1932 – Babe Ruth’s legendary call; sledged by Cubs dugout, points to center-field before homering into the Wrigley Field bleachers in 5th inning, Game 3 of the World Series; NY Yankees win, 7-5
331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela
911 – During a siege in Constantinople, the Theotokos (Mary, the mother of Jesus) appeared at the church in Blachernae holding her veil over the praying faithful, among them St. Andrew of Constantinople.
1189 – Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre
1569 – The Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for trying to marry Mary the Queen of Scots.
1574 – Storm breaks Leiden dike; drowns 20,000 Spanish soldiers
1653 – Russian parliament accepts annexation of Ukraine
1688 – Prince Willem III of Orange accepts invitation of take up the British crown
1795 – Belgium is conquered by France
1800 – Spain ceded the territory of Louisiana back to France. Later the property would be purchased by the U.S. effectively doubling its size.
1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, redraws Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte
1827 – The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia
1837 – US imposes treaty on Winnebago Indians in Wisconsin
1867 – Karl Marx publishes “Das Kapital” in Berlin, a description of the capitalist system, its instability and tendency to self-destruction
1868 – “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is published in America by Roberts Brothers of Boston
1879 – Cincinnati Enquirer publishes first report on Baseball’s reserve clause; rights to players retained by team upon the contract’s expiration; replaced by free agency
1885 – Special delivery mail service began in the United States. The first routes were in West Virginia.
1888 – National Geographic magazine publishes for the 1st time
1890 – The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act. The act raised tariffs to a record level.
1896 – Rural Free Delivery was established by the U.S. Post Office.
1907 – A downturn in the stock market leads to a run on the dollar; US President Theodore Roosevelt later calls on financier J. P. Morgan to help manage the financial crisis
1908 – The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford.
1914 – The first division of Canadian troops, 33,000 sail for Britain; most Canadians are volunteers, anxious to prove their loyalty to the Commonwealth
1918 – World War I: Combined Arab and British force under the Lawrence of Arabia, T. E. Lawrence captures Damascus from the Turks
1924 – MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Landis bans NY Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell & coach Cozy Dolan from World Series after they attempt to bribe Phillies shortstop Heinie Sand
1932 – Babe Ruth’s legendary call; sledged by Cubs dugout, points to center-field before homering into the Wrigley Field bleachers in 5th inning, Game 3 of the World Series; NY Yankees win, 7-5
1936 – General Francisco Franco was proclaimed the head of the Spanish state.
1939 – Winston Churchill calls Russia a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”
1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened as the first toll superhighway in the United States.
1945 – US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the CIA, disbands
1948 – California Supreme Court voids state statute banning interracial marriages, in Perez v. Sharp case
1949 – Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People’s Republic of China when the communist forces had defeated the Nationalists. The Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan.
1951 – 24th Infantry Regiment, last all-black US military unit, deactivated
1957 – Thalidomide, an anti-nausea drug and sleep-aid, was launched. For about five years it was commonly prescribed to pregnant women as a drug to deal with morning sickness. It was finally withdrawn from the market after it was determined that it caused birth defects.
1957 – B-52 bombers begin full-time flying alert in case of USSR attack
1961 – Formation of Federal Republic of Cameroon
1964 – The Free Speech Movement was started at the University of California at Berkeley.
1968 – Cult zombie film “Night of the Living Dead” directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea premieres in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1971 – Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL.
1972 – The Chinese government approved friendly relations with the United States.
1975 – “The Thrilla in Manila”; Muhammad Ali stops Joe Frazier in 14 rounds in Quezon City, the Philippines to retain his WBC/WBA heavyweight title
1982 – EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center opened in Florida. The concept was planned by Walt Disney.
1984 – U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan announced that he was taking a leave of absence following his indictment on charges of larceny and fraud. He was later acquitted.
1985 – The PLO’s headquarters in Tunisia was raided by Israeli jet fighters.
1988 – Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet presidency.
1990 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and once again condemned Iraq’s takeover of Kuwait.
1990 – In Croatia, minority Serbs proclaimed autonomy.
1991 – The Siege of Dubrovnik began during the Croatian War of Independence. On this day, the Yugoslav People’s Army started its offensive on Dubrovnik.
1991 – U.S. President Bush condemned the military coup in Haiti that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. U.S. economic and military aid was suspended.
1991 – The U.S. trust territory of Palau became independent.
1992 – The Strategic Arm Reduction Treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate.
1994 – The U.S. and Japan avoided a trade war by reaching a series of trade agreements.
1994 – The National Hockey League (NHL) team owners began a lockout of the players that lasted 103 days.
1995 – Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine other defendants were convicted in New York of conspiring to attack the U.S. through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
1998 – The U.S. government posted a $2.2 million reward for the capture of Augustin Vasquez Mendoza. He is accused of killing an undercover U.S. agent during a drug purchase in 1994.
1999 – The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China was celebrated in Beijing.
2001 – San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban Internet filters designed to keep pornography away from children at city libraries. The board left the decision up to the Library Commission to decide whether to install filtering software in children’s areas. A federal law in the U.S. mandated the use of the filters.
2007 – Most of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 came into force in the United Kingdom.
2012 – California becomes the first US state to ban conversion therapy for minors
2013 – A partial United States federal government shutdown occurs as a result of political disagreements over operational spending
2014 – 41 children are killed by a suicide bombing on the Akrameh al-Makhzumi school in Homs, Syria
2015 – A gunman kills 8 students and a teacher at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon
2017 – Amid a deepening constitutional crisis, Catalonia holds an independence referendum on seceding from Spain
2017 – Stephen Paddock shoots dead 58 people, injuring 489, at a concert in Las Vegas in the deadliest mass shooting in American history
2019 – Indian government bans the export of onions, an important food staple to control prices, causing shortages in Bangladesh and Nepal
2019 – Law allowing teachers to carry guns in schools comes into effect in US state of Florida
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
