On October 14, 1962, photographs taken by a U-2 spy plane reveal the presence of Soviet-made medium-range missiles —capable of carrying nuclear warheads— in Cuba, just 90 miles off the American coastline. They will be presented to President Kennedy two days later, touching off the Cuban Missile Crisis. On October 14, 1892, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, is published. Doyle's first story about his fictional detective creation, "A Study In Scarlet," was published in a Christmas annual 5 years earlier. Holmes was partially based on one of Doyle's medical school professors, who preached diagnosing ailments through observation of the symptoms and deductive reason. Never a successful doctor himself, Doyle wrote a series of Holmes stories in his spare time for The Strand magazine, which did so well he was able to give up his medical practice and begin writing full time. The book was the first collection of previously-published Holmes stories. On October 14, 1918, Corporal Adolf Hitler is temporarily blinded by a British gas shell at the Battle of the Ypres Salient in Belgium and is evacuated to a German military hospital in Pomerania. Having been turned down for military service in his native Austria as physically unfit, Hitler enlisted in the German army in 1914. He earned the Iron Cross at the First Battle of Ypres, was wounded in the leg in 1916, and would earn several more citations for bravery, including the Iron Cross 1st Class for “personal bravery and general merit” in August 1918 for single-handedly capturing a group of French soldiers hiding in a shell hole during the final German offensive on the Western Front. Germany surrendered to the Allies while Hitler was convalescing from the gas shell wound.
On October 15, 1991, after a bitter confirmation hearing, the Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. He fills the seat previously held by Thurgood Marshall, maintaining an African-American presence on the nation's highest court. Thomas seemed headed for an easy confirmation until Anita Hill, a former aide, stepped forward and accused him of sexual harassment. Four days of televised testimony from Hill followed, and many observers were angered that she seemed to garner no sympathy from the all-male Judiciary Committee. Thomas maintained his innocence throughout and was eventually confirmed, remaining to this day a firm conservative voice on the Court. Hill is a college professor and activist for women's rights. To this day, she has never recanted her accusations against Thomas. On October 15, 1863, the H.L. Hunley, a Confederate submarine on its third test run, sinks in Charleston Harbor, killing its inventor and seven crew members. A mishap on the previous test had claimed two additional lives, but the Confederate leadership maintains its faith in the experimental vessel, raising it and assembling another, volunteer crew to send it into combat. The Hunley would become the first submarine to sink a surface vessel the following February, but sank again - for the last time - during its return trip to port. It was raised in 2000 and is on display in Charleston. On October 15, 1946, Hermann Göring, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, head of the Gestapo and Hitler's designated successor, takes his own life the night before his scheduled execution. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring also directed the Nazi programs to round up and imprison Jews in nation's overrun by the Nazis. Sentenced to die by hanging following the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials (his request for a military firing squad was denied), Göring took cyanide in his prison cell, possibly obtained by bribing a prison guard.
On October 16, 1934, embattled Chinese Communists break through Nationalist enemy lines and begin an epic flight from their encircled headquarters in southwest China. Civil war between the Communists and Nationalists had been ongoing since 1927, but defeat for the Communists - who had recently deposed Mao Zedong as party leader - appeared imminent. On the 16th, about 86,000 Communist troops, bringing along an additional 15,000 civilian followers, break through a weak point in the Nationalist lines and begin the Ch’ang Cheng—the “Long March." It will end 368 days and 6,000 miles later at the Great Wall of China, the longest military retreat in history. Only 4,000 complete the journey, including Mao, who regains power in the process. On October 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette kneels before the guillotine. Her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, preceded her in execution nine months earlier. The daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, she married Louis in 1770 to strengthen the French-Austrian alliance. At a time of economic turmoil in France, she lived extravagantly and encouraged her husband to resist reform of the monarchy. In one episode, she allegedly responded to news that the French peasantry had no bread to eat by callously replying, “Let them eat cake.” The increasing revolutionary uproar convinced the king and queen to attempt an escape to Austria in 1791, but they were captured by revolutionary forces and carried back to Paris. In 1792, the French monarchy was abolished, and Louis and Marie-Antoinette were condemned for treason. On October 16, 1946, 10 high-ranking Nazi officials, convicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremburg, are executed by hanging for their crimes against humanity and peace during World War II. They include Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi minister of foreign affairs; Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior; and Alfred Rosenberg, head of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Others, including Rudolf Hess, Hitler's former deputy, were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life. Three others were acquitted. Hermann Göring, founder of the Gestapo and chief of the German air force, cheated the hangman by killing himself in his cell the night before. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann was condemned to death in absentia; he is now known to have died in Berlin around the end of the war.
On October 17, 1943, Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Nazi Holocaust, orders the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland closed and dismantled. Estimates of the death toll from Sobibor range from 170,000 to 250,000, making it the 4th deadliest of the Nazi concentration camps. Three days earlier, the camp's permanent population of 600 (kept alive for slave labor) revolted, killing 12 of their SS guards, Roughly 300 escaped, 58 of whom are known to have survived the war. The camp was built to match the quaint architecture of the region and disguise its true purpose. On its closure, the buildings were removed and the entire footprint planted over as a pine forest. It is currently being excavated by Polish and Russian historians.
On October 18, 1972, the first Clean Water Act is enacted into law. Numerous consequences of America's mistreatment of its waterways had begun appearing in the 1960's, most notably the incidents of pollutants in the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland catching on fire. When Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, it was clear that mitigating water pollution would be a top priority. Still, Nixon vetoed the CWA of '72 as being too expensive. Congress overrode the veto, bringing the Act into law. On October 18, 1469, Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile, beginning a cooperative reign that would unite all the dominions of Spain (converting the population from Judaism and Islam to Christianity, with the Spanish Inquisition as enforcement) and elevate the nation to a dominant world power (financing colonialism through expeditions such as Columbus' ventures to the Americas). On October 18, 1927, American inventor R. Buckminster Fuller applies for a patent for his Dymaxion. The vehicle is reminiscent of a modern van; 20 feet long, with seating for 11. But it is 3-wheeled, can go 120 mph while getting 30 miles per gallon, has an extremely tight turning circle, and in its original design, had wings that would automatically deploy at top speed and allow the Dymaxion to fly. The prototype was a sensation and Americans clamored for the opportunity to buy one - until it was involved in a fatal collision with another car. Although investigators determined the other driver was at fault, investors became concerned that the Dymaxion was difficult to handle with its 3-wheel configuration, and it never went into mass production.
Meant to do this one on the 16th, but I forgot.... On October 16, 1972, a twin-engine plane carrying U.S. Congressman Hale Boggs, House Majority Leader from Louisiana (representing the New Orleans area),and Congressman Nick Begich of Alaska, disappears on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. Boggs was helping Begich with political fundraisers. No trace of the plane or passengers is ever found; both are declared dead on November 24, and both are re-elected posthumously the following January (Boggs' wife, Lindy, won a special election to fill the seat and would be re-elected 8 times). Hale Boggs served 13 terms in Congress; his House Majority Leader ranking is the highest position in the U.S. government ever held by a Louisiana politician.
On October 19, 1864, the Union Army scores a come-from-behind victory over the Confederates at the Battle of Cedar Creek. Rebel forces under General Jubal Early had been winning consistently in the Shenandoah Valley throughout the summer until U.S. Grant sent General Philip Sheridan to take command of Union troops in the region. But Sheridan was on the road from Washington returning from a conference when Early's forces attacked at Cedar Creek on the morning of the 19th. His men had been pushed back 3 miles and were in full route by the time Sheridan reached Winchester, VA, 12 miles from the battlefield. Sheridan pushed his mount for a quick return, rallying the retreating troops he met along the way. By the time he reached Cedar Creek, he had reorganized his command on the fly and led a brilliant counterattack that pushed back the Rebs and captured their artillery. Early's army never mounted another serious offensive in the Shenandoah Valley. On October 19, 1996, Rush opens its Test For Echo tour, playing for 9,727 in Albany, NY's Knickerbocker Arena. This show marks the first time that an entire tour is planned in the "An Evening With...." format; no opening act, and a longer set, allowing them to begin reintroducing older, perhaps forgotten material onstage. The trio will never again have an opening act. This is also the beginning of what was almost Rush's last tour. The following August, Neil's daughter Selena is killed in a car crash; at her funeral, Neil tells bandmates Alex and Geddy to "consider me retired." It will actually be a 5-year sabbatical. (below: Neil during the TFE tour)
Not even close. If you can find it, see their doc "Time Stand Still." You will see fans who make me look like a disinterested bystander.
