This Day in History – October 31, 2011

1517 Luther posts 95 thesis on Wittenberg church-Protestant Reformation 1815 Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner’s safety lamp 1864 Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state. 1876 A monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 deaths. 1913 Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States. 1913 The Indianapolis Street Car Strike and subsequent riot begins. 1917 World War I: Battle of Beersheba “last successful cavalry charge in history”. 1926 Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured. 1938 Great Depression: In an effort to restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public. 1940 Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto 1941 After 14 years of work, Mount Rushmore is completed. 1941 World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII. 1944 Dr. jur. Erich Göstl, a member of the Waffen SS, is awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, to recognise extreme battlefield bravery, after losing his face and eyes during the Battle of Normandy. 1950 Collazo & Torresola attempt to kill Truman in Washington, DC 1952 1st thermonuclear bomb detonated-Marshall Islands 1956 1st American to land an airplane at South Pole-Rear Adm GJ Dufek 1956 Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal. 1959 Lee Harvey Oswald attempts to renounce his American citizenship at the US Embassy in Moscow, USSR. 1963 Ed Sullivan witnesses the Beatles & their fans at London Airport 1963 An explosion at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) in Indianapolis kills 74 people during an ice skating show. The explosion also injures 400. A faulty propane tank connection in a concession stand is blamed. 1968 Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of “all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam” effective November 1. 1974 Bundy victim (?) Laura Aime disappears in Utah 1980 Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m) 1982 Pope John Paul II becomes 1st pontiff to visit Spain 1983 Ron Grant completes a 217 day, 8,316 mile run around Australia 1984 Puerto Rican tanker, San Francisco explodes spilling 2 million gallons of oil as the ship caught fire 1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi and nearly 10,000 Sikhs are killed. 1987 1st jockey to win 9 races in 1 day (Chris Antley at Belmont) 1987 A pair in Coventry, England ties the world record for the longest singles tennis match at 80 hrs 21 minutes 1988 1st Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis, Colts beat Denver 55-23 1994 An American Eagle ATR-72 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 68 passengers and crew. 1997 19-year-old British au pair Louise Woodward, convicted by a Cambridge, Massachusetts, jury of second-degree murder the day before, is sentenced to life in prison. 1998 Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors. 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board. 1999 Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted. 2000 A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members. 2000 A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50. 2000 Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since. 2002 A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas indicts former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer. 2003 A bankruptcy court approves MCI’s reorganization plans, essentially clearing the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy.]]]]> ]]>