In 1415, the English led by King Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt. About 60,000 French were involved in this battle, and about 12,000 English. Longbows and strategic positioning were key elements in the victory for the English. About 400 casualties were suffered on the English side, and about 35,000 casualties were suffered by the French.
In 1616, Dutchman Dirk Hartog is the first European to reach the vicinity of Australia when he lands on an island off the west coast of that continent.
In 1671, Giovanni Cassini discovered Iapetus, one of Saturn's moons.
In 1760, George III ascended the British throne upon the death of his grandfather, King George II.
In 1825, the Erie Canal, America's first man-made waterway, was opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1854, at 11 a.m., the "Charge of the Light Brigade" took place during the Crimean War as an English brigade of 600 men charged the Russian army against hopeless odds and suffered heavy losses. The tradition of incompetent English military officers was firmly established.
In 1881, Leslie L. Curtis patented the air brush.
In 1881, the shootout at the O.K. Corral took place with "Sheriff" Wyatt Earp and his hooligans shooting it out with the Clanton Gang.
In 1923, 75 years ago, The Teapot Dome scandal comes to public attention as Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, subcommittee chairman, reveals the findings of the past 18 months of investigation. His case will result in the conviction of Harry F. Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, and later Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, the first cabinet member in American history to go to jail. The scandal, named for the Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming, involved Fall secretly leasing naval oil reserve lands to private companies.
In 1929, former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall was convicted of accepting a $100,000 bribe in connection with the Elk Hills Naval Oil Reserve in California.
In 1930, the first scheduled transcontinental air service began.
In 1939, nylon stockings went on sale in the US for the first time.
In 1945, President Truman issues an executive order depicting the new Great Seal and president's flag.
In 1955, first microwave oven sold by Tappan.
In 1962, U.S. ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson demands U.S.S.R. ambassador Zorin's answer regarding missile bases in Cuba, saying "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over." He presented photographic evidence of Soviet missile bases in Cuba to the U.N. Security Council.
In 1974, the U.S. Air Force successfully fires the first ICBM from a plane.
In 1983, U.S. Marines and Rangers, assisted by soldiers from six Caribbean nations, invaded Grenada at the order of President Ronald Reagan, who said the action was needed to protect U.S. citizens there.
John Pendleton Kennedy: 1795
Novelist, Presidential Aide, Secretary of the Navy
Evariste Galois: 1811
Mathematician, French, famous for his contributions to the part of higher algebra known as group theory. His theory solved
many long-standing unanswered questions, including the impossibility of trisecting the angle and squaring the circle.
Henry Norris Russell: 1877
Astronomer, co-author of temperature-luminosity graph
Pablo Ruiz y Picasso: 1881
Sculptor, Painter, Engraver, Spanish, founder of "Cubism"
Richard Evelyn Byrd: 1888
Explorer, 1st to fly over both North and South Poles in 1926 & 1929
Floyd Bennett: 1890 Aviator, pioneer aviator who piloted the explorer Richard E. Byrd on the first successful flight over the North Pole on May 9,
1926. For this feat both Bennett and Byrd received the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor.
Henry Steele Commager: 1902
Educator, Historian, Author, wrote Atlas of the Civil War
Born 25 October
Heinrich Schwabe: 1789
Astronomer, discoverer of 11-year sunspot cycle
Thought for Today: "History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition."
R. Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 1962.
