more events on September 29
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2009
An 8.1 earthquake causes a tidal wave that claims 189 lives in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga.
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2008
Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 777.68 points in the wake of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual bankruptcies, the largest single-day point loss in Wall Street history.
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1992
Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello impeached for corruptions; he was the youngest president in the nation’s history, taking office at age 40 in 1990.
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1990
The YF-22, later named F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.
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1979
John Paul II becomes the first pope ever to visit Ireland.
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1971
Oman joins the Arab League.
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1968
Samir Soni, Indian actor, model; in 2012 won Indian Telly Award, Boroplus Gold Award and ITA Award for Best Actor, as well Favorite Drama Actor in India’s People’s Choice Awards.
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1966
Chevrolet introduces the Camaro, which will become an iconic car.
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1962
The popular Argentinian comic strip Mafalda beings publication, in the weekly Primera Plana; focusing on a six-year-old girl (Mafalda) and her friends, it has been called the Argentinian Peanuts.
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Canada launches its first satellite, Alouette 1.
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1960
General Douglas MacArthur officially returns Seoul, South Korea, to President Syngman Rhee.
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1955
Ann Bancroft, explorer, author; first woman to reach North Pole on foot nd by sled and first woman to cross both polar ice caps.
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1951
Michelle Bachelet, first woman president of Chile (2006-10).
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1950
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev repeatedly disrupts a UN General Assembly meeting with his violent outbursts over intervention in the Belgian Congo, US U2 spy planes, and arms control.
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1948
Bryant Gumbel, broadcast journalist; co-host of NBC’s Today (1982-97), for which he won several Emmy Awards.
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1947
Gary Wetzel, US Army soldier awarded Medal of Honor for actions near Ap Dong An during Vietnam War.
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1943
Lech Walesa, president of Poland (1990-95); co-founder of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Soviet bloc; won Nobel Peace Prize, 1983.
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Adolf Hitler‘s book Mein Kampf is published in the United States.
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1942
Madeline Kahn, actress, comedian, singer, best known for comedic film roles, especially Mel Brooks’ films Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.
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1941
30,000 Jews are gunned down in Kiev when Heinrich Himmler sends four strike squads to exterminate Soviet Jewish civilians and other “undesirables.”
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1939
Germany and the Soviet Union reach an agreement on the division of Poland.
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1935
Jerry Lee Lewis, singer, songwriter, musician; influential figure in early rock ‘n’ roll (“Great Balls of Fire”).
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1932
A five-day work week is established for General Motors workers.
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1907
Gene Autry, actor, singer, star of radio, film and TV; known for his film roles as a “singing cowboy” (Oh, Susanna!, Back in the Saddle), he was influential in country music with songs that included “Back in the Saddle,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
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1901
Enrico Fermi, Italian-born U.S. physicist who led the group which created the first man-made nuclear chain reaction.
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1879
Dissatisfied Ute Indians kill Agent Nathan Meeker and nine others in the “Meeker Massacre.”
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1864
Union troops capture the Confederate Fort Harrison, outside Petersburg, Virginia.
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1850
Mormon leader Brigham Young is named the first governor of the Utah Territory.
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1833
A civil war breaks out in Spain between Carlists, who believe Don Carlos deserves the throne, and supporters of Queen Isabella.
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1789
Congress votes to create a U.S. army.
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1758
Horatio Nelson, British naval commander who defeated the French and her allies on numerous occasions during the age of Napoleon.
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1547
Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist best known for his book The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.
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1513
Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.
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1493
Christopher Columbus leaves Cadiz, Spain, on his second voyage to the new world.
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1399
Richard II of England is deposed. His cousin, Henry of Lancaster, declares himself king under the name Henry IV.
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1197
Emperor Henry VI dies in Messina, Sicily.