TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – OCT 11
1531 The Catholics defeat the Protestants at Kappel during Switzerland’s second civil war.
1737 Earthquake kills 300,000 and destroys half of Calcutta, India
1795 In graditude for putting down a rebellion in the streets of Paris, France’s National Convention appoints Napoleon Bonaparte second in command of the Army of the Interior.
1811 The Juliana, the first steam-powered ferryboat, was put into operation by the inventor John Stevens. The ferry went between New York City, NY, and Hoboken, NJ.
1862 The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service. This law confirms many southerners opinion that they are in a ‘rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.’
1865 Pres Johnson paroles CSA VP Alexander Stephens
1869 Thomas Edison filed for a patent on his first invention. The electric machine was used for counting votes for the U.S. Congress, however the Congress did not buy it
1877 Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.
1890 The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, DC.
1906 San Francisco school board orders the segregation of Oriental schoolchildren, inciting Japanese outrage.
1932 1st political telecast (Democratic National Committee) at CBS, NYC
1945 Negotiations between Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung break down. Nationalist and Communist troops are soon engaged in a civil war.
1950 The Federal Communications Commission authorizes the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color TV broadcasts.
1972 Race riot breaks out aboard carrier USS Kitty Hawk off Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
1975 Saturday Night Live comedy-variety show premiers on NBC, with guest host comedian George Carlin and special guests Janis Ian, Andy Kaufman and Billy Preston
1986 President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, Iceland, to continue discussions about curbing their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
1987 Hundreds of thousands march for lesbian and gay rights marched by the White House and then assembled on the national Mall below the U.S. Capitol. The march was led by about 3,000 people with AIDS, some in wheelchairs, others in chartered buses.
1987 Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force begins in Sri Lanka; thousands of Tamil citizens, along with hundreds of Tamil Tigers militants and Indian Army soldiers will die in the operation.
1991 President Bush today vetoed a bill that would have provided up to an additional 20 weeks unemployment benefit calling it poorly designed and unnecessarily expensive.
1994 The Colorado Supreme Court declared that the anti-gay rights measure in the state was unconstitutional.
2002 Former President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at ending the middle east conflict and acting as a mediator between Egypt and Israel.
2007 The numbers of US Army soldiers in the army, army guard and army reserve is set to increase to 547,000, Army Recruitment has come under fire because the number of new recruits have who have not graduated from high school is over 20%.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
