October 24
October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years ) in the Gregorian Calendar , with 68 days remaining.
Events
69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum , forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian , defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius .
1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais , marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War .
1648 - The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War .
1795 - Partitions of Poland : The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided between Austria , Prussia and Russia
1812 - Napoleonic Wars : The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow .
1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express .
1917 - Battle of Caporetto starts on the Austro -Italian front of World War I
1929 - "Black Thursday " crash of the New York Stock Exchange .
1930 - A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa , the last President of the First Republic . Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia
1944 - Zuikaku Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed
1945 - Founding of the United Nations
1947 - Walt Disney testifies to the House Unamerican Activities Committee , naming Disney employees he believes to be communists .
1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
1955 - The body of Manolo Just , a probable bisexual , is found in the Mexico apartment of Mary Rogers, daughter of Will Rogers . Homicide is suspected, but never proven.
1956 - Soviet Union invades Hungary
1960 - An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union 's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the dead is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin , whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.
1964 - Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
1970 - Salvador Allende elected President of Chile
1973 - Yom Kippur War ends
1980 - Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
1989 - Televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison and a 500,000 USD fine for defrauding investors of 3.7 million USD.
1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet /asteroid mission
1998 - Tropical Storm Mitch reaches hurricane strength .
2002 - Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo , ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC .
2003 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight , bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close, at least for the time being.
Births
51 - Roman Emperor Domitian (d. 96 )
1632 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek , Dutch microbiologist (d. 1723 )
1788 - Sarah Hale , poet (d. 1879 )
1811 - Ferdinand Hiller , composer (d. 1885 )
1855 - James S. Sherman , Vice President of the United States (d.1912 )
1868 - Alexandra David-Néel , French explorer and writer (d. 1969 )
1887 - Victoria Eugenia , Queen of Spain (d. 1969 )
1891 - Rafael Molina-Trujillo , President of the Dominican Republic
1903 - Melvin Purvis , FBI chief (d. 1960 )
1904 - Moss Hart , dramatist (d. 1961 )
1909 - Bill Carr , American athlete (d. 1966 )
1915 - Tito Gobbi , Italian baritone (d. 1984 )
1915 - Bob Kane , cartoonist (d. 1998 )
1925 - Luciano Berio , Italian composer (d. 2003 )
1926 - Y. A. Tittle , American football star
1927 - Jean-Claude Pascal , French singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner (d.1992 )
1929 - George Crumb , American composer
1929 - Yordan Radichkov , Bulgarian writer
1930 - The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.), American singer (d. 1959 )
1930 - Sultan Ahmad Shah , King of Malaysia
1931 - Sofia Gubaidulina , composer
1936 - Bill Wyman , musician (the Rolling Stones )
1939 - F. Murray Abraham , Academy Award -winning actor
1947 - Kevin Kline , American Academy Award -winning actor
1948 - Kweisi Mfume , American civil rights activist, U.S. Congressman from Maryland
1960 - Ian Baker-Finch , golf champion
1961 - Mary Bono , U.S. Congresswoman from California
1966 - Roman Abramovich , Russian oligarch and oil magnate
1962 - B.D. Wong , actor
1972 - Pat Williams , American football player
1981 - Tila Nguyen , model
1985 - Wayne Rooney , English footballer
Deaths
996 - King Hugh Capet of France (b. 938 )
1655 - Pierre Gassendi , French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (b. 1592 )
1672 - John Webb , architect
1799 - Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf , composer
1821 - Elias Boudinot , American President of the Continental Congress
1852 - Daniel Webster , American lawyer and politician
1898 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes , French painter
1912 - Mykola Lysenko , composer
1944 - Louis Renault , automobile manufacturer, Nazi collaborator
1945 - Vidkun Quisling , Norwegian politician and famous traitor
1948 - Franz Lehár , composer
1957 - Christian Dior , an influential French fashion designer (b. 1905 )
1971 - Carl Ruggles , composer
1972 - Jackie Robinson , member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
1974 - David Oistrakh , Ukrainian violinist (b. 1908 )
1991 - Gene Roddenberry , creator of the Star Trek series
1997 - Don Messick , voice actor
2001 - Wolf Rüdiger Hess , German neo-Nazi
2002 - Winton M. Blount first United States Postmaster General to have served in a Presidential Cabinet
2002 - Adolph Green , American lyricist and playwright
2002 - Harry Hay , US gay rights activist and Mattachine Society founder
2004 - James Cardinal Hickey , archbishop of Washington, D.C.
Holidays and observations
External links
October 23 - October 25 - November 24 - September 24 - more historical anniversaries
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