1967 – The Motherland Calls, a monumental statue commemorating the battle of Stalingrad completed in Volgograd, Russia, then the World’s tallest statue designed by Yevgeny Vuchetich
0533 – Byzantine General Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals
1520 – King Henry VIII of England orders bowling lanes at Whitehall
1582 – Gregorian calendar introduced in Spain, Portugal and pontifical states, after skipping 10 days after Oct 4 to sync the calendar
1655 – Jews of Lublin are massacred
1674 – Torsåker witch trials begin, largest witch trials in Sweden, 71 beheaded and burned
1764 – Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte began his exile on the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
1816 – Lord Byron views the love letters of Lucrezia Borgia and poet Pietro Bembo in Milan and declares them “the prettiest love letters in the world”
1880 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists
1883 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It allowed for individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.
1892 – The U.S. government announced that the land in the western Montana was open to settlers. The 1.8 million acres were bought from the Crow Indians for 50 cents per acre.
1894 – Captain Alfred Dreyfus arrested and accused of espionage in France
1904 – The Russians are driven back by the Japanese in the Battle of Shaho; both sides suffer high casualties: Japanese (16,000) and Russians (60,000)
1914 – The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed by the U.S. Congress.
1917 – Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany during WWI at Vincennes near Paris
1924 – US President Calvin Coolidge declares Statue of Liberty a national monument
1939 – New York Municipal Airport was dedicated. The name was later changed to La Guardia Airport.
1945 – Pierre Laval, the former premier of Vichy France, was executed for treason.
1946 – Hermann Goering, a Nazi war criminal and founder of the Gestapo, poisoned himself just hours before his scheduled execution.
1964 – It was announced that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had been removed from power. He was replaced with Alexei N. Kosygin.
1966 – Black Panther Party created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California
1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill creating the Department of Transportation.
1966 – In Illinois, Cahokia Mounds was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
1967 – The Motherland Calls, a monumental statue commemorating the battle of Stalingrad completed in Volgograd, Russia, then the World’s tallest statue designed by Yevgeny Vuchetich
1969 – Vietnam Moratorium Day; millions nationwide protest the war
1971 – The start of the 2,500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia
1973 – Tanks attack Thailand demonstrating students, 300 killed
1979 – Military coup in El Salvador: President Carlos Romero flees
1983 – U.S. Marines killed five snipers who had pinned them down in Beirut International Airport.
1984 – The Freedom of Information Act was passed.
1987 – Thomas Sankara, the President of Burkina Faso, was killed during a coup led by Blaise Compaoré.
1989 – South African officials released eight prominent political prisoners.
1991 – Clarence Thomas is confirmed as a US Supreme Court Justice (52-48)
1992 – NYC Subway motorman Robert Ray convicted of manslaughter in death of 5 riders, when he fell asleep drunk while in control of train
1993 – U.S. President Clinton sent warships to enforce trade sanctions that had been imposed on Haitian military rulers.
1997 – The Cassini-Huygens mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL. On January 14, 2005, a probe sent back pictures of Saturn’s moon Titan during and after landing.
1998 – The U.N. condemned the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba for the seventh year in a row.
2003 – Shenzhou 5, China’s first human space flight mission launched
2005 – Riot in Toledo, Ohio breaks out during a National Socialist/Neo-Nazi protest; over 100 are arrested
2017 – 60 Minutes and The Washington Post publish story detailing how Congress passed a bill sponsored by Tom Marino that hindered the fight against the opioid crisis
2018 – Caravan of up to 4,000 Central American migrants that started in Honduras reaches Guatemala, heading for Mexico and the US
2019 – Gunfight between Mexican security forces and armed civilians leaves 15 dead, in Guerrero state, a day after 13 police killed in a drug cartel ambush in Michoacán state
2020 – Thai government issues emergency decree banning public gatherings amid increasing pro-democracy protests and criticism of the king
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
