Today in History: October 21
Today in History: October 21: A day of military might, school tragedies, and homicides. In 1797, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides,” was christened in Boston’s harbor. In 1805, a British fleet commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated a French-Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar. In 1940, Ernest Hemingway’s novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was first published. In 1944, U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen — the first German city to fall to American forces in World War II. In 1959, the Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York. In 1966, 144 people were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and some 20 houses in Aberfan, Wales. In 2013, a seventh-grader at Sparks Middle School in Sparks, Nevada, shot and killed a teacher and wounded two classmates before taking his own life. In 2014, Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for shooting and killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The conviction was later upgraded to murder. In 2021, Actor Alec Baldwin was pointing a gun on a movie set in New Mexico when it went off and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
Today in History: October 20
Today in History: October 20. There is a lot going on today. Richard Nixon figures in a couple stories, and there are two stories involving rock bands. In 1944, General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte in World War II, fulfilling a promise he made after being ordered to evacuate the country two years prior. In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase. In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry. In 1967 a jury in Meridian, Mississippi convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of three slain civil rights workers. In 1973, in the “Saturday Night Massacre,” special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and the attorney general and the deputy attorney general resigned. In 1973, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker SS Frosta rammed the commuter ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River. In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi. In 1990 three members of the rap group 2 Live Crew were acquitted by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, of violating obscenity laws with an adults-only concert. In 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libya’s dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte. Through history it seems October 20 has become a day of turmoil.
Today in History: October 19
Today in History: October 19: In 1987 on this day, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points on what came to be known as “Black Monday.” This happened when Ronald Reagan was president. It should have been seen as a signal that his trickle down economics was not viable. In 1781, British troops under General Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. This victory for the American Revolution signified that the war was coming to an end. In 1914, the First Battle of Ypres began in World War 1. In 1960, the Reverand Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during a sit-down protest at a lunch counter in Atlanta. In 1977, the supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City. It flew from Toulouse, France in three hours and 44 minutes. In 2003, during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa. In 2005, accused of crimes against humanity Saddam Hussein was put on trial by the Iraqi Interim Government. In the third and final 2016 presidential debate, Republican Donald Trump refused to say he would accept the results of the election if he were to lose. This behavior has been consistent even up to this day. Trump shows through his actions that he believes U.S. laws do not apply to him. For reasons such as this, most authorities in the U.S. believe Trump is not fit to be president and never has been.
Today in History: October 18
Today in History: October 18: In 1977, Reggie Jackson – Mr. October – hit three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series to lead the New York Yankees to an 8-4 win and a 4-2 Series victory. In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. Alaska became the 49th state in the union in 1959. In 1898, the American flag was first raised in Puerto Rico, shortly before the U.S. formally gained control from Spain. In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at his home in West Orange, New Jersey. He was 84. In 1954, Texas Instruments unveiled the first commercially produced transistor radio. In 1962, James D. Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for Medicine for determining the double-helix structure of DNA. In 1968, Bob Beamon shattered the previous long jump world record by nearly two feet at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act. In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked airplane in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 87 hostages and four crew members. In 2018, President Donald Trump threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico if authorities did not stop a caravan of migrants from Central America. This serves as a reminder of how ex-president Trump handled the border when he was president. By inhumanely separating children from their parents, Trump created not only a severe tragedy for asylum seekers, but also a costly catastrophe for the country.
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