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The Reno brothers carry out the first train robbery in U.S. history

Born on This Day

Carole Lombard

1908 - 1942

American actor who brought a loopy elegance to screwball comedies like To Be or Not to Be and My Man Godfrey.

Fannie Lou Hamer

1917 - 1977

Organizer of Mississippi’s Freedom Summer for civil rights in 1964. Co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus.

Lonnie Johnson

1949 -

American inventor, entrepreneur and former NASA researcher who created the Super Soaker water gun.

Carole LombardGetty Images

Fannie Lou HamerBettmann Archive

Lonnie JohnsonGetty Images

1927

OCT6

The Jazz Singer premieres, ushering out Hollywood’s silent era. While hailed as the first feature-length “talkie”—and earning blockbuster sums at the box office—the film had only about two minutes of synchronized dialogue; the rest used titles.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on October 6th

Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina

On October 6, 1908, the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary announces its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dual provinces in the Balkan region of Europe formerly under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Though Bosnia and Herzegovina were still nominally under the control of the Ottoman Sultan in 1908, Austria-Hungary had administered the provinces since the […]

Babe Ruth sets a World Series record

On October 6, 1926, Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hits a record three homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth game of the World Series. The Yanks won the game 10-5, but despite Ruth’s unprecedented performance, they lost the championship in the seventh game. In 1928, in the fourth game of another Yanks-Cards World […]

The Yom Kippur War brings United States and USSR to brink of conflict

The surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces on Israel in October 1973 throws the Middle East into turmoil and threatens to bring the United States and the Soviet Union into direct conflict for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Though actual combat did not break out between the two nations, […]

The president of Egypt is assassinated

Islamic extremists assassinate Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, as he reviews troops on October 6, 1981—the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

Bill Clinton debates Bob Dole

On October 6, 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton faces his Republican challenger, Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, in their first debate of that year’s presidential campaign. The debate, which took place in Hartford, Connecticut, and was moderated by Jim Lehrer of PBS, gave the candidates a chance to put forth their views on education, the […]

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