Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1517

Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

1864

Nevada became the 36th state to join the U.S.

1868

Postmaster General Alexander Williams Randall approved a standard uniform for postal carriers.

1922

Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy.

1938

The day after his ''War of the Worlds'' broadcast had panicked radio listeners, Orson Welles expressed ''deep regret'' but also bewilderment that anyone had thought the simulated Martian invasion was real.

1940

The British air victory in the Battle of Britain prevented Germany from invading Britain.

1941

The U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German submarine near Iceland. The U.S. had not yet entered World War II. More than 100 men were killed.

1941

Mount Rushmore was declared complete after 14 years of work. At the time the 60-foot busts of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were finished.

1952

The U.S. detonated its first hydrogen bomb.

1954

The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) began a revolt against French rule.

1955

Britain's Princess Margaret announced she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend.

1956

Rear Admiral G.J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. Dufek also became the first person to set foot on the South Pole.

1959

Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, TX, announced that he would never return to the U.S. At the time he was in Moscow, Russia.

1968

President Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.

1969

Wal-Mart Discount City stores were incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

1981

Antiqua and Barbuda became independent of Great Britain.

1983

The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged that during the U.S. led invasion of Grenada, that a U.S. Navy plane had mistakenly bombed a civilian hospital.

1984

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards. Her son, Rajiv, was sworn in as prime minister.

1992

It was announced that five American nuns in Liberia had been shot to death near the capital Monrovia; the killings were blamed on rebels loyal to Charles Taylor.

1993

Actor River Phoenix died at the age of 23 after collapsing outside The Viper Room in Hollywood.

1994

68 people were killed when an American Eagle ATR-72, plunged into a northern Indiana farm.

1997

Louise Woodward, British au pair, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. She was released after her sentence was reduced to manslaughter.

1998

Iraq announced that it was halting all dealings with U.N. arms inspectors. The inspectors were investigating the country's weapons of mass destruction stemming from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

1999

EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.

1999

Leaders from the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The event ended a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.

2001

Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to settle the antitrust case againt the software company.

1795

English poet John Keats was born in London.

1860

Juliette Low, the founder off the Girl Scouts, was born.

1887

Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek was born. He was the first constitutional President of the Republic of China.

1926

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz) died in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. He was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts.

1991

Theatrical producer Joseph Papp died in New York at age 70.

2000

Oscar-winning screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. died at age 85.