TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – OCT 24
1531 Bavaria, despite being a Catholic region, joins the League of Schmalkalden, a Protestant group which opposes Charles V.
1648 The treaties for the Peace of Westphalia were signed, ending the Thirty Years War, ultimately destroying the Holy Roman Empire, and ushering in the modern European state system.
1755 A British expedition against the French held Fort Niagara in Canada ends in failure.
1795 The country of Poland was divided up between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
1836 The match is patented.
1861 Western Union completes the first transcontinental telegraph line, putting the Pony Express out of business.
1916 Henry Ford awards equal pay to women.
1921 An amendment to lower the taxes paid on income was defeated today with a majority of 46 to 28 in the Senate.
1926 Last performance of Houdini. The world famous escape artist performed for the last time at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 Black Thursday–the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression.
1931 Al (Alphonse) Capone, the prohibition-era Chicago gangster, is sent to prison for tax evasion.
1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act becomes law, establishing the 40-hour work week.
1939 New Rules by Nazis require Jews to wear star of David often yellow-colored to identify Jewish People.
1945 Vidkun Quisling, Norway’s wartime minister president, is executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.
1948 The term “cold war” was used for the first time. It was in a speech by Bernard Baruch before the Senate War Investigating Committee
1952 Presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that if elected, he will go to Korea.
1960 All remaining American-owned property in Cuba was nationalized. The process of nationalizing all U.S. and foreign-owned property in Cuban had begun on August 6, 1960.
1962 Cuban missile crisis: Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba
1964 The Department of Agriculture is expand the food stamp program to include 41 states. The program works by allowing those in need to buy food stamps for $6.00 which are worth $10.00 worth of food.
1973 Yom Kippur War ends.
1986 Britain broke off relations with Syria after a Jordanian was convicted in an attempted bombing. The evidence in the trial led to the belief that Syria was involved in the attack on the Israeli jetliner.
2001 The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that gave police the power to secretly search homes, tap all of a person’s telephone conversation and track people’s use of the Internet.
2002 Authorities arrest John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo when they are found sleeping in their car at a rest stop off Interstate 70 near Myersville, Maryland, and arrested on federal weapons charges and investigations begin in connection with the Washington-area sniper attacks.
2003 The supersonic Concorde jet made its last commercial passenger flight from New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to London’s Heathrow Airport, traveling at twice the speed of sound.
2008 Many stock exchanges worldwide suffer the steepest declines in their histories; the day becomes known as “Bloody Friday.”
2009 The number of banks now closed this year reaches 100 following the closure of three banks in Florida this week.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
