Also on this day
Lead Story
1917
Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, is executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Vincennes outside of Paris.
She first came to Paris in 1905 and found fame as a performer of exotic Asian-inspired dances. She soon began touring all over Europe, telling the story of...
American Revolution
1780
A combined force of 1,000 British regulars, Hessians, Loyalists and Indians, led by Loyalist Sir John Johnson and Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, attempts an unsuccessful attack upon Middleburgh (or Middle Fort), New York, on this day in 1780.
Only 200 Continental soldiers under Major Melanchthon Woolsey were defending the fort, and...
Automotive
2004
On this day in 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules that hearse manufacturers no longer have to install anchors for child-safety seats in their vehicles. In 1999, to prevent parents from incorrectly installing the seats using only their cars’ seat belts, the agency had required all carmakers to...
Civil War
1863
On this day in 1863, the C.S.S. Hunley, the world’s firstsuccessful combat submarine, sinks during a test run, killing its inventor and seven crewmembers.
Horace Lawson Hunley developed the 40-foot submarine from a cylinder boiler. It was operated by a crew of eight—one person steered while the other seven turned a...
Cold War
1990
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending Cold War tensions. Since coming to power in 1988, Gorbachev had undertaken to concentrate more effort and funds on his domestic reform plans by going to extraordinary lengths to reach foreign policy understandings with the...
Crime
1948
Arthur Eggers, who was convicted of killing his wife, Dorothy, because of her alleged promiscuity, is executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison. He probably would have gotten away with the crime had the investigators not received a few lucky breaks.
In January 1946, hikers came across a woman’s...
Disaster
1954
Hurricane Hazel, the fourth major hurricane of 1954, hammers southern Ontario, Canada, on this day in 1954. Hazel hit hard from Jamaica to Canada, killing more than 400 people and causing over $1 billion in damages.
On October 5 hurricane hunters spotted Hurricane Hazel about 50 miles east of the island...
General Interest
1945
Pierre Laval, the puppet leader of Nazi-occupied Vichy France, is executed by firing squad for treason against France.
Laval, originally a deputy and senator of pacifist tendencies, shifted to the right in the 1930s while serving as minister of foreign affairs and twice as the French premier. A staunch anti-communist, he...
1989
During a game against his old team, the Edmonton Oilers, Canadian ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky breaks Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League career scoring record of 1,850 points.Gretzky dominated professional hockey during the 1980s, setting numerous records and leading the Oilers to four Stanley Cup victories. In 1988, the “Great...
1991
After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In July 1991, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, announced his retirement after 34 years. President George Bush quickly nominated Clarence Thomas, a 43-year-old...
Hollywood
2007
On this day in 2007, the comedian and actor Drew Carey takes over hosting duties on The Price is Right, the longest-running daytime game show in television history. Carey replaced Bob Barker, who retired at the age of 83 after hosting the show for 35 years.
Barker, who was born on...
Literary
1881
Comic novelist P.G. Wodehouse, creator of Jeeves the butler, is born on this day in Surrey, England.
Wodehouse attended Dulwich College in London, then went to work as a humor columnist for the London Globe. He also worked as a freelance writer. After 1909, he spent extended periods of time in...
1960
On this day in 1960, Michael Lewis, author of such nonfiction best-sellers as “Moneyball” and “The Blind Side,” is born in New Orleans.
Lewis studied art history at Princeton University, graduating in 1982, and earned a degree from the London School of Economics. He went on to work as a...
Music
1930
The legendary composer and bandleader Duke Ellington was so famous for his poise and charm that it should be no surprise that he had a pithy story at the ready whenever he was asked about one of his most famous and enduring works, “Mood Indigo.” Of the song he and...
Presidential
1948
On this day in 1948, future President Gerald Ford marries Elizabeth Anne (“Betty”) Bloomer.
The handsome, blonde, blue-eyed Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and went on to play football at the University of Michigan, where he was voted the team’s most valuable player in his senior year. He then...
Sports
1989
On October 15, 1989, 28-year-old Los Angeles King Wayne Gretzky breaks Gordie Howe’s points record (1,850) in the final period of a game against the Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky’s record-setting goal tied the game; in overtime he scored another, and the Kings won 5-4.
Gretzky had entered the game with 1,849 points....
Vietnam War
1965
In a demonstration staged by the student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the first public burning of a draft card in the United States takes place.
These demonstrations drew 100,000 people in 40 cities across the country. In New York, David Miller, a young Catholic pacifist,...
1966
U.S. troops move into Tay Ninh Province near the Cambodian border, about 50 miles north of Saigon, and sweep the area in search of Viet Cong as part of Operation Attleboro, which had begun in September.
The purpose of this operation was to find and eliminate all enemy troops west of...
1969
National Moratorium antiwar demonstrations are conducted across the United States involving hundreds of thousands of people. The National Moratorium was an effort by David Hawk and Sam Brown, two antiwar activists, to forge a broad-based movement against the Vietnam War. The organization initially focused its effort on 300...
World War I
1917
On this day in 1917, the exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed by a French firing squad at Vincennes, outside of Paris, for the crime of espionage.
Born Margueretha Gertruida Zelle in a small town in northern Holland and formerly married to a captain in the Dutch army, Mata Hari had...
World War II
1946
On this day in 1946, Herman Goering, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia, chief forester of the Reich, chief liquidator of sequestered estates, supreme head of the National Weather Bureau, and Hitler’s designated successor dies by his own...