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THE AMERICAN CALENDAR
EACH DATE IS THE ANNIVERSARY
OF A PERSON OR EVENT. IT SIGNIFIES THE DATE OF BIRTH OR IN SOME CASES THE
DATE OF DEATH AS SPECIFIED. |
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October |
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James
Lawrence, American naval officer who gave the Navy its motto: "Don't
give up the ship!" At the beginning of the War of 1812, Lawrence
was a master commander in the brig Hornet. In a bloody conflict
with the British Shannon, Lawrence was killed aboard his ship the
Chesapeake on June 1, 1813. |
James Earl Carter, 39th
president of the United States. Born in Plains, Georgia, he was
state senator and governor before narrowly defeating incumbent Gerald
Ford to become president. He acieved an arms control treaty and
obtained a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. He was unpopular
concerning the Americans held as hostages by Iran. He lacked leadership,
personality and popularity.
He showed weakness toward
the Soviet Union and his domestic programs were opposed by the Republicans.
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Nat
Turner, African American slave, preacher and leader of a slave insurrection
who was determined to lead his people to freedom. His followers
killed many white persons in Southampton, Virginia. He believed
himself to be prompted by divine inspiration and he and his band
of 60 murdered 55 whites and eventually most of the blacks were
executed and stricter slave laws were adopted by the slave owners. |
Cordell Hull, American
statesman and U.S. Secretary of State, 1933 -1944. He had to deal
with world crises, the Great Depression and World War 11. At the
Moscow Conference in
1943, he established the
system of collective security which led to the foundation of the
Nobel Peace Prize. |
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George
Bancroft, American historian and diplomat. President Polk appointed
him Secretary of the Navy in which capacity he helped to establish
the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Bancroft's fame rests on his historical
writings. He wrote in ten volumes the History of the united States
From the Discovery of the American Continent. Bancroft's theme was
that "the spirit of the colonies demanded freedom from the beginning."
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William
C. Gorgas, American sanitarian whose program of mosquito control
and sanitation greatly reduced the incidence of yellow fever and
malaria. He worked in Cuba from 1898 to 1902 with his mosquito-controlled
programs. In 1904 Gorgas worked in Panama for the next ten years
to control yellow fever in the building of the U.S.-Panama Canal. |
Emily Post, American writer
who was an authority on etiquette. Her book, Etiquette: The Blue
Book of Social Usage went through ten editions and more than 90
printings in her lifetime. Post was known to millions as the arbiter
of social conduct. Less
known was her practice
of architecture and interior decoration. |
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The
Battle of Germantown fought in Pennsylvania, was challenged by General
Washington with 11,000 troops against the British who occupied Philadelphia.
General Howe's force of 9,000 deployed at Germantown. The Americans
gained the initial advantage but in the fog one Patriot column fired
on another and in the confusion the British drove them back. Howe
retained Philadelphia but Washington's army remained intact. |
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th
president of the United States. He became president after the controversial
election of 1876 when an electoral commission awarded him all disputed
returns, thereby alienating his opposition and weakening his administration.
His withdrawal of
all troops from the South
marked the end of the Reconstruction Period. |
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Jonathan
Edwards, American theologian, philosopher and Congregational minister,
was born in East Windsor, Connecticut. He was a strict Calvinist
and a leader of American revivalism. Known as the Great Awakening,
it aroused the religious spirit of the greater part of New England. |
Chester A. Arthur, 21st
President of the United States, was born in North Fairfield, Vermont.
As chief executive Arthur showed great responsibility. He gave the
country an honest administration and his legislative program was
moderate. He was the most elegant and best-dressed president in
whose closet hung some
80 suits. His primary achievement was to get rid of corruption in
all facets of government. |
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George
Westinghouse, American inventor of the air brake that made high-speed
railroad travel safe and the founder of the Westinghouse Electric
Corporation. He took out 400 patents in his lifetime and was the
greatest competitor of the General Electric Company. His enterprises
were valued at $120 million with 50,000 employees. |
Albert Beveridge, American
political leader and historian who was very prominent as a Progressive
under Theodore Roosevelt. As a biographer, Beveridge's major work
was The Life of John Marshall in four volumes,
a monumental study of
the history of the Supreme Court and Marshall's influence on it. |
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The
Critical Battle of Saratoga in New York was a major victory for
the Continentals under General Horatio Gates and the British general
John Burgoyne. The heavy losses suffered by the British of 5,000
surrendered on october 17. The American victory ended British plans
to reduce New England and brought France into the war as an ally
of the American colonies. |
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James
Whitcomb Riley, American poet whose poems idealize childhood, the
small town and simple people of the pioneer times. Although enormously
popular in his time, Riley is much less read today. His nostalgia,
geniality and optimism made him seem an anachronism to the next
generation of writers such as Sinclair Lewis." |
Henry A. Wallace, vice
president of the United States who supported President Franklin
Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936. He was Secretary of Agriculture and
encouraged his AAA program in the New Deal legislation.
He developed several high-yielding
strains of hybrid corn, selling the seed with great success through
his own company. |
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John
Hay, U.S. Secretary of State, who wrote a major biography of Abraham
Lincoln. He received recognition for his open Door policy and the
acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone. He was personal adviser to
Presidents McKlinley and Theodore Roosevelt. He helped popularize
American foreign policy. |
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Elbert
Henry Gary, American lawyer and industrialist who was the dominant
figure in the U.S. Steel Industry in the early 20th century. The
city of Gary, Indiana, established by U.S. Steel, is named for him.
He died in New York City on August 15, 1927. |
The Chicago Fire which
destroyed 3 1/2 square miles in the heart of the city. The loss
of 18,000 buildings and their contents was put at $200 million.
In 1871 the month of October was very hot and dry and the wooden
Istructures and flammable contents were like a tinderbox. The blaze
began about 8:00 on a humid night behind the house of Timothy and
Catherine 0'Leary at 137 DeKoven Street. Few buildings survived
the holocaust aided by gale force winds. The fire spread northward
crossing the Chicago River twice and not stopping until it reached
Fullerton Avenue. |
Eddie Rickenbacker, American
aviator and airline executive. He became one of the leading race
drivers in the U.S. In World War I he became commander of the U.S.
94th Aero Pursuit Squadron.
He was the most decorated
air ace of the war having destroyed 22 enemy aircraft and four observation
balloons. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor. |
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The
Battle for Savannah, Georgia was a victory for the British under
General Augustine Prevost. The French navy entered the seaport city
and landed 3,500 troops along with General Benjamin Lincoln and
1,000 troops. The allies attempted to take the city by storm and
were repulsed sustaining heavy losses. The British victory allowed
General Clinton to enter South Carolina in force. |
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Leonard
Wood, American soldier and administrator who was commander of the
Rough Riders in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. As military
governor of Cuba he helped to eradicate yellow fever from the island.
In 1921 President Harding appointed him governor general of the
Philippines. |
Bruce Catton, American
historian of the Civil War was born at Petoskey, Michigan. He wrote
a trilogy of: Mr. Lincoln's Army; Glory Road; and a Stillness at
Appomattox, about the Army of the Potomac. The last volume won the
Pulitzer Prize. His literary production included U.S. Grant and
the American Military Tradition; This Hallowed Ground; Grant Moves
South; The Coming Fury; The Terrible Swift Sword,
and Never Call Retreat.
The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War received
a special Pulitzer Prize. |
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Don
Larsen, pitcher for the New York Yankees who made baseball history
by pitching a perfect no-hit game and faced the minimum 27 batters
for a nine inning game. It was accomplished against the
Brooklyn Dodgers in the
final game of the World Series. It may never be duplicated again;
a record that will stand forever. |
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Eleanor
Roosevelt, one of America's great reforming leaders who had a sustained
impact on national policy toward youth, blacks, women, the poor
and the United Nations. She was one of the most active First Ladies
as well as an important public personality in her own right. She
remained active in public affairs until her death on her 77th birthday. |
Willie
Hoppe, American billiard player who won 51 world championships and
is acknowledged as the greatest player of all time. In 1906 he defeated
the French champion, Maurice Vignaux, He won world titles in
1907, 1910-1920. 1923,
1924 and 1927. He dominated the three-cushion game winning world
titles in 1936, 1940-44 and 1947 to 1952. |
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William
J. Hardee, American general who was the ablest Confederate corps
commander in the West in the Civil War. He led the attack at Shiloh
and Perryville. He fought mostly against General Sherman's armies
throughout the war and in the final campaigns in the Carolinas. |
Dick Gregory, American
comedian and civil rights leader. He became a sensation in the early
1960s with comedy routines featuring "healthy race jokes."
He turned activist after 1966, lecturing and leading
demonstrations and fasting
to call attention to various causes. One of his books was Murder
in Memphis; The FBI and the Assassination of Martin Luther King.
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The
Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Quincy, Illinois concerned the moral justification
of slavery.
It was a political debate
for the U.S. Senate. Two years later Lincoln would be elected President
of the United States and the issue of Civil War. |
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Dwight
D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States who was born
in Denison, Texas. Principal Military Positions: Supreme Commander
of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (1944-45); Commander of U.S.
Occupation, Forces; (1945), U.S. Army Chief of Staff (1945-1948);
Supreme Commander of NATO Forces (1950-1952). He died March 12,
1969 in Washington, D.C. |
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Sumner
Welles, American diplomat who was President Roosevelt's personal
envoy on a fact finding mission to the belligerent nations of Europe
in 1940. He is regarded as one of the architects of the Good Neighbor
Policy of the U.S. toward the Latin American States. |
John Wooden, American
basketball coach who led UCLA to unequaled dominance in collegiate
competition. His teams won ten NCAA championships and seven straight
titles and a streak of 88 wins.
An astute tactician,
Wooden emphasized offensive finesse with balanced scoring and tenacious
defense. |
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Lee
Iacocca, American automobile manufacturer who built an international
reputation as an industrial and marketing innovator. He joined the
Ford Motor Company and rose quickly through the ranks. He left the
company in 1978 because of personal differences with Henry Ford
II. He joined the Chrysler Corporation and made it a huge success.
In 1985 his autobiography sold more than one million copies. |
Nine Nazi war criminals
were hanged in Nuremberg, Germany, found guilty of war crimes against
humanity.
American judge Robert
Jackson ordered the execution one by one. The architects of Nazi
policy were hanged. |
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Noah
Webster, lexicographer and writer who compiled his best work, An
American Dictionary
of the English Language.
Revisions
and abridgments have appeared since 1850 to the present day. He
is also the author of the copyright laws. |
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Thomas
A. Edison, the greatest inventor of our time, died at his home in
West Orange, New Jersey.
He gave to the world
the electric Ilight, the phonograph, the motion picture and hundreds
of other inventions. He was known as the "Wizard of Menlo Park.
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Lee
Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
He denied that he was the president's killer.
However, he was murdered
before he could be brought to trial. A Dallas nightclub operator
named Jack Ruby shot and killed him. |
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At
Yorktown, Virginia, the British surrendered under Lord Cornwallis
to the allied Franco-American forces to end the American Revolutionary
War. When Lord North heard the news of Yorktown at 10 Downing Street,
he threw up his arms as though hit in the breast by a musket ball
and cried, "0 God! it is all over." Lord Cornwallis, a
good professional soldier, knew when he was beaten. |
The Battle of Cedar Creek
in the Civil War was fought near Winchester, Virginia. Union general
Philip Sheridan had driven the Confederates south in the Shenandoah
Valley. While Sheridan made a quick trip to Washington, D.C., General
Jubal Early's forces attacked the Unionists into a confused retreat.
When Sheridan returned to his army in a rout,
he rallied his troops
in a counterattack to defeat the enemy. Sheridan's Ride is commemorated
in prose and poetry. |
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Daniel
E. Sickles, American public figure who was famous in New York politics
and led various divisions of troops in the Civil War at Chancellorsville
and Gettysburg. After the war Sickles was governor of the Carolinas,
but was relieved by President Andrew Johnson because of his harsh
measures during the Reconstruction Period. |
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John
Dewey, American philosopher and educator, was born near Burlington,
Vermont. A pragmatist, he was opposed to authoritarian methods,
learning through experience and necessity rather than by rote and
it was this principle that served as a cornerstone for modern progressive
education. To some of his admirers he was the greatest educator
who ever lived. Dewey never ceased his struggle to better the lot
of humanity in all parts of the world. |
Mickey Mantle, American
baseball player, one of the most gifted and popular athlete of his
time. In an 18-year career with the New York Yankees, Mantle with
exceptional power, was noted for his "tape-measure"
home runs. Although frequently
injured, he accumulated
numerous major league
hitting records. He died of cancer on August 13, 1995 in Dallas,
Texas. |
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A
convention between Great Britain and the United States which established
the 49th parallel as the boundary from the Lake of the Woods to
the Rocky Mountains. Being unable to agree on a division
of the Oregon country
north of the 42nd parallel and west of the mountains, the convention
provided for joint occupation for a period of ten years. |
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Jimmy
Foxx, American baseball player who led the American League in home
runs for four seasons and hit 534 career homers. He batted in 100
or more runs in 13 consecutive seasons and a lifetime batting average
of .325 He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1951. He was the American
League's Most Valuable Player in 1932, 1933 and 1938. |
Ringling Brothers Buy
Barnum Bailey. For the price of $410,000, the move gives the Ringlings
a virtual monopoly on the cicus business throughout the United States.
The brothers had competed with
Barnum & Bailey for
over a decade. Barnum & Bailey retains its name and management. |
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The
Battle for Leyte Gulf was fought between Japanese and U.S. forces
for control of the Philippine Islands. Planes of the newly formed
Japanese Kamikaze suicide squads had crash-dived into five
Seventh Fleet escort carriers
sinking one. The American commanders were Admiral Kinkaid and General
Douglas MacArthur. |
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Y.A.
Tittle, American football player who was a quarterback for three
National Football League teams. In 1963 he set a league record of
36 touchdown passes in one season. He also set league records of
3,817 passes attempted, 2,118 completed, 28,339 yards gained and
212 touchdown passes. |
Stock Market Crash or
black Thursday on Wall Street in front of the Stock Exchange created
fear and panic throughout the nation. The shocks on Wall Street
spread to other exchanges and markets.
There was near panic
on the Chicago commodities exchange. At least 11 speculators had
committed suicide. |
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Richard
E. Byrd, American naval officer and polar explorer who led five
expeditions to Antarctica and was the first man to fly over the
North and South Poles. Admiral Byrd was a pioneer in transatlantic
and transpolar flights. His expeditions occurred from 1928-1930,
1933-1935, 1939-1941 and 1955-1956. Byrd died in Boston on March
11,1957 and was buried with full military honors at the National
Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. |
Charles E. Coughlin,
Roman Catholic priest, made frequent radio addresses assailing American
financial leaders for having caused the Great Depression and attracted
a wide following. In 1936 he formed the Union Party to oppose President
Roosevelt. Coughlin continued his radio programs as the "radio
priest" and published the Social Justice magazine in which
he attacked the Jewish members
of Wall Street. His magazine
was barred from the mails and silenced for his radio programs. |
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General
Douglas MacArthur has returned to the Philippines as he earlier
had promised. MacArthur's convoy of 225,000 men destroyed two Japanese
divisions in Leyte Gulf. MacArthur
will press westward toward
Manila and with Manila gone, Japan's oil supplies will be utterly
severed. |
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Benjamin
Wade, American lawyer and legislator who strongly opposed President
Lincoln's Civil War policies and Reconstruction of the South. He
was chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War. If President
Johnson had been impeached, Ben Wade would have succeeded to the
presidency because he was president pro tem of the Senate. |
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Isaac
M. Singer, American inventor who developed the first practical home
sewing machine. In 1851 Singer patented a sewing machine capable
of producing continuous stitching both straight and curved. Between
1851 and 1865 Singer received 20 patents for improvements. |
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Theodore
Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States who greatly expanded
the executive office while making the United States the virtual
guardian of the Western Hemisphere and a major force in the European
and Far Eastern affairs. He was responsible for building the Panama
Canal and dozens of other major projects. |
Americans
move into front line trenches. Units of the 1st American Division
arrived in the relatively quiet Toul sector of Lorraine, near Nancy.
Almost at once they were fired upon by Germans in distant trenches.
. Since June, doughboys have been
arriving in France at
the rate of 50,000 a month. American supply dumps and bases are
already scattered throughout France. |
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The
Statue of Liberty in New York harbor was a gift from France. It
invites all immigrants to the land of freedom and liberty. Its total
cost was $800,000 raised mostly by subscriptions. It was dedicated
by President Grover Cleveland on this day. |
Jonas
Edward Salk, American medical research scientist who developed the
first vaccine against polio. In 1963 Salk became director of the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California.
In 1986
Salk founded the Immune
Response Corporation where research was related to AIDS. |
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Cuban
Missile Crisis. It was a week which shook the world. An agreement
between President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev has broken
the tension that has gripped the world and eased
the United States and
the Soviet Union back from the brink of nuclear devastation. |
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John
Adams, 2nd president of the United States. He devoted his life to
politics, participating with distinction in the revolutionary activities
in Boston and Philadelphia and later in the founding of the republic.
He played an important role in the establishment of the Navy, prevented
war with France and urged the colonies to separate from England.
He died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence. |
William F. Halsey, American
fleet admiral who defeated the Japanese in many battles in World
War II and played a vital part in securing allied victory. He commanded
the 3rd Fleet in the Pacific.
In the battle for Leyte
Gulf his fleet sank four Japanese carriers and a battleship. He
won many important battles from Okinawa to Tokyo. |
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Ethel
Waters, American actress and singer who won acclaim for her performances
on radio, television, stage and screen. She spent her childhood
in the black slums of Philadelphia. Beginning
in the late 1950s she
participated as a gospel singer in the crusades of evangelist Billy
Graham. |
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