct. 9

                –  birthdays:  1890 – Aimee Semple McPherson (evangelist and radio preacher)  /  1899 –  Bruce Catton (greatest Civil War historian)  /  1940 – John Lennon  (member of The Beatles;  biggest solo hit = “Starting Over”)    

                –  1635 – Roger Williams is banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for advocating separation of church and state and fair treatment of Indians

                –  1888 – the Washington Monument opens to the public

                –  1936 –  Hoover Dam begins producing electricity

                –  1941 –  FDR approves a program that will become the Manhattan Project

                –  1965 – Beatles’ single “Yesterday” reaches #1

                –  1974 – Oskar Schindler, who saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, dies and is buried in Israel

Quote:  I have not yet begun to fight. –  John Paul Jones when the HMS Serapis demanded he surrender his ship the Bonhomme Richard

Oct. 10

                –  birthdays:  1918 – Thelonious Monk (jazz pianist)  /  1954 – David Lee Roth (singer – Van Halen – biggest hit = “Jump”)  /  1958 – Tanya Tucker (country music singer –  biggest hit =  “Lizzie and the Rainman”)  /  1969 – Brett Favre (Green Bay Packers quarterback)  /  1974 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  (race car driver)

                –  1845 – the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland opens

                –  1901 – Henry Ford wins his first and only automobile race

                –  1935 –  George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess opens

                –  1944 – 800 gypsy children are gassed at Auschwitz

                –  1973 – Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading no contest to tax evasion to avoid charges of accepting bribes

                –  1978 –  Congress approves dollar coin honoring Susan B. Anthony

Quote:  There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy.  –  Washington

Oct. 11

                –  birthdays:  1844 – H.J. Heinz (ketchup king)  /  1884 – Eleanor Roosevelt  /  1946 – Daryl Hall (Hall and Oates – biggest hit = “Out of Touch” )  /  1961 – Steve Young (Hall of Fame quarterback)  /  1992 – Cardi B (rapper –  biggest hit – “Bodak Yellow” )

                –  1809 –  Meriwether Lewis commits suicide at age 35

                –  1865 –  Pres. Andrew Johnson pardons Confederate Vice Pres. Alexander Stephens   

                –  1890 –  Daughters of the American Revolution founded

                –  1939 –  Albert Einstein, via letter, informs FDR of the possibility of an atomic bomb

                –  1954 – the Vietminh occupy Hanoi and take possession of North Vietnam from the French

                –  1975 –  Saturday Night Live premieres with George Carlin as the host

`               –  1986 –  Reagan and Gorbachev begin summit at Reykjavik, Iceland;  they will come close to getting rid of all their nuclear weapons

                –  1991 –  Anita Hill testifies that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her

Quote:  We have met the enemy and they are ours.  – Commodore Oliver Perry after winning the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812

Oct. 12

                –  birthdays:    1858 – Isaac Newton Lewis (inventor of the machine gun)  /  1923 – Jean Nidetch (founder of Weight Watchers)  /  1968 – Hugh Jackman (actor – X-Men)  /  1969 – Nancy Kerrigan (figure skater who was knee-capped by an opponent’s ex-husband’s hitman)      

                –  1492 – Columbus discovers the New World 

                –  1870 – Robert E. Lee dies at age 63

                –  1901 –  Teddy Roosevelt officially changes the name of the “Executive Mansion” to “The White House”

                –  1933 – Al Capone escapes from jail      

                –  1938 –  production begins on The Wizard of Oz (no Munchkin will commit suicide during it)

                –  1945 – Medical corpsman Desmond Doss becomes the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for bravery rescuing wounded on the island of Okinawa (movie – Hacksaw Ridge)

                –  1971 –  Jesus Christ Superstar has first of 711 performances

                –  1973 – Pres. Nixon nominates Gerald Ford to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew;  Ford will become the first President not elected President or Vice President          

                –  2000 – Al Qaeda terrorists blow a hole in the USS Cole killing 17 sailors in Yemen

Quote:  A penny saved is a penny earned.  –  Franklin

Oct. 13

                – birthdays:  1754 – Mary Hays McCauley (Molly Pitcher)  (Revolutionary heroine who took her wounded husband’s place at his cannon during the Battle of Monmouth)  /  1925 – Lenny Bruce (stand-up comedian who was constantly in trouble for obscene language)  /  1942 –  Paul Simon (singer/songwriter – Simon and Garfunkel  – biggest hit =  “Bridge Over Troubled Water”;  solo artist = “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”)  /  1947 – Sammy Hagar (rock singer – “I Can’t Drive 55”)  /  1959 – Marie Osmond (singer – “Paper Roses”)  /  1962 – Jerry Rice (Hall of Fame receiver)  /  1989 – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (politician)  

                –  1775 – the Continental Congress authorizes the creation of the US Navy

                –  1792 – the cornerstone of the White House is laid 

                –  1982 – Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals from 1912 are reinstated

                –  2016 – Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature

Quote:  I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.  –  Nathan Hale before being hung by the British for spying

Oct. 14

                –  birthdays:  1644 – William Penn  /  1890 – Dwight Eisenhower  /  1894 – E.E. Cummings (poet)  /  1910 – John Wooden (basketball coach who won 11 national championships at UCLA)  /  1938 –  John Dean (White House counsel who testified against Nixon in the Watergate Scandal)  /  1939 – Ralph Lauren (fashion designer)  /  1974 –  Natalie Maines (singer – Dixie Chicks – biggest hit = Not Ready to Make Nice”)  /  Usher (singer – biggest hit =“You Got It Bad”)

                –  1834 – Henry Blair becomes first African-American to get a patent – corn planter

                –  1912 –  Teddy Roosevelt is shot and then goes and makes his speech anyway during the campaign of 1912

                –  1943 –  300 Jews and Russian prisoners of war escape from Sobibor concentration camp after killing some of the guards and cutting from the barbed wire

                –  1943 –  the 8^th Air Force loses 60 bombers in a raid on Schweinfurt, Germany

                –  1944 – Erwin “Desert Fox” Rommel is allowed to commit suicide to avoid trial for involvement in an assassination attempt against Hitler

                –  1947 – Chuck Yeager becomes the first to break the sound barrier flying a X-1 rocket plane at more than 662 miles per hour

                –  1962 – the Cuban Missile Crisis begins with the discovery by a U-2 spy plane of Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba

                –  1964 –  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Prize for his nonviolent protesting

                –  1979 –  Wayne Gretzky scores his first NHL goal

                –  1982 – Reagan proclaims a war on drugs

                –  1986 – Elie Weisel wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to remember the Holocaust

Quote:  Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.  –  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Oct. 15

                –  birthdays:  1858 –  John Sullivan (heavyweight boxing champ 1882-1892)  /  1920 – Mario Puzo (author – The Godfather)  /  1942 – Penny Marshall (actress – Lavergne and Shirley  /  director – A League of Their Own)  / 

                –  1860 – 11-year old Grace Bedell writes a letter to Lincoln encouraging him to grow a beard

                –  1863 – the Confederate submarine Hunley sinks on its first test run killing its inventor and seven man crew

                –  1878 –  Edison opens Edison Electric Company

                –  1917 –  exotic dancer and German spy Mata Hari is executed

                –  1941 – Hideki Tojo appointed Prime Minister of Japan

                –  1946 –  Hermann Goering commits suicide before he can be hanged for war crime (he had cyanide hidden in his cell)

                –  1951 – I Love Lucy debuts

                –  1965 –  David Miller becomes the first to burn his draft card to protest the Vietnam War;  he gets two years in prison

                –  1966 –  Black Panther Party created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale

                –  1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger carries Skylab into orbit

                –  1989 – Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howe as all-time leading scorer in the NHL

                –  1991 – Clarence Thomas confirmed as Supreme Court Justice after accusations of sexual harassment

                –  2017 – “Me too” movement begins with tweet by Alyssa Milano

                –  2018 – Sears files for bankruptcy

Quote:  God helps them that help themselves.  –  Franklin

Oct. 16

                –  birthdays:  1758 – Noah Webster (dictionary writer)  /  1888 – Eugene O’Neill (Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright –  Long Day’s Journey into Night)  /  1925 – Angela Lansbury (actress – Murder She Wrote, The Manchurian Candidate)  /  1958 – Tim Robbins (actor – Bull Durham, The Shawshank Redemption)  /  1992 – Bryce Harper (baseball player)

                –  1859 – abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on Harper’s Ferry to try to start a slave rebellion;  he is later hanged for treason

                –  1916 – Margaret Sanger opens her first birth control clinic

                –  1946 –  ten high-ranking Nazi leaders are executed after being convicted in the Nuremberg Trials

                –  1968 – Tommie Smith and John Carlos show the Black Power salute during the National Anthem after medaling in the 200 meter dash at the Mexico City Olympics

                –  1973 – Henry Kissinger is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris Peace Accords ending American fighting in Vietnam

Quote:  Search others for their virtues, yourself for your vices.  –  Franklin

Oct. 17

                –  birthdays:  Jupiter Hammon (first African-American published poet)  /  1880 –  Charles Kraft (co-founder of Kraft Food Company)  /  1915 – Arthur Miller (Pulitzer Prize winning playwright – Death of a Salesman)  /  1938 – Evel Knievel (motorcycle daredevil who would jump cars)  /  1956 –  Mae Jemison (first African-American female astronaut in space)  /  1969 – Wyclif Jean (rapper – biggest hit = “Hips Don’t Lie”)  /  1972 – Eminem  (rapper – biggest hit = “Love the Way You Lie”)    

                –  1777 – British Gen. Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga in the turning point in the Revolutionary War

                –  1835 – the Texas Rangers are created to bring law and order to the Texas frontier

                –  1917 –  British bomb Germany for the first time in WWI

                –  1931 –  Al Capone is sentenced to eleven years in prison for income tax evasion

                –  1933 – Albert Einstein arrives in the US from Germany

                –  1978 –  Pres. Carter signs bill restoring citizenship of Confederate President Jefferson Davis

                –  1989 – 63 people are killed in a massive earthquake in San Francisco

Quote:  Diligence is the mother of good luck.  –  Franklin

Oct. 18

                –  birthdays:  1922 – Little Orphan Annie (comic strip character)  /  1926 –  Chuck Berry (rock n’ roll guitarist/singer – “Johnny B. Goode”)  /  1927 –  George C. Scott (Academy Award winning actor – Patton)  /  1939 –  Mike Ditka (Hall  of Fame football player/coach)  /  1956 –  Martina Navrotilva (tennis player with 18 Grand Slam titles)  /  1961 –  Winton Marsalis (jazz musician/composer)  /  1984 – Lindsey Vonn (downhill skier) 

                –  1775 – African-American poet Phyllis Wheatley freed from slavery

                –  1854 – the Ostend Manifesto – American diplomats recommend the seizure of Cuba

                –  1867 –  the US takes possession of Alaska

                –  1878 – Edison makes electricity available for home use

                –  1898 – American flag is raised over Puerto Rico

                –  1974 – Nate Thurmond becomes first NBA player to have a quadruple double – 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 12 blocks

                –  1988 – Roseanne debuts

Quote:  Give me liberty or give me death.  –  Patrick Henry

Oct. 19

                –  birthdays:  1963 – Evander Holyfield (heavyweight boxing champ)

                –  1781 –  British Gen. Cornwallis surrenders Yorktown to Washington, effectively ending the Revolutionary War

                –  1960 –  Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested in Atlanta sit-in

Quote:  It is not the size of a man, but the size of his heart that matters.  –  Evander Holyfield

Oct. 20

                –  birthdays:  John Dewey (psychologist/philosopher)  /  1882 – Bela Lugosi (actor – Dracula)  /  1928 – Frank Hardy (F-105 fighter pilot in Vietnam)  /  1931 – Mickey Mantle (home run hitter)  /  1950 – Tom Petty (rock musician – “Free Fallin’”)  /  1971 –  Snoop Dogg  (rapper – biggest hit = “Drop It Like It’s Hot”)

                –  1864 – Lincoln formally establishes Thanksgiving as a holiday

                –  1917 –  Alice Paul begins 7 months in prison for protesting for women’s suffrage in front of the White House;  she goes on a hunger strike and is force-fed

                –  1944 – Gen. MacArthur leads the invasion of the Philippines and says “I have returned”

                –  1947 –  as part of the Red Scare, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins to investigate for communists in the movie industry

                –  1963 – Jim Brown sets the NFL single season rushing record at 1,863 yards

                –  1968 –  Jackie Kennedy marries Greek millionaire Aristotle Onassis

                –  1973 –  the Saturday Night Massacre –  Nixon’s Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resign rather than fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox;  Solicitor General Robert Bork does the firing

                –  1977 – plane crash kills four members of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd and two others

                –  1988 –  Richard Pryor is awarded the first Mark Twain Prize for American Humour

Quote:  Education is not preparation for life.  Education is life itself.  –  John Dewey

Oct. 21

                –  birthdays:  1917 – Dizzy Gillespie (father of modern jazz)  /  1928 – Whitey Ford (Hall of Fame pitcher)  /  1956 – Carrie Fisher (actress – Star Wars)  /  1980 – Kim Kardashian (celebrity)

                –  1797 –  the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) is launched in Boston harbor

                                            Old Ironsides  –  Library of Congress

                –  1892 – the Pledge of Allegiance is recited for the first time

Quote:  A house divided against itself can not stand.  –  Lincoln

Oct. 22

                –  birthdays:  1920 – Timothy Leary (promoter of LSD)  /  1942 –  Annette Funicello (Mouseketeer, movie actress – the Beach Blanket series)  /  1952 – Jeff Goldblum  (actor – Jurassic Park)

                –  1836 – Sam Houston is elected first President of the Republic of Texas

                –  1906 –  Henry Ford becomes President of the Ford Motor Company

                –  1914 – Congress passes the Revenue Act to start collecting the first federal income tax

                –  1926 –  J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches Harry Houdini in the stomach causing his death one week later

                –  1934 –  bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd is shot and killed by FBI agents

                –  1962 – JFK reveals to the public that the Soviets are trying to install nuclear missiles in Cuba and announces a naval blockade (“quarantine”) of the island

                –  1966 – hockey legend Bobby Orr scores his first goal

Quote:  Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far.  –  Teddy Roosevelt

Oct. 23

                –  birthdays:  1869 – John Heisman (college football coach who invented the forward pass and the center snap and has the trophy name after him)  /  1906 – Gertrude Ederle (first woman to swim the English Channel)  /  1925 – Johnny Carson (talk show host)  /  1956 – Dwight Yoakum (country music singer – biggest hit = “Honky Tonk Man”)  /  1959 –  Weird Al Yankovic  (parody singer – biggest hit =  “White and Nerdy”)  /  1976 – Ryan Reynolds (actor – Dead Pool)

                –  1819 – the first boat uses the Erie Canal

                –  1941 – Disney releases its animated Dumbo 

                –  1942 –  the Battle of El Alamein begins with British Gen. Montgomery attacking German Gen. Rommel in Egypt

                –  1944 – the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins with American submarines sinking two Japanese heavy cruisers

                –  1983 –  a suicide truck bomb blows up a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 240 Marines

                –  1988 – Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination is rejected by the Senate

                – 1991 – Clarence Thomas sworn in as Supreme Court Justice

                –  1998 – Britney Spears releases her first single – “Baby One More Time”

                –  2015 –  Adele releases “Hello” which becomes the first single to sell 1 million downloads in one week

Quote:  “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  –  Martin Luther King Jr.

Oct. 24

                –  birthdays:  1903 – Melvin Purvis (FBI agent who pursued John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Machine Gun Kelly)  /  1947 – Kevin Kline (actor – A Fish Called Wanda)  /  1986 – Drake (rapper – biggest hit = “One Dance”)

                –  1861 – Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line

                –  1861 – West Virginia secedes from Virginia during the Civil War

                –  1901 –  Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel

                –  1908 –  Billy Murray has a hit with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

                –  1939 –  DuPont company introduces nylon stockings to replace silk stockings

                –  1948 –  Bernard Baruch coins the term “Cold War”

                –  1962 – Soviet ships decided not to try to break the naval blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis               

Quote:  The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it’s possible to achieve the American dream. –  Tommy Hilfiger

Oct. 25

                –  birthdays:  1869 –  John Heisman (innovative college football coach and namesake of the trophy for the best college football player)  /  1888 –  Richard Byrd (polar explorer)

                –  1760 –  George III becomes King of Great Britain

                –  1870 –  first post cards used

                –  1929 –  former Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall becomes the first Presidential Cabinet member to go to prison, for bribery in the Teapot Dome Scandal

                –  1940 – Benjamin Davis, Sr. becomes the first African-American general

                –  1944 –  kamikazes are used for the first time, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf

                –  1962 – John Steinbeck wins the Nobel Prize for Literature

Quote:  My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.   –  Barack Obama

Oct. 26

                –  birthdays:  1854 – C.W. Post (founder of Post Cereals)  /  1911 – Mahalia Jackson (gospel singer)  /  1946 – Pat Sajak  (TV host – Wheel of Fortune)  /  1947 –  Hillary Clinton  /  1973 – Seth MacFarlane (animator – Family Guy)

                –  1787 – the “Federalist Papers” are published

                –  1881 –  Shootout at the O.K. Corral

                –  1916 – Margaret Sanger is arrested for obscenity – advocating birth control

                –  1944 – the Battle of Leyte Gulf ends in a decisive American victory

                –  1949 –  Pres. Truman signs bill increasing the minimum wage from .40 to .75

                –  1951 –  Joe Louis is knocked out by Rocky Marciano

                –  1955 – Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims the independence of South Vietnam with himself as President

                –  1978 –  Doonesbury debuts in 28 newspapers

                –  1984 –  The Terminator is released

Quote:  It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.  –  Robert E. Lee

Oct. 27

                –  birthdays:  1811 –  Isaac Singer (inventor of the sewing machine)  /  1858 – Teddy Roosevelt  /  1872 – Emily Post (etiquette expert)  /  1924 – Ruby Dee (actress – A Raisin in the Sun)  /  1932 – Sylvia Plath (poet – The Bell Jar)

                –  1871 –  Boss Tweed is arrested for corruption

                –  1873 –  Joseph Glidden applies for a patent for barbed wire

                –  1904 –  the NYC subway opens

                –  1942 –  the carrier USS Hornet sinks after the Battle of Santa Cruz

                –  1969 –  Ralph Nader starts Nader’s Raiders to advocate for consumers

                –  1975 –  Bruce Springsteen makes the covers of both Newsweek and Time

                –  2004 – Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in 86 years          

Quote:  Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will; collections of men by that of their majority; for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men.” –  Jefferson

Oct. 28

                 –  birthdays:  1793 – Eliphalet Remington (gun manufacturer)  /  1897 – Edith Head (Hollywood costume designer who won 8 Oscars)  /  1914 – Jonas Salk (developer of the polio vaccine)  /  1936 – Charlie Daniels (country music singer – biggest hit = “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”)  /  1949 – Caitlyn Jenner (1976 Olympic decathlon winner as Bruce Jenner)  /  1995 – Bill Gates  /  1967 – Julia Roberts (actress – Pretty Woman)  /  1974 – Joaquin Phoenix (actor – Walk the Line) 

                –  1793 – Eli Whitney applies for patent for the cotton gin

                –  1886 –  Pres. Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty

                –  1919 –  the Volstead Act begins Prohibition

                –  1954 –  Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

Quote:  And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.  –  Kennedy

Oct. 29

                –  birthdays:  1921 – Bill Maudlin (Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist – “Willie and Joe” characters)  /  1947 –  Richard Dreyfuss (actor – Jaws)  /  1997 – Wynona Ryder (actress – Beetlejuice, Stranger Things)

                –  1682 – William Penn lands in Pennsylvania

                –  1692 – the Salem Witch Trials comes to an end

                –  1929 –  the Stock Market Crash occurs on “Black Tuesday”

                –  1945 –  the first ballpoint pens go on sale

                –  1960 –  Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) has his first professional fight

                –  1969 – the Supreme Court orders school desegregation immediately

                –  1997 –  77 year-old John Glenn goes up in the Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the oldest man in space

Quote:  “The happiest people I have known have been those who gave themselves no concern about their own souls, but did their uttermost to mitigate the miseries of others.”  –  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Oct. 30

                –  birthdays:  1451 – Columbus  /  1735 – John Adams  /  1882 – William “Bull” Halsey (WWII Admiral) 

                –  1873 – Barnum’s circus (‘the Greatest Show on Earth”)  opens

                –  1922 – Mussolini comes to power in Italy

                –  1938 –  Orson Welles performs “War of the World” on the radio for Halloween, causing some Americans to believe a Martian invasion was taking place

                –  1940 –  Abbott and Costello release their first movie – A Night in the Tropics

                –  1944 – Anne Frank is transferred from Auschwitz to Belsen

                –  1952 – Clarence Birdseye sells his first frozen peas

                –  1953 –  George Marshall wins the Nobel Peace Prize

                –  1954 –  the Army ends segregation

                –  1957 –  Sputnik II is launched with the dog Laika

                –  1974 – Ali defeats George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle”

Quote:  “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.”  – Susan B. Anthony

Oct. 31

                –  birthdays:  1860 – Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts)  /  1931 – Dan Rather (TV newsman – 60 Minutes) 

                –  1846 –  the Donner Party abandons attempt to cross the mountains and goes into winter camp; some cannibalism will ensue

                –  1940 – official end of the Battle of Britain

                –  1941 –  Mount Rushmore is finished

Quote:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable Rights; that among these, are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”  – Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence 1776