History of 15 October
1914 – The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed by the U.S. Congress.
1931 – “Cat and the Fiddle” opened in New York for the first of 395 performances.
1937 – “To Have and Have Not” by Ernest Hemingway was published for the first time.
1939 – New York Municipal Airport was dedicated. The name was later changed to La Guardia Airport.
1945 – Pierre Laval, the former premier of Vichy France, was executed for treason.
1946 – Hermann Goering, a Nazi war criminal and founder of the Gestapo, poisoned himself just hours before his scheduled execution.
1951 – “I Love Lucy” premiered on CBS-TV.
1953 – “Teahouse of the August Moon” opened on Broadway. It ran for 1,027 performances.
1964 – It was announced that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had been removed from power. He was replaced with Alexei N. Kosygin.
1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill creating the Department of Transportation.
1966 – In Illinois, Cahokia Mounds was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
1966 – The First Bank of the United States was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1973 – “Tomorrow” debuted on NBC-TV.
1983 – U.S. Marines killed five snipers who had pinned them down in Beirut International Airport.
1984 – The Freedom of Information Act was passed.
1989 – South African officials released eight prominent political prisoners.
1989 – Wayne Gretzky, while playing for the Los Angeles Kings, surpassed Gordie Howe’s NHL scoring record of 1,850 career points.
1993 – U.S. President Clinton sent warships to enforce trade sanctions that had been imposed on Haitian military rulers.
1993 – South Africa’s President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress President Nelson Mandela were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the apartheid system in South Africa.
1997 – British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green broke the land-speed record by driving a jet-powered car faster than the speed of sound.
1997 – The Cassini-Huygens mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL. On January 14, 2005, a probe sent back pictures of Saturn’s moon Titan during and after landing.
1998 – The U.N. condemned the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba for the seventh year in a row.
2001 – NASA’s Galileo spacecraft passed within 112 miles of Jupiter’s moon Io.
2011 – Legoland Florida opened in Winter Haven, Florida.
2013 – The 7.2 Mw Bohol earthquake strikes the Philippines. At least 215 dies.
2016 – One hundred ninety-seven nations amend the Montreal Protocol to include a phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Keyshia Cole, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1981 – Elena Dementieva, a Russian tennis player
- 1981 – Radoslav Židek, Slovak snowboarder
- 1982 – Paulini, Fijian-Australian singer
- 1982 – Sachiko Yamada, Japanese swimmer
- 1983 – Bruno Senna, Brazilian race car driver
- 1983 – Stephy Tang, Hong Kong singer
- 1984 – Izale McLeod, English footballer
- 1984 – Johan Voskamp, Dutch footballer
- 1984 – Jessie Ware, English singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Arron Afflalo, American basketball player
- 1985 – Walter Alberto López, Uruguayan footballer
- 1985 – Marcos Martínez, Spanish race car driver
- 1986 – Lee Donghae, South Korean singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Carlo Janka, Swiss skier
- 1986 – Nolito, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Jesse Levine, Canadian-American tennis player
- 1987 – Chantal Strand, Canadian voice actress, and singer
- 1987 – Ott Tänak, Estonian race car driver
- 1988 – Lassy Mbouity, Congolese writer and politician
- 1988 – Mesut Özil, German footballer
- 1989 – Blaine Gabbert, American football player
- 1989 – Leandro Antonio Martínez, Argentinian-Italian footballer
- 1989 – Anthony Joshua, British professional boxer
- 1990 – Jeon Ji-Yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter, and dancer
- 1994 – Lil’ Kleine, Dutch rapper
- 1995 – Jakob Pöltl, Austrian basketball player
- 1996 – Zelo, South Korean rapper, and dancer
- 1996 – Charly Musonda, Belgian footballer
- 1999 – Bailee Madison, American actress