It’s October! Here is a helpful list of important historical events for the month:
- October 1, 1908 – Henry Ford’s Model T, a car designed for the masses, went on sale.
- October 2, 1967 – Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was sworn in as the first African American associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
- October 3, 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
- October 4, 1822 – The 19th U.S. President, Rutherford B. Hayes, was born in Delaware, Ohio. He served from March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1881.
- October 6, 1927 – The first “talkie” film, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, opened in New York. This was the first full-length feature film that used spoken dialogue.
- October 8, 1871 – The Great Fire of Chicago erupted. Over 300 people were killed as fire destroyed 3.5 square miles. According to legend, it started when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street.
- October 9, 1940 – John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. He was a member of The Beatles, one of the most influential rock groups of all time.
- October 11, 1884 – Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City. She was the wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd U.S. President. She used her role as First Lady to strive to improve the lives of people worldwide.
- October 12, 1492 – Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World.
- October 14, 1890 – The 34th U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was born in Denison, Texas. He served as President from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961.
- October 16, 1888 – American playwright Eugene O’Neill was born in New York City. A winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, he wrote dramas such as Beyond Horizon, The Iceman Cometh, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
- October 19, 1960 – The U.S. embargo of Cuba began.
- October 21, 1879 – Thomas Edison successfully tested an electric incandescent lamp with a carbonized filament in his laboratory in New Jersey. It remained lit for 13 hours.
- October 22, 1962 – President John F. Kennedy went on television to inform Americans of the existence of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba. This was part of the “Cuban Missile Crisis.”
- October 24, 1945 – The United Nations was founded.
- October 26, 1947 – Presidential candidate and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. She was First Lady from 1993 – 2001 during the presidency of her husband, Bill Clinton. She is currently running for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 Presidential Election.
- October 27, 1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President, was born in New York City. He served as President from September 14, 1901 to March 3, 1909. His famous quote was, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
- October 28, 1919 – Prohibition began in the United States with the passage of the 18th Amendment, the National Prohibition Act by Congress. Sales of alcoholic drinks became illegal until it was repealed with the 21st Amendment on December 5th, 1933.
- October 29, 1929 – The great stock market crash started The Great Depression in America. It lasted until the outbreak of World War II.
- October 30, 1735 – The 2nd U.S. President, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. He served from March 4, 1797 to March 3, 1801. He was Vice President to George Washington and father to the 6th President, John Quincy Adams.
- October 31, 1941 – Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed after 14 years of work. The memorial contains large sculptures of the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
And it’s Halloween! Trick or Treat!
