This Day in History

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 17 1862 Battle of Antietam breaks out Beginning early on the morning of September 17, 1862, Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War clash near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest single day in American military history. The Battle of Antietam marked the culmination of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of th... read more 21st CENTURY 2011 Occupy Wall Street begins 1970s 1978 Camp David Accords signed Art, Literature, and Film History 1967 The Who literally spark an explosion on national television 1983 Vanessa Williams becomes first Black Miss America 1996 Oprah launches influential book club Religion 1394 King Charles VI of France orders all Jews expelled from the kingdom Space Exploration 1976 NASA unveils its first space shuttle, the Enterprise U.S. Presidents 1796 George Washington prepares final draft of farewell address United States Constitution 1787 U.S. Constitution signed Westward Expansion 1868 Cheyenne and Sioux decimate frontiersmen at Beecher's Island World War II 1939 Soviet Union invades Poland

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 19 1957 Nevada is site of first-ever underground nuclear explosion On September 19, 1957, the United States detonates a 1.7-kiloton nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a 1,375-square-mile research center located 65 miles north of Las Vegas. The test, known as Rainier, was the first fully contained underground detonation and produc... read more 1990s 1995 Unabomber manifesto published American Revolution 1777 Arnold and Gates argue at First Battle of Saratoga Art, Literature, and Film History 1973 Country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons dies 2000 Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel debuts Cold War 1959 Khrushchev barred from visiting Disneyland Women's History 1893 New Zealand first in women's vote Latin America 1955 Perón deposed in Argentina Natural Disasters & Environment 1985 Earthquake shakes Mexico City U.S. Presidents 1881 President James Garfield dies Vietnam War 1969 Nixon cancels draft calls for November and December Westward Expansion 1827 Jim Bowie stabs a Louisiana banker with his famous knife World War II 1941 Germans bombard Leningrad

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 18 1793 George Washington lays the Capitol cornerstone On September 18, 1793, George Washington lays the cornerstone to the United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of American government. The building would take nearly a century to complete, as architects came and went, the British set fire to it and it was called into use dur... read more   Shop the HISTORY Flash Sale Gear up for savings with 25% off all Fast Ship items at the HISTORY Store. No promo code required, valid until 9/22 Midnight PT. Shop the Sale 1980s 1987 Hundreds are accidentally poisoned in Brazil Art, Literature, and Film History 1974 Doris Day wins lawsuit China 1976 1 million people attend funeral of Mao Zedong Civil War 1862 Union General George B. McClellan lets Confederates retreat from Antietam Cold War 1960 Fidel Castro arrives in New York Colonial America 1634 Anne Hutchinson arrives in America Crime 1959 Serial killer Harvey Glatman is executed 1975 Patty Hearst captured by police Inventions & Science 1981 Canada mall sets parking-lot record Paranormal 1973 Jimmy Carter files report on UFO sighting Westward Expansion 1846 The struggling Donner Party sends ahead to California for food

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 20 1973 Billie Jean King triumphs in "Battle of the Sexes" On September 20, 1973, in a highly publicized "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, top women's player Billie Jean King, 29, beats Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked men's player. Riggs (1918-1995), a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, had boasted that women were inferior, that they couldn't handle ... read more American Revolution 1777 Redcoats kill sleeping Americans in Paoli Massacre Art, Literature, and Film History 1878 Upton Sinclair is born 1946 First Cannes Film Festival Colonial America 1565 First European battle on American soil Crime 2012 Amish convicted in beard-cutting attacks Exploration 1519 Magellan sets sail from Spain Gay Rights 2011 "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" is repealed Natural Disasters & Environment 2002 Avalanche thunders into Russian village Sports 1988 Louganis wins Olympic gold the day after suffering head injury U.S. Presidents 1881 Chester Arthur becomes third president to serve in one year 1963 Kennedy proposes joint mission to the moon Westward Expansion 1806 The returning Lewis and Clark reach the first white settlement on the Missouri

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 21 1780 Benedict Arnold commits treason On September 21, 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a ... read more Art, Literature, and Film History 1985 George Clooney makes "Facts of Life" debut China 1949 Mao Zedong outlines the new Chinese government Crime 1983 A 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy is found dead France 1792 Monarchy abolished in France Native American History 1904 The great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies in Washington Natural Disasters & Environment 1938 The Great New England Hurricane 1999 Earthquake kills thousands in Taiwan U.S. Presidents 1939 FDR urges repeal of Neutrality Act embargo provisions Sports 2008 Last baseball game played at historic Yankee Stadium World War II 1942 The Superfortress bomber takes flight

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 21 1780 Benedict Arnold commits treason On September 21, 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a ... read more Art, Literature, and Film History 1985 George Clooney makes "Facts of Life" debut China 1949 Mao Zedong outlines the new Chinese government Crime 1983 A 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy is found dead France 1792 Monarchy abolished in France Native American History 1904 The great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies in Washington Natural Disasters & Environment 1938 The Great New England Hurricane 1999 Earthquake kills thousands in Taiwan U.S. Presidents 1939 FDR urges repeal of Neutrality Act embargo provisions Sports 2008 Last baseball game played at historic Yankee Stadium World War II 1942 The Superfortress bomber takes flight

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 22 1862 Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after Lincoln's ... read more 1990s 1993 Train derails in Alabama swamp Africa 1828 Shaka Zulu assassinated American Revolution 1776 Nathan Hale is executed by the British for spying Art, Literature, and Film History 1985 The first Farm Aid concert is held in Champaign, Illinois 1994 "Friends" debuts Crime 1980 So-called Midtown Stabber kills his first victim EARLY 20th CENTURY U.S. 1906 Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 begins Inventions & Science 1953 The famous "four-level" opens in Los Angeles Middle East 1980 Iran-Iraq War begins U.S. Presidents 1961 President Kennedy signs Peace Corps legislation 1975 President Ford survives second assassination attempt Vietnam War 1971 Captain Ernest Medina is acquitted of all My Lai Massacre charges World War I 1914 U-boat devastates British squadron World War II 1945 General Patton questions necessity of Germany's "denazification"

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 23 1875 Billy the Kid arrested for first time On September 23, 1875, Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry. He later broke out of jail and roamed the American West, eventually earning a reputation as an outlaw and murderer and a rap sheet that allegedly included 21 murders. The exact details of Billy th... read more American Revolution 1779 John Paul Jones wins in English waters Art, Literature, and Film History 1923 "The Prophet," by Lebanese-American poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran, is published Cold War 1949 President Truman announces Soviets have exploded a nuclear device Crime 1981 A two-month manhunt for a murdering writer comes to an end Exploration 1806 Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis Inventions & Science 1846 Planet Neptune is discovered 1933 Standard Oil geologists arrive in Saudi Arabia Sports 1908 Controversial call gives Cubs the pennant 1992 Canadian woman breaks pro sports barrier U.S. Presidents 1944 FDR defends his dog in a speech

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 24 1789 The first Supreme Court is established The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay to preside ... read more Art, Literature, and Film History 1968 First episode of "60 Minutes" airs Crime 1971 A game warden is reported missing Inventions & Science 1948 Honda Motor Company is incorporated Religion 622 Muhammad completes Hegira 1890 The Mormon Church officially renounces polygamy Sports 1988 Ben Johnson wins gold, temporarily U.S. Presidents 1964 Warren Commission report delivered to President Johnson Vietnam War 1969 Chicago 8 trial opens in Chicago BLACK HISTORY 2016 The National Museum of African American History and Culture opens World War I 1918 Bulgaria seeks ceasefire with Allied powers World War II 1941 Japanese gather preliminary data on Pearl Harbor 1948 Mildred Gillars—aka “Axis Sally”—pleads not guilty to treason

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 25 1957 Little Rock Nine begin first full day of classes Under escort from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine Black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integratio... read more   Watch Video: The Little Rock Nine Learn how nine brave Arkansas teenagers broke through racial barriers to integrate their high school. Watch Now 1970s 1978 Mid-air collision kills 153 American Revolution 1775 Ethan Allen is captured Art, Literature, and Film History 1970 "The Partridge Family" premieres on ABC Cold War 1959 Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet for talks Crime 1959 New York mobster Little Augie Pisano is murdered EUROPEAN HISTORY 2005 IRA officially disarms Sports 1965 Fifty-nine-year-old Satchel Paige pitches three innings U.S. Presidents 1894 Grover Cleveland pardons bigamists, adulterers, polygamists and unlawful cohabitants United States Constitution 1789 Bill of Rights passes Congress Westward Expansion 1867 Cattle pioneer Oliver Loving dies of gangrene

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 26 1960 Kennedy and Nixon square off in first televised presidential debate For the first time in U.S. history, a debate between major party presidential candidates is shown on television. The presidential hopefuls, John F. Kennedy, a Democratic senator of Massachusetts, and Richard M. Nixon, the vice president of the United States, met in a Chicago studio to discuss U.S. d... read more Art, Literature, and Film History 1888 T.S. Eliot is born 1957 "West Side Story" opens on Broadway 1969 "The Brady Bunch" premieres Crime 2007 Mistrial declared in Phil Spector murder case Exploration 1580 Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe Inventions & Science 1928 Work begins at company that designs first mass-produced car radios Space Exploration 1996 Shannon Lucid returns to Earth Sports 1971 Four 20-game winners Vietnam War 1945 First U.S. soldier killed during Vietnam's August Revolution Westward Expansion 1820 The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone dies in Missouri World War I 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive opens World War II 1944 Allies slaughtered by Germans in Arnhem

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 27 1779 John Adams appointed to negotiate peace terms with British On September 27, 1779, the Continental Congress appoints John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. Adams had traveled to Paris in 1778 to negotiate an alliance with France, but h... read more 1960s 1962 Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" is published 19th Century 1854 Ships collide off Newfoundland, killing 322 Art, Literature, and Film History 1991 "My Own Private Idaho" premieres in theaters Crime 1989 Zsa Zsa Gabor storms out of the courtroom WOMEN'S HISTORY 1960 British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst dies Religion 1540 Jesuit order established U.S. Presidents 1938 Franklin Roosevelt appeals to Hitler for peace Westward Expansion 1869 Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok proves too wild for Kansas World War I 1915 John Kipling killed at the Battle of Loos World War II 1939 Warsaw falls to German forces 1940 The Tripartite Pact is signed by Germany, Italy and Japan

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 28 1941 Ted Williams becomes last player to hit .400 On September 28, 1941, the Boston Red Sox's Ted Williams plays a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics on the last day of the regular season and gets six hits in eight trips to the plate, to boost his batting average to .406 and become the first player since Bill Terry in 1930 to hit .400... read more 1990s 1994 Passenger ferry, Estonia, sinks, killing 852 21st Century 2018 Arctic shipping lane opens due to ice melt; cargo ship completes the journey American Revolution 1781 Battle of Yorktown begins Ancient Egypt 48 B.C. Pompey the Great assassinated Art, Literature, and Film History 1901 TV host Ed Sullivan born Cold War 1965 Fidel Castro announces that Cubans are free to leave the island Crime 1988 A cult leader kills one of his followers Great Britain 1066 William the Conqueror invades England Inventions & Science 1918 Philadelphia parade exposes thousands to Spanish flu 1928 Penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming Sports 1920 Eight MLB players indicted in "Black Sox Scandal" 1960 Ted Williams hits home run in last major league at-bat Westward Expansion 1542 Spanish explorer sails into San Diego Bay World War I 1918 British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 29 1982 Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills seven Flight attendant Paula Prince buys a bottle of cyanide-laced Tylenol. Prince was found dead on October 1, becoming the final victim of a mysterious ailment in Chicago, Illinois. Over the previous few days, six other people had died of unknown causes in northwest Chicago. After Prince's death, Richar... read more 21st Century 2005 Reporter Judith Miller released from prison 2008 Dow suffers record-breaking single-day drop American Revolution 1780 Benedict Arnold's accomplice is sentenced to death Cold War 1953 New York Times article claims Russians want the "American dream" Crime 2006 School principal murdered by student in Wisconsin Exploration 1988 Stacy Allison becomes first American woman to reach summit of Mt. Everest HISPANIC HISTORY 1995 Mexican-American voting rights advocate Willie Velasquez awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom Holocaust 1941 Babi Yar massacre begins Inventions & Science 1913 Inventor Rudolf Diesel vanishes Westward Expansion 1907 The great singing cowboy, Gene Autry, is born in Texas World War I 1918 Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line World War II 1939 Nazis and communists divvy up Poland

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 30 1954 USS Nautilus—world's first nuclear submarine—is commissioned The USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, is commissioned by the U.S. Navy. The Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover, a brilliant Russian-born engineer who joined the U.S. atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in charge of the navy's ... read more American Revolution 1776 General George Washington complains about his militia Art, Literature, and Film History 1868 First volume of "Little Women" is published 1928 Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and best-selling author, is born 1955 James Dean dies in car accident 2005 Michael Eisner resigns as Disney CEO Black History 1962 Riots over desegregation of Ole Miss Cold War 1949 Berlin Airlift ends HISPANIC HISTORY 1822 Joseph Marion Hernández becomes the first Hispanic elected to Congress Sports 1927 Babe Ruth hits 60th homer of 1927 season 1947 World Series broadcast on TV for first time U.S. Presidents 1918 President Woodrow Wilson speaks in favor of female suffrage Westward Expansion 1889 Wyoming legislators write the first state constitution to grant women the vote World War II 1938 Munich Pact signed

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 1 1890 Yosemite National Park established On October 1, 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Ha... read more 21st Century 2005 Suicide bombers stage attacks in Bali Art, Literature, and Film History 1920 Scientific American reports that radio will soon be used to transmit music to the home 1962 Johnny Carson makes debut as "Tonight Show" host China 1949 Mao Zedong proclaims People's Republic of China Civil War 1864 Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow dies Cold War 1988 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes head of Soviet Union Crime 1910 A bomb explodes in the Los Angeles Times building 1993 A 12-year-old girl is kidnapped, leading to California's "three strikes" law 2017 Gunman opens fire on Las Vegas concert crowd, wounding hundreds and killing 58 Inventions & Science 1908 Ford Motor Company unveils the Model T Middle East 1918 Lawrence of Arabia captures Damascus Natural Disasters & Environment 1987 Earthquake rocks Southern California Sports 1961 Roger Maris breaks home-run record U.S. Presidents 1924 Jimmy Carter is born World War II 1944 Experiments begin on homosexuals at Buchenwald 1946 Nazi war criminals sentenced at Nuremberg

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 2 1985 Hollywood icon Rock Hudson dies of AIDS On October 2, 1985, actor Rock Hudson, 59, becomes the first major U.S. celebrity to die of complications from AIDS. Hudson's death raised public awareness of the epidemic, which until that time had been ignored by many in the mainstream as a "gay plague." Hudson, born Leroy Harold Scherer Jr., on N... read more American Revolution 1780 Benedict Arnold accomplice hanged Black History 1967 Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first Black Supreme Court justice Cold War 1958 The Cold War comes to Africa, as Guinea gains its independence Crime 2006 Gunman kills five students at Amish school Sports 1965 Gatorade invented at University of Florida U.S. Presidents 1919 Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke 2020 President Trump announces he and the first lady tested positive for COVID-19 Westward Expansion 1835 First shots of the Texas Revolution fired in the Battle of Gonzales World War II 1941 Operation Typhoon is launched 1944 Warsaw Uprising ends

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 3 1995 O.J. Simpson acquitted At the end of a sensational trial, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the brutal 1994 double murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In the epic 252-day trial, Simpson's "dream team" of lawyers employed creative and controversial methods to ... read more Art, Literature, and Film History 1895 "The Red Badge of Courage" is published 1967 Writer, singer and folk icon Woody Guthrie dies 1992 Sinéad O'Connor tears up a photo of Pope John Paul II on "Saturday Night Live" 2014 "Serial" debuts, inaugurating the podcast boom Cold War 1990 East and West Germany reunite after 45 years Crime 2011 Amanda Knox murder conviction overturned in Italy Great Britain 1981 Maze hunger strike called off Middle East 1932 Iraq wins independence Sports 1951 A miraculous home run wins the pennant for NY Giants 1997 Gordie Howe, 69, becomes only pro hockey player to compete in six decades U.S. Presidents 1863 President Lincoln proclaims official Thanksgiving holiday NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY 1873 U.S. Army hangs four Modoc leaders for the murder of a Civil War general World War I 1917 War Revenue Act passed in U.S. World War II 1942 Germany conducts first successful V-2 rocket test

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 4 1957 Sputnik launched The Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for "satellite," was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic. Sputnik had a ... read more 1990s 1992 Plane crashes into apartment building American Revolution 1777 Both sides battered at Germantown Art, Literature, and Film History 1937 Blues singer Bessie Smith, killed in Mississippi car wreck, is buried 1970 Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose 1990 "Beverly Hills, 90210" debuts Civil War 1861 President Lincoln watches a balloon ascension Crime 1988 Televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted on federal charges 2011 Man who served 25 years for murder exonerated by DNA Sports 1895 Englishman wins the first U.S. Open golf tournament 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers win their first World Series U.S. Presidents 1927 Work begins on Mount Rushmore Vietnam War 1966 Pope calls for end to the Vietnam War World War I 1918 Germany telegraphs President Wilson seeking armistice World War II 1944 General Eisenhower warns of the risk of "shell shock"

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 5 2011 Apple co-founder founder Steve Jobs dies On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple Inc., which revolutionized the computer, music and mobile communications industries with such devices as the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad, dies at age 56 of complications from pancreatic cancer. Born on February 24, 1955, in San F... read more 21st Century 2017 New York Times publishes bombshell investigation into allegations against Harvey Weinstein American Revolution 1775 General Washington informs Congress of espionage Art, Literature, and Film History 1978 Isaac Singer wins Nobel Prize in Literature 1990 "Henry & June" is first NC-17 film shown in theaters Cold War 1986 Iran-Contra scandal unravels Crime 1892 The Dalton Gang is wiped out in Coffeyville, Kansas Exploration 1974 American circumnavigates the globe on foot Inventions & Science 1919 Enzo Ferrari makes his debut as a race car driver 1930 Airship crashes in France Native American History 1877 Chief Joseph surrenders Religion 1989 Dalai Lama wins Nobel Peace Prize U.S. Presidents 1947 Harry Truman delivers first-ever presidential speech on TV War of 1812 1813 Shawnee chief Tecumseh is defeated

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 6 1866 The Reno brothers carry out the first train robbery in U.S. history On October 6, 1866, the brothers John and Simeon Reno stage the first train robbery in American history, making off with $13,000 from an Ohio and Mississippi railroad train in Jackson County, Indiana. Of course, trains had been robbed before the Reno brothers' holdup. But these previous crimes had a... read more Cold War 1961 President Kennedy urges Americans to build bomb shelters 1973 The Yom Kippur War brings United States and USSR to brink of conflict Colonial America 1683 First Mennonites arrive in America Crime 1981 The president of Egypt is assassinated Sports 1926 Babe Ruth sets a World Series record U.S. Presidents 1996 Bill Clinton debates Bob Dole World War I 1908 Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 7 2001 U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan begins On October 7, 2001, a U.S.-led coalition begins attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. Logistical support was provided by other nations including France, Germany, Australia and Canada and, later, troops were provided by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance rebels... read more American Revolution 1780 Battle of King's Mountain Art, Literature, and Film History 1955 Poet Allen Ginsberg reads "Howl" for the first time 1960 CBS broadcasts the premiere episode of "Route 66″ 1975 A New York judge reverses John Lennon's deportation order 1983 Sean Connery plays James Bond in "Never Say Never Again" Civil War 1864 Union and Confederate forces clash at Battle of Darbytown Road Cold War 1949 East Germany created 1960 Kennedy and Nixon debate Cold War foreign policy Crime 1985 Palestinian terrorists hijack an Italian cruise ship Inventions & Science 1913 Moving assembly line debuts at Ford factory SPORT 1985 Lynette Woodard becomes first female Harlem Globetrotters player U.S. POLITICS 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes California governor World War II 1943 Japanese execute nearly 100 American POWs on Wake Island

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 8 1871 Great Chicago Fire begins On October 8, 1871, flames spark in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million (in 1871 dollars; roughly $4 billion in 2020 dollars) in dama... read more 21st Century 2001 The Office of Homeland Security is founded Art, Literature, and Film History 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis records "Great Balls Of Fire" in Memphis, Tennessee 1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in Literature Crime 2009 Self-help guru's sweat lodge ceremony turns deadly Inventions & Science 2014 First person in U.S. diagnosed with Ebola dies Latin America 1967 Che Guevara captured by Bolivian army Vietnam War 1970 Communists reject Nixon's peace proposal WOMEN'S HISTORY 2004 Kenyan environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai wins Nobel Peace Prize World War I 1918 U.S. soldier Alvin York displays heroics at Argonne

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 9 1967 Che Guevara is executed On October 9, 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and executed him the following day. His hands were cut off as pr... read more Art, Literature, and Film History 1946 "The Iceman Cometh," by Eugene O'Neill, opens on Broadway Colonial America 1635 Rhode Island founder banished from Massachusetts Crime 1942 A Chicago bootlegger escapes from prison Germany 1974 Oskar Schindler—credited with saving 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust—dies Inventions & Science 1936 Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to Los Angeles 1992 Meteorite crashes into Chevy Malibu Natural Disasters & Environment 1963 Landslide kills thousands in Italy Russia 1975 Andrei Sakharov wins Nobel Peace Prize World War II 1940 St. Paul's Cathedral bombed

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 10 1985 US Navy fighter jets intercept Italian cruise ship hijackers The hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro reaches a dramatic climax when U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept an Egyptian airliner attempting to fly the Palestinian hijackers to freedom and force the jet to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily. American and Italian troops surrounded th... read more 19th Century 1845 US Naval Academy opens 1877 Colonel George Custer's funeral is held at West Point American Revolution 1775 William Howe named commander in chief of British army Art, Literature, and Film History 1935 "Porgy and Bess," the first great American opera, premieres on Broadway 1987 Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" tops the charts 2004 Superman Christopher Reeve dies at age 52 Crime 1991 A former postal worker commits mass murder France 732 Battle of Tours U.S. Presidents 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to African diplomat U.S. Government 1973 Vice President Agnew resigns World War II 1944 Eight hundred children are gassed to death at Auschwitz