# Today in History **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 10, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530 "2016-07-10T04:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 72
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1424 "2018-10-03T23:13:36Z")
**October 3, 1942** : A German V-2 rocket reaches a record 85 km (46 nm) in altitude. **October 3, 1949** : WERD, the first black-owned radio station in the United States, opens in Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1425 "2018-10-04T11:33:51Z")
**October 4, 1957:** _Sputnik 1_ becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1426 "2018-10-05T07:24:51Z")
**October 5, 1982:** Tylenol products are recalled after bottles in Chicago laced with cyanide cause seven deaths ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1427 "2018-10-05T19:52:52Z")
**October 5, 1829:** Chester A. Arthur, American general, lawyer, and politician, the 21st President of the United States, was born in Fairfield, Vt. ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1428 "2018-10-07T02:55:28Z")
**October 6, 1927:** The first “talkie,” The Jazz Singer, opens with popular entertainer Al Jolson singing and dancing in black-face. By 1930, silent movies were a thing of the past. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1429 "2018-10-08T04:06:24Z")
**October 8, 1956:** New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1430 "2018-10-08T18:28:29Z")
**October 8, 1838:** John Hay, one of President Abraham Lincoln’s two personal aides, was born in Salem, Indiana. He would later serve as a diplomat, biographer and Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1431 "2018-10-09T05:31:26Z")
**October 9, 1582:** Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1432 "2018-10-10T04:48:32Z")
**October 10, 1846:** British astronomer William Lassell discovered Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1433 "2018-10-10T13:25:11Z")
**October 10, 1971:** Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1434 "2018-10-12T05:18:32Z")
**October 12, 1998:** Matthew Shepard, a gay student at University of Wyoming, dies five days after he was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie, Wyoming. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1435 "2018-10-12T20:40:27Z")
**October 12, 1945:** Desmond Doss is the first U.S. armed forces conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. > **[Desmond Doss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss)** > > Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. > He was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for actions on Guam and in the Philippines. Doss further distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving 75 men,\[a\] becoming the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the war.\[b\] > His life has been the subject of books, the 2004 documentary T... ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1436 "2018-10-15T21:58:34Z")
**October 15, 1951:** The first episode of _I Love Lucy_ airs on CBS. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1437 "2018-10-16T16:30:13Z")
**October 16, 1793:** After a two-day trial, Marie Antoinette was convicted of high treason and executed by guillotine on the Place de la Révolution. Her last words are recorded as, “Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l’ai pas fait exprès.” or “Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose.”, after accidentally stepping on her executioner’s shoe. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1438 "2018-10-17T10:04:28Z")
**October 17, 1781** : British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown. **October 17, 1931** : Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. **October 17, 1933** : Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1439 "2018-10-17T16:41:12Z")
**October 17, 1814:** Eight people die in the London Beer Flood. A huge vat containing over 135,000 imperial gallons (610,000 L) of beer ruptures, causing other vats in the same building to succumb in a domino effect. As a result, more than 323,000 imperial gallons (1,470,000 L) of beer bursts out and gushes into the streets. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1440 "2018-10-18T22:02:34Z")
**October 18, 1963:** “Félicette,” a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space, by France. The mission was a sub-orbital flight, and lasted 13 minutes, reaching a height of 157 kilometers, and included 5 minutes of weightlessness. Félicette was recovered safely after the capsule parachuted to Earth; she was euthanized three months later so that scientists could examine her brain. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1441 "2018-10-19T00:23:19Z")
18 October 1898. The final contingent of Spanish troops embark and the US flag is raised over Santa Catalina Palace in San Juan, marking the official transfer of governing control of Puerto Rico to the occupying USA forces at the end of the Spanish-American War. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1442 "2018-10-19T07:18:13Z")
**October 19, 1900:** Max Planck discovers the law of black-body radiation (Planck’s law). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1443 "2018-10-20T18:00:51Z")
**October 20, 1973:** The “Saturday Night Massacre”: United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530.md?page=71) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530.md?page=73)