On October 24, 1931, the George Washington Bridge, connecting Fort Lee, NJ with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, is dedicated. It is the first bridge crossing the Hudson River, and until the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge was opened to pedestrian traffic on its dedication, and vehicular traffic the following day. Built with 8 lanes, the two center which are reversible, the bridge was modernized and a second deck with 6 vehicular lanes and pedestrian lanes added in the 1960's. (Called the Fort Lee Bridge during construction, the name was changed to commemorate Gen. Washington having defended positions near both ends of the bridge during the Revolution) The "GW" is the busiest bridge in the world, used by roughly 1.4 million vehicles a year. (1956 photo, with the USS Nautilus passing underneath) On October 24, 1960, a R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad (below) at the Baikonur Cosmodrone in the Soviet Union. An investigation blamed a short circuit that caused a second stage engine to ignite during a test. Soviet officials covered up the actual death toll (and did not even acknowledge the event had occurred until 1989), which may have been anywhere from 100-300, and included Mitrofan Nedelin, the Soviet Army's Chief Marshall of Artillery. Three years later to the day - October 24, 1963 - a R9 Dresda (NATO designation SS-8) ballistic missile caught fire while being fueled in its launch silo at Baikonur. Technicians did not realize an oxygen leak was underway, which was ignited by a spark in an electrical panel. Seven people were killed. Since then, October 24th is known as "Baikonur's Black Day" in the Russian space program, and no launches are ever scheduled for that date. On October 24, 1926, American illusionist/escape artist Harry Houdini gives his last public performance. Born Eric Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, his family emigrated to the U.S. in 1876 when he was 2 years old. By age 9, he was performing as a trapeze artist around his Appleton, WI home, and debuted as a professional magician at age 16, taking the name Harry Houdini to honor a French magician he admired named Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. Though never renowned as a skilled magician, Houdini astounded audiences with his ability to free himself from a standard pair of police handcuffs. He gradually expanded his escape repertoire to include chains, ropes, straightjackets and sealed containers, often suspended in the air or immersed in a container of water to heighten the danger/drama. He was ill and in great pain from a broken ankle when he gave his final performance at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, and died (famously, on Halloween) a week later of peritonitis at age 52. (Houdini about to leap into the Charles River in Boston while cuffed and shackled, 1908)
On October 25, 1971, the People's Republic of China replaces the Republic of China in the United Nations. A charter member, China's place in the UN became muddled when Communist forces overthrew the democratically-elected government in 1949. President Chiang Kai-shek (below) and his cabinet fled to the island of Taiwan, establishing a government-in-exile. From that moment forward, debate raged in the UN as to whether to recognize the ROC or the PRC, or both. On its 21st application for admission, the PRC was officially recognized as "China" by the UN, which also declared Taiwan as a part of China. The ROC government on Taiwan has failed in several attempts to be recognized as its own nation since then. On October 25, 1812, the USS United States, commanded by Stephen Decatur, captures the HMS Macedonian south of the Azores. Decatur and the Macedonian's captain John Carden were actually friends before the War of 1812 broke out, with Carden proposing a beaver hat be forfeited to the winner if the two should ever meet in battle. Fast forward to 10/25/12, and in a little less than 3 hours, the United States (Decatur having the advantage of guns with longer range) demasted the Macedonian and forced Carden's surrender. After two weeks of laying alongside for repairs, Decatur escorted the Macedonian into New York Harbor, to high praise from President James Madison. The Macedonian was refitted and served for 16 years in the U.S. Navy. I can't find any reference as to whether Carden actually paid off the wager. On October 25, 1999, a Learjet carrying popular pro golfer Payne Stewart from his home in Orlando, FL to The Tour Championship in Houston strays off course and crashes in South Dakota, killing Stewart and the other 5 people aboard. A NTSB investigation found the jet's cabin failed to pressurized, asphyxiating everyone on board. The plane continued on autopilot until it ran out of fuel. Stewart won 24 tournaments in his career (and was defending U.S. Open champion at the time of his death) but was perhaps better known for his flamboyant wardrobe, wearing caps and "knickerbocker"-style pants reminiscent of traditional 19th century golf attire. He was ranked 3rd on the PGA's all-time money earnings list at the time of his death. The Tour Championship was postponed to allow players to attend Stewart's memorial, and when rescheduled, many players wore shorts for the final round to honor him, while good friend Stuart Appelby wore one of his famed outfits.
As I understand it, they were flying a course that kept them over land instead of crossing the Gulf. So they started north, but everyone was dead before they got out of Florida airspace and made the turn west.
On October 29, 2004, the Qatar-based Muslim news network Al Jazeera releases a 18-minute tape that includes a statement by Osama bin Laden, founder and leader of the terrorist network Al-Qaeda. In his remarks, bin Laden (for the first time) publicly claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., and warned American leaders that "the best way to avoid another Manhattan" (a reference to 9/11) was to not threaten the security of Muslim nations. News analysts believed the timing of the video's release was meant to affect the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election 4 days later - the statement included several references to President George W. Bush but also mentioned his election opponent, Democratic Party nominee John Kerry. On October 29, 1995, an attempt is made on the life of President Bill Clinton. Francisco Martin Duran, a New Mexico native who had been dishonorably discharged from the Army two years earlier, walked up to the fence of the White House grounds off Pennsylvania Avenue, produced a semi-automatic rifle from under the trench coat he was wearing, and fired between 24 and 29 shots at a group of business suit-wearing men on the grounds. No one was hit, and a passer-by wrestled Duran to the ground and held until Secret Service agents appeared. Two boys who witnessed the shooting told police they had remarked that one of the men who were targeted looked like President Clinton just before Duran began shooting; Clinton was in fact in the residence watching a football game on TV. Duran is serving a 40-year sentence in a high security prison in Virginia. (Clinton with Hitler, 2000) On October 29, 1964, NYC's American Museum of Natural History is plundered in America's largest jewel heist ever. The target was a jewel collection loaned to the museum for display by J.P. Morgan, and included the Star of India (below), one of the world's largest sapphires at more than 550 carats. Career burglar Jack Roland "Murph the Surf" Murphy (his nickname came from his having been a champion surfer) and two others pulled off the heist after casing the museum and noting that security was laughably lax; the alarm systems were faulty and the building's windows were left ajar at night. The trio climbed in through one of the windows and made off with 24 jewels. They were caught two days later and released on bail, but when Murphy and one of his accomplices (Alan Kuhn) were arrested for an assault and burglery of actress Eva Gabor in Miami months later, Kuhn agreed to reveal the location of the hidden jewels in exchange for a lighter sentence. The Star of India was hidden in a locker in a Miami bus terminal; all of the jewels were recovered except for a 16 carat diamond called the Eagle, which investigators believe had already been sold and cut into smaller stones.
On October 31, 1941, construction is halted on the Shrine of Democracy Memorial, on Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, due to lack of funding. The Shrine was conceived by American sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who also chose the four Presidents to be depicted in stone on the 5,700 foot mountain: George Washington (to represent the nation's birth), Thomas Jefferson (representing growth), Theodore Roosevelt (development) and Abraham Lincoln (preservation). Borglum originally conceived the presidents would be depicted from their head down to the waist (left photo shows a mockup). South Dakota Senator Peter Norbeck spearheaded the federal funding and work began in 1927, but Congress ceased funding the project in 1937, leaving enough money to complete only the 60-feet tall heads. Borglum died in March, 1941 and his son Lincoln completed the project. Nick Clifford, the last of about 400 carvers to work on Mt. Rushmore (there were no fatalities during construction despite the height and extensive use of dynamite), died in 2019. The Sioux Nation has claimed ownership of the Black Hills since before the project began. The Supreme Court agreed in 1980 and offered $102 million in compensation, but the Sioux rejected the offer and continue to demand the return of the land. On October 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway is dedicated. It is one of the first transcontinental highways in the U.S. and the first specifically designed for automobiles. Originally passing through 13 states, the Lincoln's official termini are 42nd Street at Times Square in NYC (street sign at 42nd and Broadway) and Lincoln Park in San Francisco (marker in the park). Its route has changed a few times over the years, and it is now mostly Interstate 80. But the highway is marked in a variety of ways over its 3,142 mile length (Lincoln Monument in Wyoming) and several segments are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On November 1, 1982, American Honda Motor Co. becomes the first Asian-based company to produce automobiles in America, with the opening of its assembly plant in Marysville, OH. Soichiro Honda founded Honda Motor Co. in 1948 producing motorcycles. By 1959 Honda was the world's largest producer of motorcycles, and opened its North American subsidiary, American Honda, that same year, based in LA with just 3 employees. They were strictly an importer of motorcycles and cars (beginning in 1963) until 1979, when they began building motorcycles in Marysville. The first cars produced in the U.S. were Honda's popular Accord model; the company now produces more than 1.25 million cars in America per year, as well as parts and other products. On November 1, 1957, the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan opens to traffic. At more than 26,000 feet long, "Big Mac" is currently the 27th longest suspension bridge in the world, but at its dedication, state officials were looking for something truly noteworthy to brag about. They found it in the bridge's length between anchorages; at 8,600 feet, it was longest suspension between anchorages in the world at the time (the Golden Gate has a longer center span, but one of its towers is on dry land), and is still longest in the Western Hemisphere today. The bridge spans the Straits of Mackinac, connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron, and is the first connection created between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. On November 1, 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America introduces its first film rating system. Since 1927, Hollywood had followed the "Hays Code" (named for film producer/distributor Will Hays), but it was mostly a list of "don'ts" and "be careful abouts" that guided film makers, and by the mid 60's many producers were pushing the envelope too far for the public's comfort. The MPA's first ratings were "G" for general audience, "M" for mature audience (replaced by PG for "parental guidance suggested" in 1970), "R" for restricted for viewers under age 16 unless accompanied by an adult, and "X" for positively no viewers under 16. The age restrictions were upped to 17 in 1970. In 1984, the rating "PG-13" was added to cover films with content more "adult" in nature than the usual PG film but not warranting an "R." In 1990, "X" was replaced by "NC 17" to remove the stigma of pornography from the most graphic of films (A Clockwork Orange and Midnight Cowboy were among the more famous "X-rated" films that were not pornographic in nature).
On November 4, 1921, the security wing of Germany's Nazi Party earns its infamous nickname. The party held a large rally in Munich that night, at which the principal speaker was Adolph Hitler, then an up and coming party official. The event attracted numerous German Communists and other opponents of the Nazis, and when these factions began rioting, the party's Saalschutz Abteilung (hall defense detachment) decisively defeated the dissenters. Hitler promptly renamed the SA the Stermabteilung (storm detachment or "storm troopers") a designation sometimes used in the WWI German army to denote small commando-type units, but which would gain its most notorious reputation when applied to the WWII SA. On November 4, 1973, the citizenry of The Netherlands parks its cars. Two months earlier, OPEC announced its embargo of oil to any nation that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The resulting world-wide oil crisis was met in a variety of ways around the globe. Perhaps the most unique method came from The Netherlands, which instituted "car free Sundays." November 4 was the first; with the exception of emergency vehicles and trucks delivering necessities, private and public motorized transportation was banned from the nation's roads, and citizens resorted to travelling by bike, roller skate, and in some instances, horses. "Car free Sundays" went on for 3 months, and were generally well-accepted by the Dutch people. On November 4, 1960, anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall makes an astounding observation. Goodall had been studying chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe National Park for several months when she sees two chimps, named David Graybeard and Goliath (Goodall broke from zoological tradition by naming the primates she studied rather than giving them numbers), stripping the leaves from twigs, which they then stuck in to termite mounds, creating termite "fishing poles." The use of tools by primates had been rarely observed before, and this event marked the first time a human observed a primate actually making a tool, a skill until then seen as strictly "human behavior" by anthropologists.
On November 5, 1895, the first U.S. patent for the automobile is issued....to George Selden. I know, right? Selden was a Civil War vet and Yale Law School grad (specializing in patent law) who preferred getting his hands dirty. He already held a couple of patents when he turned his attention to automobiles. His contribution was a modification to a gasoline engine invented by a George Brayton, making it small enough to be useful in a car. Selden applied for a patent on the modification in 1879, but used his knowledge of patent law to delay its issuance until 1895, when cars were first hitting the main stream. He founded the Selden Automobile Company in Rochester, NY, but soon found himself embroiled in a lawsuit with Henry Ford. Selden won the original case but lost on appeal, and by 1911 was legally limited to only selling cars that used his particular engine modification. His company was eventually absorbed by a competitor, and he died in 1922. (Selden at the wheel of his company's car)
