TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: OCT 27
0097 To placate the Praetorians of Germany, Nerva of Rome adopts Trajan, the Spanish-born governor of lower Germany.
0312 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross
1553 Michael Servetus, who discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood, is burned for heresy in Switzerland.
1659 William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson became the first Quakers to be executed in America.
1787 The first of the Federalist Papers were published in the New York Independent. The series of 85 essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were published under the pen name “Publius.”
1791 President George Washington transmits to Congress the results of the first US census, exclusive of South Carolina which had not yet submitted its findings.
1795 Pinckney’s Treaty [Treaty of San Lorenzo] signed by Spain and US, establishing the southern boundary of the US and giving Americans right to navigate the Mississippi River
1809 President James Madison orders the annexation of the western part of West Florida. Settlers there had rebelled against Spanish authority.
1838 State of Missouri Passes the Extermination Order
Governor Lilburn Boggs signed Missouri Executive Order 44 as a result of the Battle of Crooked River which took place a few days earlier on October 24-25. The fight occurred between Mormon forces and a Missouri state militia and it resulted in 4 fatalities. The executive order ruled that ‘all Mormons were to be treated as enemies and that they must be exterminated or driven out of the state for public peace.’ The order forced members of the Church of Latter Day Saints to migrate from Missouri to Illinois.
1871 Boss Tweed (William Macy Tweed), Democratic leader of Tammany Hall, arrested after NY Times exposed his corruption
1917 20,000 women march in a suffrage parade in New York. As the largest state and the first on the East Coast to do so, New York has an important effect on the movement to grant all women the vote in all elections.
1919 Axeman of New Orleans claims last victim
1920 Westinghouse radio station in East Pittsburgh, KDKA begins
1922 In Italy, liberal Luigi Facta’s cabinet resigns after threats from Mussolini that “either the government will be given to us or we will seize it by marching on Rome.” Mussolini calls for a general mobilization of all Fascists.
1938 Du Pont announced “nylon” as the new name for its new synthetic yarn.
1962 American U-2 reconnaissance plane shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Cuba, killing the pilot, Maj. Rudolf Anderson, the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1964 The political career of future US president Ronald Reagan is launched when he delivers a speech on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.
1971 The Democratic Republic of the Congo renamed Zaire.
1982 China announces its population has reached 1 billion plus people
1986 British government deregulates financial markets in a “Big Bang”, enhancing London’s status as a financial capital while increasing income inequality
1988 Larry Flynt paid hitman $1M to kill Hefner, Guccione & Sinatra
1988 US President Ronald Reagan decides to tear down a new US Embassy in Moscow because Soviet listening devices were built into the structure.
1991 Turkmenistan Declares Independence from the Soviet Union
1994 The U.S. Justice Department announced that the U.S. prison population had exceeded one million for the first time in American history.
1997 Stock markets crash around the world over fears of a global economic meltdown.
1999 8 people, including the country’s prime minister, Vazgen Sargsyan and Speaker Karen Demirchyan, were killed when armed gunmen shot at the members of the Armenian National Assembly.
2003 Bank of America Corp. announced it had agreed to buy FleetBoston Financial Corp. The deal created the second largest banking company in the U.S.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
