Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Oct. 22. The Cuban Missile Crisis began on this date in 1962, when President John F. Kennedy, in a televised speech, demanded the Soviet Union remove the missiles it had deployed in Cuba. JFK also ordered a blockade of the island to prevent further military equipment from reaching it. On Oct. 28, 1962, the USSR announced it would remove the missile in question. In return, the United States removed missiles in Turkey that were aimed at the Soviet Union. Advertisement It was on this date in 1797 that the first parachute jump was made by Andre-Jacques Garnerin. He dropped from a height of about 6,500 feet over a Paris park. Garnerin lived, and so the parachute continued to draw some interest. Gen. Sam Houston was sworn in as the first president of the Republic of Texas on this date in 1836. When Texas became a U.S. state 10 years later, Houston was elected senator. A few years after that, he was elected governor. No wonder they named a city after this guy! Advertisement Inventor Charles Carlson produced the first dry, or xerographic, copy on this day in 1938. But he had trouble interesting investors in his new invention. And this is the anniversary of the birth, in 1920, of Harvard University professor and counterculture icon Timothy Leary. Leary was fired by Harvard after he gave LSD to students. Despite numerous arrests over the years, he continued to advocate the use of LSD in the pursuit of spiritual and political freedom and just for the fun of it. Leary died in 1996 of cancer. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----- Today is Oct. 23. A suicide terrorist attack on American forces took place in Beirut, Lebanon, on this date in 1983. A truck loaded with TNT was driven into the U.S. military headquarters and blown up, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A similar attack the same day on French troops killed 58 French soldiers. The event was a big reason why the United States ended its military presence in Lebanon. It was on this date in 1942 that the British Eighth Army launched an offensive on occupying German forces at El Alamein in Egypt. The World War II battle eventually swept the Nazis out of North Africa. Advertisement On a more peaceful note: following nine days of tense negotiations and marathon talks at the Wye Conference Center in Queenstown, Md., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on this date in 1998 signed an agreement to revive the stalled Middle East peace process. The British Parliament met for the first time on this date in 1707. Hungary formally declared an end to 40 years of communist rule and proclaimed itself a republic on this date in 1989, 33 years after Russian troops crushed a popular revolt against Soviet rule. Acting head of state Matyas Szuros made the announcement --- setting the stage for creation of a Western-style democracy -- from the same balcony overlooking Parliament Square which Imre Nagy stood on to address the rebels in 1956. Nagy was hanged for treason. Szuros's fate was much, much better. And Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player hired by a major league team on this date in 1945, when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and sent to their Montreal farm team. We now return you to the present, already in progress. Advertisement ----- Today is Oct. 24. It was on this date in 1945 that U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes announced that the United Nations charter was in effect, following Soviet ratification of the document. The United Nations replaced the old League of Nations of the previous World War era. In 1971, the U.N. General Assembly declared this to be United Nations Day, observed as a holiday by all U.N. Member States. The Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe on this date in 1648. The war was mainly a struggle between European Protestantism and Roman Catholicism as represented by the Hapsburg monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire. France emerged from the war with the most power, and Germany was virtually devastated. The first telegram was transmitted across the United States on this date in 1861. California's state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Field sent a telegram to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. No, it wasn't a singing telegram nor was it a candy-gram. He had been found guilty of fleecing his flock. And on this date in 1989, televangelist Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000 dollars. Bakker's downfall, and the collapse of his PTL religious empire, all began when a former church secretary said she'd had an affair with him. Jessica Hahn went on to pose for Playboy. Advertisement And also on this date in 1989, former Hungarian beauty queen-turned-actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was sentenced to 72 hours in jail, 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay nearly $13,000 in fines and court costs for slapping a police officer who had stopped her car in Beverly Hills, Calif. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----- Today is Oct. 25. Some 2,000 U.S. Marines and Army Rangers, supported by six Caribbean nations, invaded the tiny island of Grenada. The invasion followed a political coup the previous week that, according to President Reagan, had turned the island into a "Soviet-Cuban colony." 19 Americans died in the fighting. What's known to history as the Charge of the Light Brigade took place on this date in 1854. 670 British cavalrymen fighting in the Crimean War attacked a heavily fortified Russian position and were wiped out. French General Bosquet remarked, "It is magnificent, but it is not war." It was on this day in 1825 when the Erie Canal -- America's first major man-made waterway -- was opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. This increased Pennsylvania's mule population by huge numbers. The long-eared animals were hired at feeding wages to pull barges along the canal. Advertisement The United Nations, on this date in 1971, admitted the People's Republic of China as a member and ousted the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan. Then as now, China considers Taiwan to be a renegade province. On this date in 1986, the International Red Cross ousted South African delegates from a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, because of Pretoria's policy of apartheid. It was the first such ejection in the organization's 123 years. And it was on this date in 1994 that Susan Smith, a young mother from Union, S.C., reported to police that her two young boys had been taken in a carjacking. Massive searches turned up nothing. Nine days later, Smith confessed that she'd rolled the car into a lake, drowning the children. She claimed she also meant to kill herself but changed her mind at the last minute. Her sons' bodies were found in the submerged vehicle, still strapped in their car seats. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----- Today is Oct. 26. It was on this day in 1906 that workers in St. Petersburg, Russia, established the first "soviet," or council. After the Russian Revolution and the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II, the word "soviet" would make up the country's new name -- the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Advertisement Just one day before NATO was threatening to bomb the former Yugoslavia, Serbian soldiers and police on this date in 1998 began what was said to be a significant pullback from positions in the rebellious province of Kosovo. But the massacre of ethnic Albanians in the province didn't end, and in March 1999 NATO launched air strikes after the Serbians refused to sign a peace agreement on the future of Kosovo. A setback for the allies on this date in 1942, during the early days of U.S. involvement in World War II. In the Pacific, Japanese warships sank the aircraft carrier USS Hornet off the Solomon Islands. The Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland, Terence McSwiney, died on this date in 1920 after a two-and-a-half-month hunger strike in a British prison cell. He was demanding independence for Ireland. South Korean President Park Chung Hee was assassinated on this date in 1979 by the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. And it was on this date in 1990 that Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $5,000 after being convicted on misdemeanor drug charges. Barry had been nabbed during a drug sting at a motel. After doing his time, he would be RE-ELECTED as mayor. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----- Today is Oct. 27. The first of 77 essays explaining the new U.S. Constitution and urging its ratification were published on this date in 1787 in a New York newspaper. The essays -- by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay -- also argued in favor of adoption of the new form of federal government. They were later published as "The Federalist Papers." Disasters in history: it was on this date in 1993 that Southern California was hit by dozens of brush fires -- the worst in six years. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and thousands of people were forced to flee the flames. And in 1998, Hurricane Mitch -- one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded -- began its four-day siege of Central America. At least 10,000 people were killed by storm-spawned flooding in Honduras, Nicaragua, and other countries. A treaty with Spain on this date in 1795 settled Florida's northern boundary and gave navigation rights on the Mississippi River to the United States. Remember, at this time, Florida still belonged to Spain, and most of the land west of the Mississippi was either in French or Spanish hands. Advertisement And it was on this date in 1954 that a prime-time anthology TV series for children, titled "Disneyland," premiered on ABC. The show was so named to promote the soon-to-be-opened Anaheim, Calif., theme park as well as Walt Disney Studios upcoming releases. Later titles included "Walt Disney Presents," "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," "The Wonderful World of Disney," "Disney's Wonderful World," "The Disney Sunday Movie" and "The Magical World of Disney." Despite the name and network changes, it was essentially the same show. When it left the air in December 1980, it was the longest-running series in prime-time TV history. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----- Today is Oct. 28. This battle marked the beginning of the Christian era in Europe. On this date in 312, Constantine's army, wearing the cross, defeated the forces of Maxentius at Mulvian Bridge in Rome. The Cuban Missile Crisis ended on this date in 1962 when Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev blinked and announced that all Soviet offensive missiles would be removed from Cuba. Six days earlier, on national television, President John F. Kennedy had demanded the USSR remove those missiles from the Caribbean island nation and imposed a naval blockade to prevent any more weapons from reaching Cuba. In response to Krushchev's concession, the United States agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey that were pointed toward the Soviet Union. Advertisement What's now known as Harvard University was founded in Cambridge, Mass., on this date in 1636. The Massachusetts General Court had voted to provide 400 pounds for a "schoale or colledge." The Donner Party of 90 people -- led by George and Jacob Donner and James F. Reed -- set out from Springfield, Ill., for California on this date in 1846. After enduring the usual problems such caravans encountered, the pioneers were forced by winter weather to interrupt their journey. Famine set in, which led to cannibalism. By the time they reached California in April 1847, only 48 people were left. And it was on this day in 1986 that the Statue of Liberty marked the actual 100th anniversary of its dedication, without the hoopla of the July 4th ceremonies. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
