President Eisenhower pledges support to South Vietnam

On October 25, 1764, future President John Adams marries Abigail Smith. This devoted couple’s prolific correspondence during their married life has provided entertainment and a glimpse of early American life for generations of history buffs. Future first lady Abigail Adams was the daughter of a parson. She was home-taught and read everything from the classics […]

In an event alternately described as one of the most heroic or disastrous episodes in British military history, Lord James Cardigan leads a charge of the Light Brigade cavalry against well-defended Russian artillery during the Crimean War. The British were winning the Battle of Balaklava when Cardigan received his order to attack the Russians. His […]

On October 25, 1920, Greece’s King Alexander dies from wounds he received after a monkey attacked him earlier in the month. He was 27 years old. The incident leading to King Alexander’s death occurred while he was walking on the grounds of the castle outside of Athens. A Barbary macaque that belonged to a resident […]

On October 25, 1944, during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, the Japanese deploy kamikaze (“divine wind”) bombers against American warships for the first time. It will prove costly—to both sides. This decision to employ suicide bombers against the American fleet at Leyte, an island of the Philippines, was based on the failure of conventional […]

On October 25, 1964, after recovering a fumble against the 49ers in San Francisco, Minnesota Vikings star defensive end Jim Marshall runs 66 yards the wrong way into his own end zone. The four-year veteran believes he has scored a touchdown, so he throws the ball out of bounds in celebration, resulting in a safety […]

On October 25, 1980, AC/DC earn their first pop Top 40 hit with “You Shook Me All Night Long”—clocking in at number 39. Back when they were releasing albums like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1977), AC/DC would have seemed an unlikely candidate to become one of the top-selling pop-music acts of all time. But […]

Susan Smith reports that she was carjacked in South Carolina by a Black man who took her two small children in the backseat of her car. Although authorities immediately began searching for three-year-old Michael and one-year-old Alex, they could find no trace of them or of Smith’s car. After nine days of intense national media […]