Today in History - October 31st


  • 834 - On this day in history, the first All Hallows Eve (Halloween) was observed to honor the saints.
  • 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 - Today in history, Nevada became the 36th state of the Union.
  • 1876 - A monster cyclone ravaged India, resulting in over 200,000 human deaths.

  • 1892 - On this day in history, Arthur Conan Doyle published The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
  • 1941 - Work on the Mount Rushmore monument was completed, today in history.
  • 1938 - Great Depression: To restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveiled a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
  • 1952 - The United States detonated its first hydrogen bomb. 
  • 1956 - On this day in history, 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. 
  • 1968 - President Johnson ordered a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam.  
  • 1984 - Today in history, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
  • 1992 - Pope John Paul II admitted that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in convicting Galileo of heresy 350 years earlier.
  • 2001 - Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to settle the antitrust case against the software company.
  • 2002 - On this day in history, a federal grand jury in Houston, Texas formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
  • 2011 - The world population reached 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nation, today in history.

MUSIC HISTORY - Today in History, October 31st

  • 1964 - Barbra Streisand's "People," album went #1 for 5 weeks.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS - October 31st

  • 1887 - Chiang Kai-shek, President of Nationalist China.
  • 1931 - Dan Rather, American journalist and news anchor (CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes).
  • 1936 - Michael Landon, actor (Bonanza, Highway to Heaven).
  • 1967 - Vanilla Ice, American rapper (Ice Ice Baby) and actor (Cool as Ice).