October 18
The U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 Million, or less than 2¢ an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas. – 1867.
Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation to formalize U.S. authority over the island. – 1898.
New York City agrees to pay women school teachers a rate equal to that of men. – 1911.
October 19
Hopelessly trapped in Yorktown, Va., British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a larger Franco-American force, to effectively bring an end to the American Revolution. – 1781.
One month after Napoleon Bonaparte’s massive invading force enters a burning and deserted Moscow, the starving French army is forced to begin a hasty retreat out of Russia. Napoleon’s army of 500,000 suffers a loss of more than 400,000 men during the disastrous invasion. – 1812.
October 20
The notorious Red Scare kicks into high gear in Washington, D.C., when a congressional committee begins investigating communist influence in one of the world’s richest and most glamorous communities: Hollywood. – 1947.
After 15 years of construction, the Sydney Opera House is dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II. The $80 Million structure, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon was built on Bennelong Point, in Sydney, Australia. Famous for its geometric roof shells, the structure contains several large auditoriums and presents an average of 3,000 events a year to an estimated two Million individuals. -1973.
Moammar Gadhafi, the longest-serving leader in Africa and the Arab world, is captured and killed by rebel forces near his hometown of Sirte. The eccentric 69-year-old dictator, who came to power in a 1969 coup, led a government that was accused of numerous human rights violations against its own people and was linked to terrorist attacks, including the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. – 2011.
October 21
Approximately 100,000 demonstrators, including radicals, liberals, black nationalists, hippies, professors, women’s groups, and war veterans, rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and march on the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. – 1967.
October 22
In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, U.S. president John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites, under construction, but nearing completion, housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C.. – 1962.
The first parachute jump of note is made by André-Jacques Garnerin from a hydrogen balloon 3,200 feet above Paris. – 1797.
October 23
A suicide bomber drives a truck filled with 2,000 pounds of explosives into a U.S. Marine Corps barracks at the Beirut International Airport. The explosion kills 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers. A few minutes after that bomb went off, a second bomber drives into the basement of the nearby French paratroopers’ barracks and kills 58 more military members. President Ronald Reagan pulled troops out of Lebanon. – 1983.
Postal workers Joseph Cursseen and Thomas Morris die after inhaling anthrax at the Brentwood mail sorting center in Washington, D.C.. Other postal workers are made ill. Letters containing the deadly spores had been addressed to U.S. Senate offices and media outlets. – 2001.
October 24
A 63-year-old schoolteacher, Annie Edson Taylor, becomes the first known person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel. – 1901.
The first U.S. federal minimum wage, 25¢ an hour, takes effect, thanks to enactment of the Depression-era Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA). The law required an increase to 30¢ an hour one year from this date, and to 40¢ an hour on this date in 1945. The FLSA established the 40-hour work week and forbade child labor in factories. – 1938.
Less than two months after the end of World War II, the United Nations is formally established with the ratification of the United Nations Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of other signatories. – 1945.
Sources: History.com, Toil and Trouble, by Thomas R. Brooks; American Labor Struggles, by Samuel Yellen; IWW calendar, Solidarity Forever; Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, edited by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan; Southwest Labor History Archives/George Meany Center; Geov Parrish’s Radical History; workday Minnesota; Andy Richards and Adam Wright, AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council.