On This Day in History – October 29
1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh, English courtier, explorer, writer, and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, is beheaded in London under a 15-year-old treason sentence for alleged conspiracy against King James I.
1787 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni premieres at the Estates Theatre in Prague.
1863 – The International Committee of the Red Cross is founded in Geneva by Henri Dunant and others, establishing the modern humanitarian movement.
1901 – Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley, is executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York.
1918 – Sailors of the German High Seas Fleet mutiny at Kiel, refusing a final suicidal sortie; the unrest helps trigger the German Revolution and the end of World War I.
1923 – The Republic of Turkey is proclaimed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire; Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk) becomes its first president. It is still celebrated as Republic Day.
1929 – “Black Tuesday”: the New York Stock Exchange crashes as more than 16 million shares are traded. Billions in value vanish, accelerating the onset of the Great Depression.
1940 – The first U.S. peacetime military draft lottery is held; Secretary of War Henry Stimson draws the initial number (158).
1945 – The first commercially successful ballpoint pens in the United States (the Reynolds Rocket) go on sale at Gimbels in New York City for $12.50 each.
1956 – The Suez Crisis begins as Israeli forces invade Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula; Britain and France soon join, creating a major Cold War flashpoint after Egypt nationalizes the canal.
1960 – Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional boxing match, defeating Tunney Hunsaker on points in Louisville.
1969 – The first host-to-host message is sent over ARPANET (the precursor to the modern internet) from UCLA to the Stanford Research Institute. The system crashes after transmitting only the letters “LO.”
1998 – At age 77, former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn returns to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95), becoming the oldest person to orbit Earth.
2012 – Hurricane (Superstorm) Sandy makes landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, causing roughly 150 direct deaths and tens of billions in damage across the U.S. East Coast.
2015 – China officially announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years.
Born on October 29
1656 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (Halley’s Comet).
1740 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer and diarist (best known for his Life of Samuel Johnson).
1891 – Fanny Brice, American comedian, singer, and Ziegfeld Follies star (“Second Hand Rose”); inspiration for Funny Girl.
1897 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister.
1921 – Bill Mauldin, American cartoonist famous for his World War II “Willie and Joe” strips.
1938 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian politician, first elected female head of state in Africa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
1942 – Bob Ross, American painter and television host of The Joy of Painting.
1947 – Richard Dreyfuss, American actor (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl).
1948 – Kate Jackson, American actress (Charlie’s Angels, Scarecrow and Mrs. King).
1957 – Dan Castellaneta, American actor and voice of Homer Simpson.
1971 – Winona Ryder, American actress (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Stranger Things).
1972 – Gabrielle Union, American actress (Bring It On, Being Mary Jane); also Tracee Ellis Ross (Girlfriends, Black-ish).
