This Month in History: October
By Nicholas Isaacs
October is filled with many amazing historical dates. Here are ten of those historic dates. On October 1st, 1908, Henry Ford released the first Model T Ford on the market. This revolutionized transportation all over the world. October 2nd, 1935, is the date that Italian troops successfully invaded and overthrew Abyssinia. The country wouldn’t be freed until 1941, when British troops were able to defeat Italy. Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November, on October 3, 1863. Lincoln also was the first President to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey’s name was Jack.
The British Parliament, on October 7th, 1765, issued the infamous Stamp Act on New York City, angering the colonists. In Chicago, on October 8th, 1871, legend says a farm cow kicked over a lantern, which started a fire, which would soon turn into one of the most devastating fires in American history, the Great Chicago Fire. It lasted twenty five hours and killed 300. On October 11th, 1939, famous scientist Albert Einstein warned President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the threat of the Nazis creating a nuclear bomb. This sparked the idea of the Manhattan Project, which would develop the first nuclear bomb here in America. Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, not America, on October 12th, 1492.
George Washington laid the cornerstone of the White House on October 13th, 1792. It remains missing to this day. On October 15th, 1815, Napoleon's troops lost the historic battle of Waterloo. But, the battle didn’t actually occur in Waterloo. It happened in a town four miles away. JFK informed America of the existence of nuclear missiles in Cuba on October 22nd, 1962. This was the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The historic New York City Subway started for the first time on October 27th, 1904.
You thought we were done? Well don’t forget birthdays! There were a lot of extraordinary people born in the month of October. President Jimmy Carter, our 39th president and Nobel prize winner, was born on October 1st, 1924. Mohandas Gandhi, the famous non-violent Indian protester, was born on October 2nd, 1869. President Rutherford B. Hayes, our 16th president, was born on October 4th, 1822. President Chester A. Arthur, our 21st president, was born on October 5th, 1830. Robert Goddard, the first man to launch a liquid fueled rocket was born on October 5th, 1882. John Lennon, the famous lead singer for the Beatles, was born on October 9th, 1940.
Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President FDR and human rights activist, was born on October 11th, 1884. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, our 34th president and the planner of D-day, was born on October 14th, 1890. Pablo Picasso, a famous artist, was born on October 25th, 1881. President Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president and one of our greatest presidents was born on October 27th, 1858. Dr. Jonas Salk, the famous doctor that created the polio vaccine, was born on October 28th, 1914. Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft which is one of the biggest software companies in the world, was born on October 28th, 1955. Last but definitely not least, John Adams, our second president, a founding father, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the creator of the U.S. Navy, was born on October 30th, 1735.
Stay tuned for the next installment of “This Month in History”.
