1123 Omar Khayyám, Persian poet (died), astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (born 1048)
1619 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (this is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas).
1642 Cardinal Richelieu (died), French clergyman and politician, 1st Chief Minister of the French King (born 1585)
1674 Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illiniwek (the mission would later grow into the city of Chicago, Illinois).
1791 The first edition of The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, is published.
1850 William Sturgeon (died), English physicist, invented the electric motor (born 1783)
1875 Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then Spain.
1881 The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.
1909 The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the oldest professional hockey franchise in the world, is founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
1918 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.
1921 The first Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle ends in a hung jury.
1924 John C. Portman, Jr. (born), American architect, designed the Renaissance Center and Tomorrow Square
1925 Albert Bandura (born), Canadian-American psychologist
1927 William Labov (born), American linguist
1928 Dena Dietrich (born), American actress
1937 The first issue of the children’s comic, The Dandy Comic, is published, one of the first to use speech balloons.
1943 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.
1945 By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations (the UN is established on October 24, 1945).
1945 Thomas Hunt Morgan (died), American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866)
1949 Jeff Bridges (born), American actor, singer, and producer
1951 Gary Rossington (born), American guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington-Collins Band, and The Rossington Band)
1954 The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, United States
1956 The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studios for the first and last time.
1971 The Casino de Montreux in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert; the incident would be noted in the Deep Purple song “Smoke on the Water”.
1976 Benjamin Britten (died), English composer (born 1913)
1976 Tommy Bolin (died), American guitarist (Zephyr, James Gang, and Deep Purple) (born 1951)
1978 Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco, California’s first female mayor (she served until January 8, 1988).
1980 English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbands, following the death of drummer John Bonham on September 25th.
1991 Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after 7 years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut. He is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.
1991 Pan Am goes bankrupt and ceases operations.
1993 Frank Zappa (died) American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Mothers of Invention) (born 1940)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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