more events on October 4
-
2004
SpaceShipOne, which had achieved the first privately funded human space flight on June 21, wins the Ansari X Prize for the first non-government organization to successfully launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space.
-
1993
Russia’s constitutional crisis over President Boris Yeltsin’s attempts to dissolve the legislature: the army violently arrests civilian protesters occupying government buildings.
-
1992
Mozambique’s 16-year civil war ends with the Rome General Peace Accords.
-
1985
Free Software Foundation founded to promote universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software.
-
1976
In Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the ban on the death sentence in murder cases. This restores the legality of capital punishment, which had not been practiced since 1967. The first execution following this ruling was Gary Gilmore in 1977.
-
1972
Judge John Sirca imposes a gag order on the Watergate break-in case.
-
1968
Cambodia admits that the Viet Cong use their country for sanctuary.
-
1965
Pope Paul VI arrives in New York, the first Pope ever to visit the US and the Western hemisphere.
-
1963
Hurricane Flora storms through the Caribbean, killing 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.
-
1957
Russell Simmons, businessman; founded Def Jam Hip hop music label and Phat Farm clothing line.
-
Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, is launched, beginning the “space race.” The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles. In 1958, it reentered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up.
-
1947
Jim Fielder, bassist with the band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
-
1946
Chuck Hagel; current US Secretary of Defense (2013).
-
Susan Sarandon, actress; won Academy Award for Dead Man Walking (1995).
-
1943
US captures the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.
-
1941
Anne Rice, author of gothic fiction, erotica and Christian literature (Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt); also known by her pen names Anne Rampling and A. N. Roquelaure.
-
Willie Gillis Jr., a fictional everyman created by illustrator Norman Rockwell, makes his first appearance, on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post; a series of illustrations on several magazines’ covers would depict young Gillis throughout World War II.
-
1940
Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass.
-
1937
Jackie Collins, novelist whose books have sold over 500 million copies (Hollywood Wives, Drop Dead Beautiful).
-
1934
Sam Huff, pro football player; star of CBS TV special The Violent World of Sam Huff (1961) narrated by Walter Cronkite that is frequently credited with the surge of pro football’s popularity in the US.
-
1928
Alvin Toffler, writer and futurist.
-
1927
Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting the heads of 4 US presidents on Mount Rushmore.
-
1923
Charlton Heston, American film actor.
-
1919
Rene Marques, Puerto Rican playwright and short story writer.
-
1917
Battle of Broodseinde near Ypres, Flanders, a part of the larger Battle of Passchendaele, between British 2nd and 5th armies and the defenders of German 4th Army; most successful Allied attack of the Passchendaele offensive.
-
1914
The first German Zeppelin raids London.
-
1905
Orville Wright pilots the first flight longer than 30 minutes. The flight lasted 33 minutes, 17 seconds and covered 21 miles.
-
1895
Buster (Joseph F.) Keaton, star of silent film comedies including Sherlock, Jr. and The General.
-
1884
Damon Runyon, journalist and short story writer.
-
1879
Edward Murray East, botanist whose research led to the development of hybrid corn.
-
1874
Kiowa leader Satanta, known as “the Orator of the Plains,” surrenders in Darlington, Texas. He is later sent to the state penitentiary, where he commits suicide October 11, 1878.
-
1862
Edward Stratemeyer, author, creator of the Hardy Boys, Rover Boys, Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins.
-
1861
Frederic Remington, Western painter and sculptor.
-
The Union ship USS South Carolina captures two Confederate blockade runners outside of New Orleans, La.
-
1822
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the U.S. (1877-1881).
-
1795
General Napoleon Bonaparte leads the rout of counterrevolutionaries in the streets of Paris, beginning his rise to power.
-
1777
At Germantown, Pa., British General Sir William Howe repels George Washington’s last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.