TIME TRAVELING, September 30: 1630 John Billington is hanged for murder, becoming the first criminal to be executed in the American colonies. 1789 The privately owned “Columbia” leaves Boston under the command of John Kendrick, along with Captain Robert Gray, beginning a trip that would make it the first American vessel to sail around the world. 1868 Spain’s Queen Isabella II is deposed after 25 years on the throne and flees to France. 1868 The first volume of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved children’s book “Little Women” is published. 1882 The world’s first hydroelectric power plant begins operating in Appleton, Wis. 1918 As the Senate hesitates to pass the 19th amendment, President Woodrow Wilson gives a speech before Congress in support of guaranteeing women the right to vote. 1927 George Herman “Babe” Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season, breaking his own record. The record will stand until it is broken by Roger Maris in 1961. 1946 During an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, 22 top Nazi leaders are found guilty of war crimes. 1949 The Berlin Airlift comes to an end after 15 months, 250,000 flights, and the delivery of 2.3 million tons of food into the western sector of Berlin despite a Soviet blockade of ground traffic. 1951 “The Red Skelton Show” debuts on NBC TV. 1954 The U.S. Navy commissions the “Nautilus” submarine, the first atomic-powered vessel, at Groton, Conn. 1955 Actor James Dean, 24, is killed in Cholame, Calif., when the Porsche Spyder he is driving hits a Ford Tudor sedan at an intersection. (Only one of Dean’s movies, “East of Eden,” had been released at the time of his death; “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” opened shortly afterward.) 1962 On his fourth attempt, black student James Meredith succeeds in entering the campus of the segregated University of Mississippi, setting off a riot in which two people are killed before the racial violence is quelled by more than 3,000 federal troops authorized by President John F. Kennedy. The next day, Meredith formally registers and begins attending classes. 1964 The first large-scale antiwar demonstration in the United States is staged at the University of California at Berkeley by students and faculty opposed to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. 1966 Albert Speer, Nazi minister of armaments, and Baldur von Schirach, founder of Hitler Youth, are released at midnight from Spandau Prison in western Berlin after completing their 20-year sentences. 1976 California enacts the Natural Death Act of California, the first right-to-die legislation in the U.S. 1982 The TV sitcom “Cheers” begins an 11-year run on NBC TV. 1984 After a 20-month absence, “Doonesbury” by Gary Trudeau returns to the comic pages. 1984 107 Moslem extremists are sentenced to prison for their actions during and after the October 6, 1981, assassination of Egyptian president President Anwar Sadat in Cairo, Egypt. 1987 In a shake-up at the Kremlin, General Secretary of the Communist Party Mikhail S. Gorbachev retires Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei A. Gromyko from the Politburo and fires other old-guard leaders. 1992 George Brett of the Kansas City Royals makes his 3,000th career hit during a game against the California Angels. 1993 U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell retires. 1993 An estimated 10,000 people are killed in India when an earthquake measuring 6.4 strikes the southern part of the country. 1997 France’s Roman Catholic Church apologizes for its silence during the persecution and deportation of Jews during Marshal Philippe Pètain’s pro-Nazi Vichy regime. 1999 Large doses of radiation escape a nuclear facility in Tokaimura, Japan, after workers accidentally set off an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. One person is killed, 49 are injured, and thousands of others are forcibly confined to their homes for several days.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 09:42:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015