Post by farmgal on Oct 18, 2012 22:30:02 GMT -5
October 18 is the 292nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 74 days remaining until the end of the year.
Days left until November 06, 2012 19
Countdown until Obama leaves Office
www.obamaclock.org/
U.S. Debt Clock: www.usdebtclock.org/
1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
1210 Pope Innocent III excommunicated German leader Otto IV.
1512 Martin Luther was awarded the doctor of theology degree from Wittenberg University.
1648 Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
1767 On this day in 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as areas that would eventually become the states of Delaware and West Virginia. The Penn and Calvert families had hired Mason and Dixon, English surveyors, to settle their dispute over the boundary between their two proprietary colonies, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
In 1760, tired of border violence between the colonies’ settlers, the British crown demanded that the parties involved hold to an agreement reached in 1732. As part of Maryland and Pennsylvania’s adherence to this royal command, Mason and Dixon were asked to determine the exact whereabouts of the boundary between the two colonies. Though both colonies claimed the area between the 39th and 40th parallel, what is now referred to as the Mason-Dixon line finally settled the boundary at a northern latitude of 39 degrees and 43 minutes. The line was marked using stones, with Pennsylvania’s crest on one side and Maryland’s on the other.
When Mason and Dixon began their endeavor in 1763, colonists were protesting the Proclamation of 1763, which was intended to prevent colonists from settling beyond the Appalachians and angering Native Americans. As the Britons concluded their survey in 1767, the colonies were engaged in a dispute with the Parliament over the Townshend Acts, which were designed to raise revenue for the empire by taxing common imports including tea.
Twenty years later, in late 1700s, the states south of the Mason-Dixon line would begin arguing for the perpetuation of slavery in the new United States while those north of line hoped to phase out the ownership of human chattel. This period, which historians consider the era of "The New Republic," drew to a close with the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which accepted the states south of the line as slave-holding and those north of the line as free. The compromise, along with those that followed it, eventually failed.
One hundred years after Mason and Dixon began their effort to chart the boundary, soldiers from opposite sides of the line let their blood stain the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the Southern states’ final and fatal attempt to breach the Mason-Dixon line during the Civil War. One hundred and one years after the Britons completed their line, the United States finally admitted men of any complexion born within the nation to the rights of citizenship with the ratification of the 14th Amendment.
1775 African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.
1776 In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, customer orders "cock tail"
1851 Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1863 General Sickles visits his troops. Union General Daniel Sickles returns to visit his old command, the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was recovering from the loss of his leg at Gettysburg, and the visit turned sour when the army's commander, General George Meade, informed Sickles that he would not be allowed to resume command until he completely recovered from his injury.
Sickles had a somewhat checkered past. As a Congressman in 1859, he killed his wife's lover across from the White House in Washington, D.C., but was acquitted when his lawyers employed a temporary insanity defense. He used his political leverage to secure a commission as a brigadier general when the war began, and his personal skills endeared him to his men. He rose quickly, and by early 1863 he was commander of the Third Corps.
At Gettysburg, Meade posted Sickles' troops at the left end of the Union line. The Army of the Potomac was arranged in a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line on the top of Cemetery Ridge and Culp's Hill. On the morning of July 2, Sickles noticed that just in front of his position was a section of high ground. In his estimation, this rise could be used by the Confederates to shell the Union position. Sickles expressed confusion over his orders and three times Meade explained that Sickles was to hold the end of Cemetery Ridge. Sickles was unhappy with the explanation, failing to understand that Meade was fighting a defensive battle. He moved his corps forward anyway, and the move nearly cost the Union the battle. A furious Meade ordered Sickles to withdraw his troops, but the Confederates were already attacking. After heavy losses, the Third Corps moved back to Cemetery Ridge.
Despite his wound, Sickles hurried back to Washington to conduct damage control. One of his first visitors was President Lincoln. Sickles was one of the few Democrats who welcomed Lincoln to Washington in 1861, and Lincoln remembered that gesture. Sickles gave his account of the battle and justified his move. He even claimed that his action prevented Meade from retreating and therefore prevented a Union defeat. This began a war of words between Meade and Sickles that lasted the rest of their lives. When the reports on the battle were filed that fall, Sickles did not fare well. Many, such as General Gouverneur K. Warren and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, blasted Sickles for his actions.
The hatred that Sickles developed for Meade after the Gettysburg incident peaked on October 18, when Meade made it clear that he had no intention of restoring Sickles to command. Sickles later testified in front of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War against Meade, but his own combat career was effectively over. He spent the next half-century defending his record, attacking Meade, and trying to shape the history of Gettysburg by continuing to promote his account of the battle before he died in 1914.
1867 U.S. takes possession of Alaska. On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiasticly expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden," among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson's own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal. Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska's Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America's oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated. The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means "great land." Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward's Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.
1867 The United States formally takes possession of Alaska from Russia. On this day in 1867, the American flag flew for the first time in Alaska, marking the formal transfer of this massive northern territory from Russia to the United States.
Separated from the far eastern edge of the Russian empire by only the narrow Bering Strait, the Russians had been the first Europeans to significantly explore and develop Alaska. During the early 19th century, the state-sponsored Russian-American Company established the settlement of Sitka and began a lucrative fur trade with the Native Americans. However, Russian settlement in Alaska remained small, never exceeding more than a few hundred people. By the 1860s, the Russian-American Company had become unprofitable. Faced with having to heavily subsidize the company if an active Russian presence in the territory was to be maintained, the tsar and his ministers chose instead to sell to the Americans.
Seeing the giant Alaska territory as a chance to cheaply expand the size of the nation, William H. Seward, President Andrew Johnson's secretary of state, moved to arrange the purchase of Alaska. Agreeing to pay a mere $7 million for some 591,000 square miles of land-a territory twice the size of Texas and equal to nearly a fifth of the continental United States-Seward secured the purchase of Alaska at the ridiculously low rate of less than 2¢ an acre.
Later myths to the contrary, most Americans recognized that Seward had made a smart deal with the Alaska Purchase. Still, a few ill-informed critics did not miss the opportunity to needle the Johnson administration by calling the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox," or joking that the administration had only bought the territory to create new political appointments like a "Polar Bear's Bureau" and a "Superintendent of Walruses." Johnson's opponents (who were trying to impeach him at the time) also succeeded in delaying approval of the $7 million appropriation. But after a year of squabbling, Congress approved the purchase, and Russia formally transferred control of the vast northern land to the United States. Within a few decades, Alaska would prove to be an amazing treasure trove of natural resources from gold to oil, proving Seward's wisdom and exposing the shortsightedness of those who had once poked fun at the purchase.
1868 Daniel March (1816–1909), a Congregational pastor in Philadelphia, was asked to speak at the Philadelphia Christian Association meeting on this date. Finding no suitable hymn for Isaiah 6:8 (his text), he wrote “Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling.”
www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/a/r/c/march_d.htm
1870 Sandblasting was patented by Benjamin Chew Tilghman (26 Oct 1821 - 1901). Compressed air forces sand as an abrasive material through the nozzle of a sandblasting gun. A popular myth holds that Tilghman, when a General in the army, had seen the effect of wind blown sand upon glass windows, in the desert. The sand has etched the glass where unprotected and revealed the contrast against parts that were covered by steel mesh. He has been called the "father of shotpeening." In 1866, he found sulphurous acid would dissolve the intercellular matter of wood, freeing the fibres for pulp, and became famous as the inventor of the sulphite process to make wood pulp for paper production.
1878 Edison made electricity available for household usage.
1892 The first long-distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was formally opened as Chicago Mayor Hempstead Washburn greeted his New York counterpart, Hugh J. Grant.
1898 U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico. Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island's one million inhabitants.
In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain's two principal possessions in the Caribbean. With little resistance and only seven American deaths, U.S. troops were able to secure the island by mid August. After the signing of an armistice with Spain, the island was turned over to the U.S forces on October 18. U.S. General John R. Brooke became military governor. In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico to the United States.
In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917 and considering a measure that would make English the island's official language. However, during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won widespread support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed. Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship. The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952.
Movements for Puerto Rican statehood, along with lesser movements for Puerto Rican independence, have won supporters on the island, but popular referendums in 1967 and 1993 demonstrated that the majority of Puerto Ricans still supported their special status as a U.S. commonwealth.
1906 - A hurricane struck South Florida drowning 124 persons stranded in the Florida Keys. (David Ludlum)
1910 - Northeasterly winds as high as 70 mph (from a hurricane moving northward up the Florida peninsula) carried water out of Tampa Bay and the Hillsboro River. The water level lowered to nine feet below mean low water. Forty ships were grounded. (The Weather Channel)
1915 Third Battle of the Isonzo. On this day in 1915, in the eastern sector of the Italian front in World War I, the Italians launch their third offensive of the year, known as the Third Battle of the Isonzo.
Located in present-day Slovenia, the 60-mile-long Isonzo River ran north to south just inside what was then the Austrian border with Italy, at the head of the Adriatic Sea. The river was flanked by mountains on either side and was prone to flooding, making the terrain especially ill-suited to offensive operations. Nonetheless, it became the most practical spot for Italian forces to attack their Austrian enemy, due to Austro-Hungarian dominance of most other sections of the border.
After the Italian entrance into World War I in late May 1915, Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna determined that his troops could most effectively strike in the eastern section of the Isonzo region, aiming to capture points on the line from Gorizia to Trieste. For this reason, he poured an immense amount of resources into this area, launching no fewer than 11 offensive operations against the Austrians from June 1915 to September 1917. Like the two attacks that preceded it, the Third Battle of the Isonzo, begun on October 18, 1915, proved disappointing for the Italians. Despite their numerical superiority—19 divisions of troops versus 11 Austrian divisions—Cadorna’s forces failed over two weeks of fighting to capture the two objectives of the attack, Mount Sabotino and Mount San Michele, suffering heavy casualties along the way. All the same, Cadorna waited just one week to begin his next offensive, the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo, effectively an extension of the third.
After the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo in August 1916, the Italians were finally able to establish control of positions at Gorizia, including a long-desired bridgehead across the river. Over the next year, Cadorna tried without much success to extend his army’s gains. In October 1917, however, a combined German-Austrian force inflicted one of the most crushing defeats of the war on the Italians in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto. In the wake of that battle, Cadorna was replaced by General Armando Diaz, as the Italian focus turned from offensive to defensive operations, with increased help from the other Allied powers. All in all, the Italians suffered some 600,000 casualties over the course of World War I—a full one-half of these came in the Isonzo region.
1925 The Grand Ole Opry opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
1929 Women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.
1930 - A big early season lake effect snowburst on the lee shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario produced 47 inches at Governeur NY and 48 inches just south of Buffalo. (David Ludlum)
1931 Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, dies in West Orange, New Jersey, at the age of 84.
Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison received little formal schooling, which was customary for most Americans at the time. He developed serious hearing problems at an early age, and this disability provided the motivation for many of his inventions. At age 16, he found work as a telegraph operator and soon was devoting much of his energy and natural ingenuity toward improving the telegraph system itself. By 1869, he was pursuing invention full-time and in 1876 moved into a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Edison's experiments were guided by his remarkable intuition, but he also took care to employ assistants who provided the mathematical and technical expertise he lacked. At Menlo Park, Edison continued his work on the telegraph, and in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions—the phonograph—while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the "Wizard of Menlo Park."
Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, it was just the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent lightbulb in 1879, and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world's first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to systematically investigate a given subject.
Perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world's first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electric world. He continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931.
1935 "I’m Getting Sentimental Over You" was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and orchestra
1936 Adolf Hitler announces the Four Year Economic Plan to the German people. The plan details the rebuilding of the German military from 1936 to 1940.
1942 Vice Admiral Halsey named new commander of the South Pacific. On this day in 1942, Vice. Adm. William F. Halsey replaces Vice Adm. Robert L. Ghormley as commander, South Pacific.
The man nicknamed "Bull" by the press began his military career as a destroyer commander during World War I. Halsey was made a captain at the age of 53, earned his naval aviator's wings, and was promoted to vice admiral in 1940. But it was the bombing of Pearl Harbor that would mark out his future for him. Halsey's task force was one of the few functioning battle groups left after the destruction of so much of the American fleet, placing him in the position of making the unpredictable and aggressive strategic decisions for which he would become renowned.
In 1942, he led surprise attacks on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands and supported the American reinforcement of troops on Samoa. It was his task force (a temporary organization of a fleet for a specific operation) that carried the 16 B-25 bombers for Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Tokyo in April 1942. By this time, Halsey's reputation for being where the action was had made him arguably the most famous American admiral of the war. And so it is ironic that he missed two major Naval engagements: the Battle of the Coral Sea (his fleet was not strategically positioned to participate) and the Battle of Midway (a severe case of dermatitis put him out of commission).
But by October 1942, Halsey was back just in time to be appointed commander of South Pacific operations by Admiral Nimitz, who wanted Vice Admiral Ghormley replaced. (Ghormley had suffered several defeats militarily and severe cases of indecision and anxiety personally.) Brilliant work in the capture of the Solomon Islands and New Guineas led to Halsey's promotion to full admiral. His career continued to strike awe in his admirers and terror in his enemies, as he succeeded in destroying the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, and commanding U.S. forces in the operations that led to the capture of Okinawa and the surrender of the Japanese there.
1944 Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.
1944 Adolf Hitler orders the public funeral procession of Nazi field Marshall Erwin Rommel, commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps.
1945 The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1949 Country songwriter Stuart Hamblen, 31, underwent a spiritual conversion. Author of the popular 1954 hit "This Old House," Hamblen later wrote such Christian favorites as "It Is No Secret What God Can Do," "How Big is God?" and "They That Wait Upon the Lord."
1950 Connie Mack retires as manager of the A's after 50 years
1954 Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
1954 The Week in Religion, a Sunday evening religious panel show, aired for the last time over Dumont television. First broadcast in March 1952, this ecumenical religious broadcast was divided into twenty-minute segments for Protestant, Catholic and Jewish news. The original hosts were Rabbi William S. Rosenbloom, Rev. Robbins Wolcott Barstow and Rev. Joseph N. Moody.
1955 Track & Field names Jesse Owens all-time track athlete
1955 A new atomic subparticle called a negative proton (antiproton) was discovered at U.C. Berkeley. The hunt for antimatter began in earnest in 1932, with the discovery of the positron, a particle with the mass of an electron and a positive charge. However, creating an antiproton would be far more difficult since it needs nearly 2,000 times the energy. In 1955, the most powerful "atom smasher" in the world, the Bevatron built at Berkeley could provide the required energy. Detection was accomplished with a maze of magnets and electronic counters through which only antiprotons could pass. After several hours of bombarding copper with protons accelerated to 6.2 billion electron volts of energy, the scientists counted a total of 60 antiprotons.
1955 Emperor Bao Dai attempts to dismiss Diem. A communiquÉ from Emperor Bao Dai's office in Paris announces that he has dismissed Ngo Dinh Diem from the premiership and annulled his powers.
In a message to the Vietnamese people Bao Dai prophetically declared, "police methods and personal dictatorship must be brought to an end, and I can no longer continue to lend my name and my authority to a man who will drag you into ruin, famine and war." Unfortunately, Diem suppressed the message and it was never publicly transmitted to the people.
Bao Dai had appointed Diem prime minister in June 1954, but soon decided that he was the wrong man to lead South Vietnam. However, by late 1955, Diem was firmly entrenched, having retained control of the government through a questionable referendum. Emperor Bao Dai retired and remained in France. From the beginning, Communists and other rivals caused trouble for Diem's regime. His refusal to institute necessary political reforms and the rising unrest among the people, especially the Buddhists, eventually led to a coup in November 1963, in which he and his brother were murdered.
1958 "It's All In The Game" by Tommy Edwards topped the charts
1962 JFK records his impressions of secret meetings. On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy records his impression of the day’s meetings regarding the recently discovered presence of Soviet ballistic missiles on the island of Cuba. The ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis brought America to the brink of nuclear war.
Beginning on October 15, U.S. spy planes captured photographic evidence that the Soviet Union was installing missile sites on Cuba. On October 18, Kennedy, in a tired and methodical voice, after a long day of high-level secret meetings, recorded his recollection of each of his advisor’s opinions on the issue. Kennedy had first suggested making a direct military strike against Cuba, but several of his advisors, including his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, reminded the president that such a strike would not only result in the deaths of thousands of innocent Cubans, but would probably incite the Russians to retaliate by bombing democratic West Berlin. By the end of the day, Kennedy had decided to abandon the idea of a military strike, and focus instead on a naval blockade of Cuba.
The blockade began October 21 and, the next day, Kennedy delivered a public address alerting Americans to the situation in Cuba and calling on Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to remove the missiles or face retaliation by the United States. Khrushchev responded by sending more ships—possibly carrying military cargo—toward Cuba and by allowing construction at the sites to continue. Over the following six days, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of global nuclear war while the two leaders engaged in tense negotiations via telegram and letter.
By October 28, Kennedy and Khrushchev had reached a settlement and people on both sides of the conflict breathed a collective but wary sigh of relief. The Cuban missile sites were dismantled and, in return, Kennedy agreed to close U.S. missile sites in Turkey.
1964 The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes for its first season after a six-month run.
1968 Bob Beamon sets a world record of 8.90 m in the long jump at the Mexico City games.
1969 Cyclamates were banned in the U.S. Cyclamate is a non-caloric sweetener discovered in 1937. It has been widely used as a tabletop sweetener, in sugar-free beverages, in baked goods and other low-calorie foods, particularly in combination with saccharin. The ban was based on concern raised by one experiment showing bladder tumors appeared in laboratory rats fed large doses of cyclamate. Following new experiments, in June 1985, the National Academy of Sciences affirmed the FDA's Cancer Assessment Committee's latest conclusion: "the totality of the evidence from studies in animals does not indicate that cyclamate or its major metabolite cyclohexylamine is carcinogenic by itself." Cyclamate is approved for use in more than 50 countries.
1987 - Thunderstorms in northeastern Texas produced golf ball size hail at Atlanta, along with wind gusts to 86 mph, and four inches of rain. Damage from the storm was estimated at more than a million dollars. Sunny and mild weather continued across much of the rest of the nation. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988 - Eight cities in the southwestern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Red Bluff CA with a reading of 96 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
1989 The Galileo space orbiter was released from the STS 34 flight of the Atlantis orbiter. Then the orbiter's inertial upper stage rocket pushed it into a course through the inner solar system. The craft gained speed from gravity assists in encounters with Venus and Earth before heading outward to Jupiter. During its six year journey to Jupiter, Galileo's instruments made interplanetary studies, using its dust detector, magnetometer, and various plasma and particles detectors. It also made close-up studies of two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida in the asteroid belt. The Galileo orbiter's primary mission was to study Jupiter, its satellites, and its magnetosphere for two years. It released an atmospheric probe into Jupiter's atmosphere on 7 Dec 1995.
1989 - Unseasonably cold air began to invade the central and eastern U.S. Light snow fell across northern Maine, and snow was also reported in the Great Lakes Region, including the Chicago area. Bismarck ND was the cold spot in the nation with a low of 9 degrees above zero. Five cities in Florida reported record high readings for the date, as temperatures warmed above 80 degrees. Miami FL reported a record high of 90 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
2005 - With the formation of Hurricane Wilma, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season tied the record for the most named storms for any season (21 storms in 1933), and also tied the record for the most hurricanes in a single season (12 in 1969). Wilma peaked at category-5 intensity on the 19th, with a minimum central pressure falling to 882 millibars (26.05 inches of mercury), the lowest pressure ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. Wilma also became the most rapidly-intensifying storm on record, with a maximum-sustained surface wind speed increase of 105 mph in a 24-hour period.
Births
1595 Edward Winslow (d 1655) English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644. His testimony in Mourt's Relation is one of only two primary sources of the "first thanksgiving" in existence.
1662 Matthew Henry, at Flintshire, Wales, English non-conformist Presbyterian Bible commentator, (d. 22 June 1714).
1679 Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem Witch Trials (d. 1716)
1787 Robert Livingston Stevens (d 1856) U.S. engineer and ship designer who invented the inverted-T railroad rail and the railroad spike. He tested the first steamboat to use screw propellers, invented and built by his father, John Stevens. Robert designed the first concave waterlines on a steamboat (1808), the first supporting iron rods for projecting guard beams on steamboats (1815), the first skeleton walking beams for ferries (1822), the spring pile ferry slip (1822), the placement of boilers on guards outside the paddle wheels of ferries (1822), the hog frame or truss for stiffening ferry boats longitudinally (1827), spring steel bearings of paddle wheel shafts (1828), improved packing for pistons (1840), and was first to successfully burn anthracite coal in a cupola furnace (1818).
1824 Leopold Moczygemba, a Polish-born Catholic priest chiefly recognized as the founder of the first permanent Polish settlement in the United States at Panna Maria, Texas, (d. 23 Feb 1891).
1865 Logan Pearsall Smith (d 1946) American-born essayist and critic.
1877 Florence Dahl Walrath humanitarian, founded Cradle society
1877 William Hunter (b. 26 May 1811), American Methodist clergyman and hymnist.
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/h/u/hunter_w.htm
1878 James Truslow Adams (d 1949) American writer and historian. He was not related to the famous Adams family (though he wrote a book about the family in 1930). He was not an academic, but a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history, especially New England. and his three volume history of New England is well regarded by scholars.
1894 Harold Lenoir Davis (October 18, 1894–October 31, 1960), also known as H. L. Davis, American novelist and poet. A native of Oregon, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Honey in the Horn, the only Pulitzer given to a native Oregonian. Later living in California and Texas, he also wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post.
1897 Isabel Briggs Myers (d 1980) American psychological theorist. She was co-creator, with her mother, of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
1904 Abbott Joseph Liebling (d 1963) American journalist who was closely associated with The New Yorker from 1935 until his death.
1918 Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. (d 1999) American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", and for his role as Dr. Joe Early, in the 1970s US TV series Emergency!, which starred his wife Julie London and his best friend Robert Fuller.
1921 Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001. A leading conservative, he helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, aiding Ronald Reagan quest for the White House and helping many local and regional candidates.
1926 Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music
1927 George Campbell Scott (d 1999) American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his bravura stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and an early flamboyant film performance as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He has also widely been known for his rather gravelly voice.
1930 Frank Charles Carlucci III former government official in the United States, associated with the Republican Party. He was United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 until 1989.
1934 Charles Rozell "Chuck" Swindoll evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded Insight for Living, currently headquartered in Plano, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2,000 stations around the world in 15 languages. He is currently the senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, in Frisco, Texas.
1935 Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. (d 2006) American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).
1939 Michael Keller Ditka, Jr. Carnegie, Pennsylvania, also known as "Iron Mike", former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for three years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and a head coach. Ditka was the only individual to participate in both of the last two Chicago Bears' championships, as a player in 1963 and as head coach in 1985.
1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
1956 Martina Navratilova Czech American and former Czechoslovak tennis player and a former World No. 1. Billie Jean King said about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."
1990 Bristol Palin, American political figure
Deaths
707 Pope John VII died.
1877 William Hunter (b. 26 May 1811), American Methodist clergyman and hymnist.
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/h/u/hunter_w.htm
1892 William Williams Chapman (b 1808) American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of Representatives. He later immigrated to the Oregon Country, where he served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature.
1918 Charles Crozat Converse, American lawyer and sacred music composer, wrote music "What a Friend We Have in Jesus. (b. 7 Oct 1834).
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/o/n/converse_cc.htm
1931 Thomas Alva Edison (b 1847) Inventor, died in West Orange, NJ. He invented the first phonograph (1877) and the prototype of the practical incandescent electric light bulb (1879). His many inventions led to his being internationally known as "the wizard of Menlo Park", from the name of his first laboratory. By the late 1880s he was contributing to the development of motion pictures. By 1912 he was experimenting with talking pictures. His many inventions include a storage battery, a dictaphone, and a mimeograph. Meanwhile, he had become interested in the development of a system for widespread distribution of electric power from central generating stations. He held over 1,000 patents.In 1962 his second laboratory and home in West Orange, NJ, would be designated a National Historic Site.
1966 Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant (Kmart) (b. 1867)
1973 Margaret Caroline Anderson (b 1886) American founder, editor and publisher of the art and literary magazine The Little Review, which published a collection of modern American, English and Irish writers between 1914 and 1929. The periodical is most noted for introducing many prominent American and British writers of the 20th century, such as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in the United States, and publishing the first few chapters of James Joyce's then-unpublished novel, Ulysses.
1973 Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. (b 1913), better known as Walt Kelly, American animator and cartoonist, best known for the classic comic strip, Pogo. He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1951 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their Silver T-Square Award in 1972, which is given to persons having "demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession."
1973 Leo Strauss (b 1899) political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States. He spent most of his career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he taught several generations of students and published fifteen books.
1982 Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (b. 1885)
2000 Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)
2000 Gwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon (d 1925) one of Broadway's biggest stars during its "golden" era and beyond. She was an actress and dancer who won four Tony awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was a critically acclaimed dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s. She is also strongly identified with her second husband, director–choreographer Bob Fosse, remembered as the dancer–collaborator–muse for whom he choreographed much of his work and as the guardian of his legacy after his death.
2007 Vincent Michael DeDomenico, Sr. (September 29, 1915 – October 18, 2007) was an American entrepreneur, one of the inventors of Rice-A-Roni, and a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Train.
2008 Dee Dee Warwick (b 1945) African-American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey as Delia Mae Warrick, she was the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and cousin of Whitney Houston.
[uHolidays and observances[/u
Alaska Day (Alaska)
Christian Feast Day:
Justus of Beauvais
Luke the Evangelist
October 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Saints
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke (1st century)
Hieromartyr Cyriacus (Kyriakos), Bishop of Jerusalem (ca.360-363)
Martyr Marinus the Elder of Anazarbus (4th century)
Saint Julian the Hermit of Mesopotamia (4th century)
Saint Didymus the Blind of Mesopotamia (4th century)
Saint Mnason of Cyprus, bishop (1st century)
St. Joseph, abbot of Volokolamsk (Volotsk) (1515)
Saint David of Serpukhov, abbot (1520)
Martyrs Gabriel and Cirmidol of Egypt (1522)
Saints Symeon, Theodore, and Euphrosynus, monks who found the Icon of the Theotokos in the Great Cave of the Peloponnesus (9th century)
Saint Peter of Montenegro, metropolitan (1830)
Other Commemorations
Slaying of Brother José Muñoz-Cortes (in monasticism Monk Ambrose), guardian of the myrrh-streaming “Montreal” Iveron Icon of the Theotokos (1997)
daysuntil.com/Election-Day/index.html
www.amug.org/~jpaul/oct18.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_18
www.scopesys.com/cgi-bin/today2.cgi
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-takes-possession-of-alaska
www.weatherforyou.com/cgi-bin/weather_history/today2S.pl
www.todayinsci.com/10/10_18.htm
www.hymntime.com/tch/index.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_18_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics)
www.lutheranhistory.org/history/tih1018.htm
There are 74 days remaining until the end of the year.
Days left until November 06, 2012 19
Countdown until Obama leaves Office
www.obamaclock.org/
U.S. Debt Clock: www.usdebtclock.org/
1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
1210 Pope Innocent III excommunicated German leader Otto IV.
1512 Martin Luther was awarded the doctor of theology degree from Wittenberg University.
1648 Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
1767 On this day in 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as areas that would eventually become the states of Delaware and West Virginia. The Penn and Calvert families had hired Mason and Dixon, English surveyors, to settle their dispute over the boundary between their two proprietary colonies, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
In 1760, tired of border violence between the colonies’ settlers, the British crown demanded that the parties involved hold to an agreement reached in 1732. As part of Maryland and Pennsylvania’s adherence to this royal command, Mason and Dixon were asked to determine the exact whereabouts of the boundary between the two colonies. Though both colonies claimed the area between the 39th and 40th parallel, what is now referred to as the Mason-Dixon line finally settled the boundary at a northern latitude of 39 degrees and 43 minutes. The line was marked using stones, with Pennsylvania’s crest on one side and Maryland’s on the other.
When Mason and Dixon began their endeavor in 1763, colonists were protesting the Proclamation of 1763, which was intended to prevent colonists from settling beyond the Appalachians and angering Native Americans. As the Britons concluded their survey in 1767, the colonies were engaged in a dispute with the Parliament over the Townshend Acts, which were designed to raise revenue for the empire by taxing common imports including tea.
Twenty years later, in late 1700s, the states south of the Mason-Dixon line would begin arguing for the perpetuation of slavery in the new United States while those north of line hoped to phase out the ownership of human chattel. This period, which historians consider the era of "The New Republic," drew to a close with the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which accepted the states south of the line as slave-holding and those north of the line as free. The compromise, along with those that followed it, eventually failed.
One hundred years after Mason and Dixon began their effort to chart the boundary, soldiers from opposite sides of the line let their blood stain the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the Southern states’ final and fatal attempt to breach the Mason-Dixon line during the Civil War. One hundred and one years after the Britons completed their line, the United States finally admitted men of any complexion born within the nation to the rights of citizenship with the ratification of the 14th Amendment.
1775 African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.
1776 In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, customer orders "cock tail"
1851 Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1863 General Sickles visits his troops. Union General Daniel Sickles returns to visit his old command, the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was recovering from the loss of his leg at Gettysburg, and the visit turned sour when the army's commander, General George Meade, informed Sickles that he would not be allowed to resume command until he completely recovered from his injury.
Sickles had a somewhat checkered past. As a Congressman in 1859, he killed his wife's lover across from the White House in Washington, D.C., but was acquitted when his lawyers employed a temporary insanity defense. He used his political leverage to secure a commission as a brigadier general when the war began, and his personal skills endeared him to his men. He rose quickly, and by early 1863 he was commander of the Third Corps.
At Gettysburg, Meade posted Sickles' troops at the left end of the Union line. The Army of the Potomac was arranged in a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line on the top of Cemetery Ridge and Culp's Hill. On the morning of July 2, Sickles noticed that just in front of his position was a section of high ground. In his estimation, this rise could be used by the Confederates to shell the Union position. Sickles expressed confusion over his orders and three times Meade explained that Sickles was to hold the end of Cemetery Ridge. Sickles was unhappy with the explanation, failing to understand that Meade was fighting a defensive battle. He moved his corps forward anyway, and the move nearly cost the Union the battle. A furious Meade ordered Sickles to withdraw his troops, but the Confederates were already attacking. After heavy losses, the Third Corps moved back to Cemetery Ridge.
Despite his wound, Sickles hurried back to Washington to conduct damage control. One of his first visitors was President Lincoln. Sickles was one of the few Democrats who welcomed Lincoln to Washington in 1861, and Lincoln remembered that gesture. Sickles gave his account of the battle and justified his move. He even claimed that his action prevented Meade from retreating and therefore prevented a Union defeat. This began a war of words between Meade and Sickles that lasted the rest of their lives. When the reports on the battle were filed that fall, Sickles did not fare well. Many, such as General Gouverneur K. Warren and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, blasted Sickles for his actions.
The hatred that Sickles developed for Meade after the Gettysburg incident peaked on October 18, when Meade made it clear that he had no intention of restoring Sickles to command. Sickles later testified in front of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War against Meade, but his own combat career was effectively over. He spent the next half-century defending his record, attacking Meade, and trying to shape the history of Gettysburg by continuing to promote his account of the battle before he died in 1914.
1867 U.S. takes possession of Alaska. On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiasticly expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden," among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson's own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal. Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska's Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America's oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated. The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means "great land." Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward's Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.
1867 The United States formally takes possession of Alaska from Russia. On this day in 1867, the American flag flew for the first time in Alaska, marking the formal transfer of this massive northern territory from Russia to the United States.
Separated from the far eastern edge of the Russian empire by only the narrow Bering Strait, the Russians had been the first Europeans to significantly explore and develop Alaska. During the early 19th century, the state-sponsored Russian-American Company established the settlement of Sitka and began a lucrative fur trade with the Native Americans. However, Russian settlement in Alaska remained small, never exceeding more than a few hundred people. By the 1860s, the Russian-American Company had become unprofitable. Faced with having to heavily subsidize the company if an active Russian presence in the territory was to be maintained, the tsar and his ministers chose instead to sell to the Americans.
Seeing the giant Alaska territory as a chance to cheaply expand the size of the nation, William H. Seward, President Andrew Johnson's secretary of state, moved to arrange the purchase of Alaska. Agreeing to pay a mere $7 million for some 591,000 square miles of land-a territory twice the size of Texas and equal to nearly a fifth of the continental United States-Seward secured the purchase of Alaska at the ridiculously low rate of less than 2¢ an acre.
Later myths to the contrary, most Americans recognized that Seward had made a smart deal with the Alaska Purchase. Still, a few ill-informed critics did not miss the opportunity to needle the Johnson administration by calling the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox," or joking that the administration had only bought the territory to create new political appointments like a "Polar Bear's Bureau" and a "Superintendent of Walruses." Johnson's opponents (who were trying to impeach him at the time) also succeeded in delaying approval of the $7 million appropriation. But after a year of squabbling, Congress approved the purchase, and Russia formally transferred control of the vast northern land to the United States. Within a few decades, Alaska would prove to be an amazing treasure trove of natural resources from gold to oil, proving Seward's wisdom and exposing the shortsightedness of those who had once poked fun at the purchase.
1868 Daniel March (1816–1909), a Congregational pastor in Philadelphia, was asked to speak at the Philadelphia Christian Association meeting on this date. Finding no suitable hymn for Isaiah 6:8 (his text), he wrote “Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling.”
www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/a/r/c/march_d.htm
1870 Sandblasting was patented by Benjamin Chew Tilghman (26 Oct 1821 - 1901). Compressed air forces sand as an abrasive material through the nozzle of a sandblasting gun. A popular myth holds that Tilghman, when a General in the army, had seen the effect of wind blown sand upon glass windows, in the desert. The sand has etched the glass where unprotected and revealed the contrast against parts that were covered by steel mesh. He has been called the "father of shotpeening." In 1866, he found sulphurous acid would dissolve the intercellular matter of wood, freeing the fibres for pulp, and became famous as the inventor of the sulphite process to make wood pulp for paper production.
1878 Edison made electricity available for household usage.
1892 The first long-distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was formally opened as Chicago Mayor Hempstead Washburn greeted his New York counterpart, Hugh J. Grant.
1898 U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico. Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island's one million inhabitants.
In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain's two principal possessions in the Caribbean. With little resistance and only seven American deaths, U.S. troops were able to secure the island by mid August. After the signing of an armistice with Spain, the island was turned over to the U.S forces on October 18. U.S. General John R. Brooke became military governor. In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico to the United States.
In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917 and considering a measure that would make English the island's official language. However, during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won widespread support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed. Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship. The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952.
Movements for Puerto Rican statehood, along with lesser movements for Puerto Rican independence, have won supporters on the island, but popular referendums in 1967 and 1993 demonstrated that the majority of Puerto Ricans still supported their special status as a U.S. commonwealth.
1906 - A hurricane struck South Florida drowning 124 persons stranded in the Florida Keys. (David Ludlum)
1910 - Northeasterly winds as high as 70 mph (from a hurricane moving northward up the Florida peninsula) carried water out of Tampa Bay and the Hillsboro River. The water level lowered to nine feet below mean low water. Forty ships were grounded. (The Weather Channel)
1915 Third Battle of the Isonzo. On this day in 1915, in the eastern sector of the Italian front in World War I, the Italians launch their third offensive of the year, known as the Third Battle of the Isonzo.
Located in present-day Slovenia, the 60-mile-long Isonzo River ran north to south just inside what was then the Austrian border with Italy, at the head of the Adriatic Sea. The river was flanked by mountains on either side and was prone to flooding, making the terrain especially ill-suited to offensive operations. Nonetheless, it became the most practical spot for Italian forces to attack their Austrian enemy, due to Austro-Hungarian dominance of most other sections of the border.
After the Italian entrance into World War I in late May 1915, Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna determined that his troops could most effectively strike in the eastern section of the Isonzo region, aiming to capture points on the line from Gorizia to Trieste. For this reason, he poured an immense amount of resources into this area, launching no fewer than 11 offensive operations against the Austrians from June 1915 to September 1917. Like the two attacks that preceded it, the Third Battle of the Isonzo, begun on October 18, 1915, proved disappointing for the Italians. Despite their numerical superiority—19 divisions of troops versus 11 Austrian divisions—Cadorna’s forces failed over two weeks of fighting to capture the two objectives of the attack, Mount Sabotino and Mount San Michele, suffering heavy casualties along the way. All the same, Cadorna waited just one week to begin his next offensive, the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo, effectively an extension of the third.
After the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo in August 1916, the Italians were finally able to establish control of positions at Gorizia, including a long-desired bridgehead across the river. Over the next year, Cadorna tried without much success to extend his army’s gains. In October 1917, however, a combined German-Austrian force inflicted one of the most crushing defeats of the war on the Italians in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto. In the wake of that battle, Cadorna was replaced by General Armando Diaz, as the Italian focus turned from offensive to defensive operations, with increased help from the other Allied powers. All in all, the Italians suffered some 600,000 casualties over the course of World War I—a full one-half of these came in the Isonzo region.
1925 The Grand Ole Opry opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
1929 Women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.
1930 - A big early season lake effect snowburst on the lee shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario produced 47 inches at Governeur NY and 48 inches just south of Buffalo. (David Ludlum)
1931 Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, dies in West Orange, New Jersey, at the age of 84.
Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison received little formal schooling, which was customary for most Americans at the time. He developed serious hearing problems at an early age, and this disability provided the motivation for many of his inventions. At age 16, he found work as a telegraph operator and soon was devoting much of his energy and natural ingenuity toward improving the telegraph system itself. By 1869, he was pursuing invention full-time and in 1876 moved into a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Edison's experiments were guided by his remarkable intuition, but he also took care to employ assistants who provided the mathematical and technical expertise he lacked. At Menlo Park, Edison continued his work on the telegraph, and in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions—the phonograph—while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the "Wizard of Menlo Park."
Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, it was just the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent lightbulb in 1879, and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world's first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to systematically investigate a given subject.
Perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world's first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electric world. He continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931.
1935 "I’m Getting Sentimental Over You" was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and orchestra
1936 Adolf Hitler announces the Four Year Economic Plan to the German people. The plan details the rebuilding of the German military from 1936 to 1940.
1942 Vice Admiral Halsey named new commander of the South Pacific. On this day in 1942, Vice. Adm. William F. Halsey replaces Vice Adm. Robert L. Ghormley as commander, South Pacific.
The man nicknamed "Bull" by the press began his military career as a destroyer commander during World War I. Halsey was made a captain at the age of 53, earned his naval aviator's wings, and was promoted to vice admiral in 1940. But it was the bombing of Pearl Harbor that would mark out his future for him. Halsey's task force was one of the few functioning battle groups left after the destruction of so much of the American fleet, placing him in the position of making the unpredictable and aggressive strategic decisions for which he would become renowned.
In 1942, he led surprise attacks on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands and supported the American reinforcement of troops on Samoa. It was his task force (a temporary organization of a fleet for a specific operation) that carried the 16 B-25 bombers for Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Tokyo in April 1942. By this time, Halsey's reputation for being where the action was had made him arguably the most famous American admiral of the war. And so it is ironic that he missed two major Naval engagements: the Battle of the Coral Sea (his fleet was not strategically positioned to participate) and the Battle of Midway (a severe case of dermatitis put him out of commission).
But by October 1942, Halsey was back just in time to be appointed commander of South Pacific operations by Admiral Nimitz, who wanted Vice Admiral Ghormley replaced. (Ghormley had suffered several defeats militarily and severe cases of indecision and anxiety personally.) Brilliant work in the capture of the Solomon Islands and New Guineas led to Halsey's promotion to full admiral. His career continued to strike awe in his admirers and terror in his enemies, as he succeeded in destroying the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, and commanding U.S. forces in the operations that led to the capture of Okinawa and the surrender of the Japanese there.
1944 Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.
1944 Adolf Hitler orders the public funeral procession of Nazi field Marshall Erwin Rommel, commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps.
1945 The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1949 Country songwriter Stuart Hamblen, 31, underwent a spiritual conversion. Author of the popular 1954 hit "This Old House," Hamblen later wrote such Christian favorites as "It Is No Secret What God Can Do," "How Big is God?" and "They That Wait Upon the Lord."
1950 Connie Mack retires as manager of the A's after 50 years
1954 Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
1954 The Week in Religion, a Sunday evening religious panel show, aired for the last time over Dumont television. First broadcast in March 1952, this ecumenical religious broadcast was divided into twenty-minute segments for Protestant, Catholic and Jewish news. The original hosts were Rabbi William S. Rosenbloom, Rev. Robbins Wolcott Barstow and Rev. Joseph N. Moody.
1955 Track & Field names Jesse Owens all-time track athlete
1955 A new atomic subparticle called a negative proton (antiproton) was discovered at U.C. Berkeley. The hunt for antimatter began in earnest in 1932, with the discovery of the positron, a particle with the mass of an electron and a positive charge. However, creating an antiproton would be far more difficult since it needs nearly 2,000 times the energy. In 1955, the most powerful "atom smasher" in the world, the Bevatron built at Berkeley could provide the required energy. Detection was accomplished with a maze of magnets and electronic counters through which only antiprotons could pass. After several hours of bombarding copper with protons accelerated to 6.2 billion electron volts of energy, the scientists counted a total of 60 antiprotons.
1955 Emperor Bao Dai attempts to dismiss Diem. A communiquÉ from Emperor Bao Dai's office in Paris announces that he has dismissed Ngo Dinh Diem from the premiership and annulled his powers.
In a message to the Vietnamese people Bao Dai prophetically declared, "police methods and personal dictatorship must be brought to an end, and I can no longer continue to lend my name and my authority to a man who will drag you into ruin, famine and war." Unfortunately, Diem suppressed the message and it was never publicly transmitted to the people.
Bao Dai had appointed Diem prime minister in June 1954, but soon decided that he was the wrong man to lead South Vietnam. However, by late 1955, Diem was firmly entrenched, having retained control of the government through a questionable referendum. Emperor Bao Dai retired and remained in France. From the beginning, Communists and other rivals caused trouble for Diem's regime. His refusal to institute necessary political reforms and the rising unrest among the people, especially the Buddhists, eventually led to a coup in November 1963, in which he and his brother were murdered.
1958 "It's All In The Game" by Tommy Edwards topped the charts
1962 JFK records his impressions of secret meetings. On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy records his impression of the day’s meetings regarding the recently discovered presence of Soviet ballistic missiles on the island of Cuba. The ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis brought America to the brink of nuclear war.
Beginning on October 15, U.S. spy planes captured photographic evidence that the Soviet Union was installing missile sites on Cuba. On October 18, Kennedy, in a tired and methodical voice, after a long day of high-level secret meetings, recorded his recollection of each of his advisor’s opinions on the issue. Kennedy had first suggested making a direct military strike against Cuba, but several of his advisors, including his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, reminded the president that such a strike would not only result in the deaths of thousands of innocent Cubans, but would probably incite the Russians to retaliate by bombing democratic West Berlin. By the end of the day, Kennedy had decided to abandon the idea of a military strike, and focus instead on a naval blockade of Cuba.
The blockade began October 21 and, the next day, Kennedy delivered a public address alerting Americans to the situation in Cuba and calling on Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to remove the missiles or face retaliation by the United States. Khrushchev responded by sending more ships—possibly carrying military cargo—toward Cuba and by allowing construction at the sites to continue. Over the following six days, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of global nuclear war while the two leaders engaged in tense negotiations via telegram and letter.
By October 28, Kennedy and Khrushchev had reached a settlement and people on both sides of the conflict breathed a collective but wary sigh of relief. The Cuban missile sites were dismantled and, in return, Kennedy agreed to close U.S. missile sites in Turkey.
1964 The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes for its first season after a six-month run.
1968 Bob Beamon sets a world record of 8.90 m in the long jump at the Mexico City games.
1969 Cyclamates were banned in the U.S. Cyclamate is a non-caloric sweetener discovered in 1937. It has been widely used as a tabletop sweetener, in sugar-free beverages, in baked goods and other low-calorie foods, particularly in combination with saccharin. The ban was based on concern raised by one experiment showing bladder tumors appeared in laboratory rats fed large doses of cyclamate. Following new experiments, in June 1985, the National Academy of Sciences affirmed the FDA's Cancer Assessment Committee's latest conclusion: "the totality of the evidence from studies in animals does not indicate that cyclamate or its major metabolite cyclohexylamine is carcinogenic by itself." Cyclamate is approved for use in more than 50 countries.
1987 - Thunderstorms in northeastern Texas produced golf ball size hail at Atlanta, along with wind gusts to 86 mph, and four inches of rain. Damage from the storm was estimated at more than a million dollars. Sunny and mild weather continued across much of the rest of the nation. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988 - Eight cities in the southwestern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Red Bluff CA with a reading of 96 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
1989 The Galileo space orbiter was released from the STS 34 flight of the Atlantis orbiter. Then the orbiter's inertial upper stage rocket pushed it into a course through the inner solar system. The craft gained speed from gravity assists in encounters with Venus and Earth before heading outward to Jupiter. During its six year journey to Jupiter, Galileo's instruments made interplanetary studies, using its dust detector, magnetometer, and various plasma and particles detectors. It also made close-up studies of two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida in the asteroid belt. The Galileo orbiter's primary mission was to study Jupiter, its satellites, and its magnetosphere for two years. It released an atmospheric probe into Jupiter's atmosphere on 7 Dec 1995.
1989 - Unseasonably cold air began to invade the central and eastern U.S. Light snow fell across northern Maine, and snow was also reported in the Great Lakes Region, including the Chicago area. Bismarck ND was the cold spot in the nation with a low of 9 degrees above zero. Five cities in Florida reported record high readings for the date, as temperatures warmed above 80 degrees. Miami FL reported a record high of 90 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
2005 - With the formation of Hurricane Wilma, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season tied the record for the most named storms for any season (21 storms in 1933), and also tied the record for the most hurricanes in a single season (12 in 1969). Wilma peaked at category-5 intensity on the 19th, with a minimum central pressure falling to 882 millibars (26.05 inches of mercury), the lowest pressure ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. Wilma also became the most rapidly-intensifying storm on record, with a maximum-sustained surface wind speed increase of 105 mph in a 24-hour period.
Births
1595 Edward Winslow (d 1655) English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644. His testimony in Mourt's Relation is one of only two primary sources of the "first thanksgiving" in existence.
1662 Matthew Henry, at Flintshire, Wales, English non-conformist Presbyterian Bible commentator, (d. 22 June 1714).
1679 Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem Witch Trials (d. 1716)
1787 Robert Livingston Stevens (d 1856) U.S. engineer and ship designer who invented the inverted-T railroad rail and the railroad spike. He tested the first steamboat to use screw propellers, invented and built by his father, John Stevens. Robert designed the first concave waterlines on a steamboat (1808), the first supporting iron rods for projecting guard beams on steamboats (1815), the first skeleton walking beams for ferries (1822), the spring pile ferry slip (1822), the placement of boilers on guards outside the paddle wheels of ferries (1822), the hog frame or truss for stiffening ferry boats longitudinally (1827), spring steel bearings of paddle wheel shafts (1828), improved packing for pistons (1840), and was first to successfully burn anthracite coal in a cupola furnace (1818).
1824 Leopold Moczygemba, a Polish-born Catholic priest chiefly recognized as the founder of the first permanent Polish settlement in the United States at Panna Maria, Texas, (d. 23 Feb 1891).
1865 Logan Pearsall Smith (d 1946) American-born essayist and critic.
1877 Florence Dahl Walrath humanitarian, founded Cradle society
1877 William Hunter (b. 26 May 1811), American Methodist clergyman and hymnist.
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/h/u/hunter_w.htm
1878 James Truslow Adams (d 1949) American writer and historian. He was not related to the famous Adams family (though he wrote a book about the family in 1930). He was not an academic, but a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history, especially New England. and his three volume history of New England is well regarded by scholars.
1894 Harold Lenoir Davis (October 18, 1894–October 31, 1960), also known as H. L. Davis, American novelist and poet. A native of Oregon, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Honey in the Horn, the only Pulitzer given to a native Oregonian. Later living in California and Texas, he also wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post.
1897 Isabel Briggs Myers (d 1980) American psychological theorist. She was co-creator, with her mother, of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
1904 Abbott Joseph Liebling (d 1963) American journalist who was closely associated with The New Yorker from 1935 until his death.
1918 Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. (d 1999) American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", and for his role as Dr. Joe Early, in the 1970s US TV series Emergency!, which starred his wife Julie London and his best friend Robert Fuller.
1921 Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001. A leading conservative, he helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, aiding Ronald Reagan quest for the White House and helping many local and regional candidates.
1926 Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music
1927 George Campbell Scott (d 1999) American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his bravura stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and an early flamboyant film performance as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He has also widely been known for his rather gravelly voice.
1930 Frank Charles Carlucci III former government official in the United States, associated with the Republican Party. He was United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 until 1989.
1934 Charles Rozell "Chuck" Swindoll evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded Insight for Living, currently headquartered in Plano, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2,000 stations around the world in 15 languages. He is currently the senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, in Frisco, Texas.
1935 Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. (d 2006) American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).
1939 Michael Keller Ditka, Jr. Carnegie, Pennsylvania, also known as "Iron Mike", former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for three years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and a head coach. Ditka was the only individual to participate in both of the last two Chicago Bears' championships, as a player in 1963 and as head coach in 1985.
1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
1956 Martina Navratilova Czech American and former Czechoslovak tennis player and a former World No. 1. Billie Jean King said about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."
1990 Bristol Palin, American political figure
Deaths
707 Pope John VII died.
1877 William Hunter (b. 26 May 1811), American Methodist clergyman and hymnist.
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/h/u/hunter_w.htm
1892 William Williams Chapman (b 1808) American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of Representatives. He later immigrated to the Oregon Country, where he served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature.
1918 Charles Crozat Converse, American lawyer and sacred music composer, wrote music "What a Friend We Have in Jesus. (b. 7 Oct 1834).
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/o/n/converse_cc.htm
1931 Thomas Alva Edison (b 1847) Inventor, died in West Orange, NJ. He invented the first phonograph (1877) and the prototype of the practical incandescent electric light bulb (1879). His many inventions led to his being internationally known as "the wizard of Menlo Park", from the name of his first laboratory. By the late 1880s he was contributing to the development of motion pictures. By 1912 he was experimenting with talking pictures. His many inventions include a storage battery, a dictaphone, and a mimeograph. Meanwhile, he had become interested in the development of a system for widespread distribution of electric power from central generating stations. He held over 1,000 patents.In 1962 his second laboratory and home in West Orange, NJ, would be designated a National Historic Site.
1966 Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant (Kmart) (b. 1867)
1973 Margaret Caroline Anderson (b 1886) American founder, editor and publisher of the art and literary magazine The Little Review, which published a collection of modern American, English and Irish writers between 1914 and 1929. The periodical is most noted for introducing many prominent American and British writers of the 20th century, such as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in the United States, and publishing the first few chapters of James Joyce's then-unpublished novel, Ulysses.
1973 Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. (b 1913), better known as Walt Kelly, American animator and cartoonist, best known for the classic comic strip, Pogo. He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1951 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their Silver T-Square Award in 1972, which is given to persons having "demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession."
1973 Leo Strauss (b 1899) political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States. He spent most of his career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he taught several generations of students and published fifteen books.
1982 Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (b. 1885)
2000 Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)
2000 Gwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon (d 1925) one of Broadway's biggest stars during its "golden" era and beyond. She was an actress and dancer who won four Tony awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was a critically acclaimed dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s. She is also strongly identified with her second husband, director–choreographer Bob Fosse, remembered as the dancer–collaborator–muse for whom he choreographed much of his work and as the guardian of his legacy after his death.
2007 Vincent Michael DeDomenico, Sr. (September 29, 1915 – October 18, 2007) was an American entrepreneur, one of the inventors of Rice-A-Roni, and a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Train.
2008 Dee Dee Warwick (b 1945) African-American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey as Delia Mae Warrick, she was the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and cousin of Whitney Houston.
[uHolidays and observances[/u
Alaska Day (Alaska)
Christian Feast Day:
Justus of Beauvais
Luke the Evangelist
October 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Saints
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke (1st century)
Hieromartyr Cyriacus (Kyriakos), Bishop of Jerusalem (ca.360-363)
Martyr Marinus the Elder of Anazarbus (4th century)
Saint Julian the Hermit of Mesopotamia (4th century)
Saint Didymus the Blind of Mesopotamia (4th century)
Saint Mnason of Cyprus, bishop (1st century)
St. Joseph, abbot of Volokolamsk (Volotsk) (1515)
Saint David of Serpukhov, abbot (1520)
Martyrs Gabriel and Cirmidol of Egypt (1522)
Saints Symeon, Theodore, and Euphrosynus, monks who found the Icon of the Theotokos in the Great Cave of the Peloponnesus (9th century)
Saint Peter of Montenegro, metropolitan (1830)
Other Commemorations
Slaying of Brother José Muñoz-Cortes (in monasticism Monk Ambrose), guardian of the myrrh-streaming “Montreal” Iveron Icon of the Theotokos (1997)
daysuntil.com/Election-Day/index.html
www.amug.org/~jpaul/oct18.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_18
www.scopesys.com/cgi-bin/today2.cgi
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-takes-possession-of-alaska
www.weatherforyou.com/cgi-bin/weather_history/today2S.pl
www.todayinsci.com/10/10_18.htm
www.hymntime.com/tch/index.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_18_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics)
www.lutheranhistory.org/history/tih1018.htm