more events on October 11
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2001
The Polaroid Corporation, which had provided shutterbugs with photo prints in minutes with its “instant cameras” since 1947, files for bankruptcy.
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2000
NASA launches its 100th Space Shuttle mission.
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1991
Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas begin.
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1987
Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force begins in Sri Lanka; thousands of Tamil citizens, along with hundreds of Tamil Tigers militants and Indian Army soldiers will die in the operation.
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1984
Astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan, part of the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger, becomes the first American woman to walk in space.
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1976
The so-called “Gang of Four,” Chairman Mao Tse-tung’s widow and three associates, are arrested in Peking, setting in motion an extended period of turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party.
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1975
Saturday Night Live comedy-variety show premiers on NBC, with guest host comedian George Carlin and special guests Janis Ian, Andy Kaufman and Billy Preston; at this writing (2013) the show is still running.
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1972
Race riot breaks out aboard carrier USS Kitty Hawk off Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
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A French mission in Vietnam is destroyed by a U.S. bombing raid.
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1968
Apollo 7, with three men aboard, is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy.
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1962
Pope John XXIII opens the 21st Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) with a call for Christian unity. This is the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history; among delegate-observers are representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change.
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1957
Paul Sereno, paleontologist; discovered several new dinosaur species (including Sarcosuchus imperator, “SuperCroc”) on various continents.
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1950
The Federal Communications Commission authorizes the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color TV broadcasts.
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1946
Daryl Hall, singer, songwriter, musician, producer; lead vocalist of Hall & Oates (“Rich Girl,” “Maneater”).
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1945
Negotiations between Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung break down. Nationalist and Communist troops are soon engaged in a civil war.
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1942
In the Battle of Cape Esperance, near the Solomon Islands, U.S. cruisers and destroyers decisively defeat a Japanese task force in a night surface encounter.
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1936
James M. McPherson, historian specializing in the American Civil War; won Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom (1989).
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1932
Dottie West, influential female country singer, songwriter; won Grammy for “Here Comes My Baby Back Again” (1965).
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1928
Roscoe Robinson Jr., first African American to attain 4-star general status in the US Army.
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1925
Elmore Leonard, author, screenwriter (Get Shorty, Mr. Majestyk).
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1918
Jerome Robbins, choreographer, won Oscar for West Side Story.
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1910
Joseph Alsop, American journalist.
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1906
San Francisco school board orders the segregation of schoolchildren, inciting Japanese outrage.
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1899
South African Boers, settler from the Netherlands, declare war on Great Britain.
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1887
Willie Hoppe, billiards champion.
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1885
Francois Mauriac, Nobel Prize-winning novelist.
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1884
Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt.
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1877
Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.
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1862
The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service. This law confirms many southerners opinion that they are in a ‘rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.’
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1844
Henry Heinz, manufacturer, founder of H.J. Heinz Co.
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1820
Sir George Williams, founder of the YMCA.
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1795
In graditude for putting down a rebellion in the streets of Paris, France’s National Convention appoints Napoleon Bonaparte second in command of the Army of the Interior.
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1727
George II of England crowned.
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1540
Charles V of Milan puts his son Philip in control.
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1531
The Catholics defeat the Protestants at Kappel during Switzerland’s second civil war.