History of 4 October
1909 – The first airship race in the U.S. took place in St. Louis, MO.
1915 – The Dinosaur National Monument was established. The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.
1927 – The first actual work of carving began on Mount Rushmore.
1931 – The comic strip “Dick Tracy” made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror. The strip was created by Chester Gould.
1933 – “Esquire” magazine was published for the first time.
1940 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met in the Alps at Brenner Pass. Hitler was seeking help from Italy to fight the British.
1948 – The Railroad Hour” debuted on ABC radio.
1953 – “I Led Three Lives” was first seen in syndication. The TV show was never on the network.
1954 – “December Bride” debuted on CBS-TV.
1956 – “Playhouse 90” debuted on CBS-TV.
1957 – “Leave it to Beaver” debuted on CBS-TV.
1957 – The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik was the first manmade satellite to enter space. Sputnik, I fell out of orbit on January 4, 1958.
1958 – British Overseas Airways Corporation became the first jetliner to offer trans-Atlantic service to passengers with flights between London, England and New York.
1959 – The first World Series to be played west of St. Louis began in Los Angeles, CA.
1965 – Pope Paul VI addressed the U.N. General Assembly and became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere.
1976 – Barbara Walters joined Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the “ABC Evening News” for the first time.
1981 – Bruce Jenner and Harry Belafonte debuted in their first dramatic roles in NBC-TV’s “Grambling’s White Tiger”.
1987 – NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player’s strike.
1990 – The German parliament had its first meeting since reunification.
1992 – The 16-year civil war in Mozambique ended.
1993 – Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.
1993 – Dozens of Somalis dragged an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. A videotape showed Michael Durant being taken prisoner by Somali militants.
1994 – South African President Nelson Mandela was welcomed to the White House by U.S. President Clinton.
1997 – Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.
1998 – The Vincent Van Gogh exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit featured 70 paintings.
1998 – Davis Gaines performed as the Phantom in the show “Phantom of the Opera” for the 2,000th time.
2001 – NATO granted the United States open access to their airfields and seaports and agreed to deploy ships and early-warning radar planes in the war on terrorism.
2001 – Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s major league record. Bonds also moved past Reggie Jackson on the all-time list with his 564th career home run.
2001 – Rickey Henderson (San Diego Padres) scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb’s major league record.
2001 – In Washington, DC, Reagan National Airport re-opened. The airport had been closed since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
2004 – SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 368,000 feet. It was the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice within a two-week window. The ship won the Ansari X Prize of $10 million dollars for their success.
2006 – WikiLeaks is launched.
2010 – The Ajka plant accident Hungary releases a million cubic meters of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring 122, and severely contaminating two major rivers.
2017 – Nigerien and U.S. Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Shaura, Japanese singer
- 1981 – Justin Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Tony Gwynn, Jr., American baseball player
- 1982 – Jered Weaver, American baseball player
- 1983 – Dan Clarke, English race car driver
- 1983 – Marios Nicolaou, Cypriot footballer
- 1983 – Chansi Stuckey, American football player
- 1983 – Kurt Suzuki, American baseball player
- 1983 – Vicky Krieps, Luxembourgish actress
- 1984 – Lena Katina, Russian singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Álvaro Parente, Portuguese race car driver
- 1984 – Karolina Tymińska, Polish heptathlete
- 1985 – Shontelle, Barbadian singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Thorsten Wiedemann, German rugby player
- 1987 – Rawez Lawan, Swedish footballer
- 1987 – Will Puddy, English footballer
- 1987 – Marina Weisband, German politician
- 1988 – Melissa Benoist, American actress, and singer
- 1988 – Caner Erkin, Turkish footballer
- 1988 – Evgeni Krasnopolski, Israeli figure skater
- 1988 – Derrick Rose, American basketball player
- 1989 – Dakota Johnson, American model, and actress
- 1990 – Signy Aarna, Estonian footballer
- 1995 – Mikolas Josef, Czech Republic singer, and songwriter