TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – OCT 4 2018
1537 The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
1582 Last day of the Julian Calendar in Catholic countries
1648 Peter Stuyvesant establishes Americas 1st volunteer firemen
1777 At Germantown, Pa., British General Sir William Howe repels George Washington’s last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.
1795 General Napoleon Bonaparte leads the rout of counterrevolutionaries in the streets of Paris, beginning his rise to power.
1874 Kiowa leader Satanta, known as “the Orator of the Plains,” surrenders in Darlington, Texas. He is later sent to the state penitentiary, where he commits suicide October 11, 1878.
1883 The Orient Express departs on its first official journey from Paris to Instanbul
1927 Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting the heads of 4 US presidents on Mount Rushmore.
1940 Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass.
1941 Willie Gillis Jr., a fictional everyman created by illustrator Norman Rockwell, makes his first appearance, on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post; a series of illustrations on several magazines’ covers would depict young Gillis throughout World War II.
1942 The chairman of the Finance Committee told the Senate today that the American people would have to pay a total of $36,500,000,000 in taxes to pay for the war effort and demands for a sales tax to finance this are gathering pace.
1957 Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, is launched, beginning the “space race.” The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles. In 1958, it reentered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up.
1968 Cambodia admits that the Viet Cong use their country for sanctuary.
1969 China has announced a hydrogen bomb was recently tested in the Western region of the Chinese mainland and the country had completed its first underground nuclear explosion.
1972 Judge John Sirca imposes a gag order on the Watergate break-in case.
1976 In Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the ban on the death sentence in murder cases. This restores the legality of capital punishment, which had not been practiced since 1967. The first execution following this ruling was Gary Gilmore in 1977.
1987 1st “Scrub Sunday” of NFL football with replacement players
1992 Mozambique’s 16-year civil war ends with the Rome General Peace Accords.
1993 Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.
1993 Dozens of Somalis dragged an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. A videotape showed Michael Durant being taken prisoner by Somali militants.
2001 Authorities confirmed a tabloid editor in Florida had contracted anthrax. He died the next day.
2002 John Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban,” received a 20-year sentence.
2006 A group of Wiccans decided to sue the United States government over the right to place their religious symbol on graves in military cemeteries. The religion, Wicca, is recognized by the military but unlike other religions the followers are not allowed to have their symbols on gravestones.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
