Today in History October 1

331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.

1588 – Coronation of Shah Abbas I of Persia.

1791 – First session of the French Legislative Assembly.

1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoleon the previous spring.

1890 – Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.

1891 – Stanford University opens its doors in California.

1908 – Ford Model T automobiles are offered for sale at a price of US$825.

1910 – A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building, killing 21.

The battle of union organizers versus big business owners, including the Los Angeles Times often dealt in violence on many levels.

1928 – The Soviet Union introduces its first five-year plan.

1931 – The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.

1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.

1946 – Nazi leaders are sentenced at the Nuremberg trials.

1946 – The Daegu October Incident, an upringing against the United States Army Military Government in Korea occurs in Allied-occupied Korea.

1946 – Mensa International is founded.

1957 – First appearance of ‘In God We Trust’ on U.S. paper currency.

1961 – The US Defense Intelligence Agency is formed, becoming the country’s first centralized military intelligence organization.

1964 – Japanese Shinkansen aka ‘bullet trains’ begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.

1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.

	Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee

1975 – Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila

1982 – Sony and Phillips launch the compact disc in Japan. On the same day, Sony released the model CDP-101 compact disc player, the first player of its kind.

2015 – Heavy rains trigger a landslide in Guatemala, killing 280 people.

2017 – Fifty-eight people are killed and 851 others injured in a mass shooting on a music festival in Las Vegas.

1207 – Henry III of England (d. 1272)

1730 – Richard Stockton, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1781)

1808 – Mary Anna Custis Lee, American wife of Robert E. Lee (d. 1873) Mary Anna’s great grandmother was Martha Washington.

1881 – William Boeing, American engineer and businessman, founded the Boeing Company (d. 1956)

1903 – Vladimir Horowitz, Ukrainian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)

1914 – Daniel J. Boorstin, 12th Librarian of Congress (d. 2004)

1920 – Walter Matthau, American actor (d. 2000)

1924 – Jimmy Carter, 39th President, Nobel Prize laureate

1924 – William Rehnquist, 16th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 2005)

1935 – Julie Andrews, English actress and singer

1956 – Theresa May, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

686 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan (b. 631)

1310 – Beatrice of Burgundy, Lady of Bourbon (b. 1257)

1985 – E. B. White, American essayist and journalist (b. 1899)

2002 – Walter Annenberg, Publisher and diplomat, Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1908)

2004 – Richard Avedon, American photographer (b. 1923)

2013 – Tom Clancy, American author (b. 1947)