Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

October 24

1945
United Nations is founded with 50 countries signing its charter.

1940
Fair Labor Standards Act goes into effect, establishing the 40-hour work week in the U.S.

1931
George Washington Bridge opens, connecting New York and New Jersey.

1929
Black Thursday: Stock Market panic due to declining stock prices; the stock market crash was just around the corner.

1929
Fleischmann Hour debuts on NBC radio featuring Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees.

1901
First person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive: 43-year-old Anna Edson Taylor.

1897
First multi-paneled comic strip: Richard Felton Outcault's Yellow Kid in the New York Journal.

1861
First U.S. transcontinental telegraph message is sent, from San Francisco to Washington D.C.

1947
Kevin Kline, American actor. TV: Search For Tomorrow (Woody Reed).

1939
F. Murray Abraham, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: Amadeus (1984, Oscar, as Mozart's rival Salieri).

1936
David Nelson, American actor. TV: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (as himself).

1930     d. 1959
Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), American singer. Music: Chantilly Lace (1958) and Little Red Riding Hood (1958). He died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly.

1916
Bob Kane, American cartoonist, creator of Batman (1939).

1903     d. 1960
Melvin Purvis, American FBI agent, was the FBI agent in charge during the killings of John Dillinger and "Pretty Boy" Floyd.

1855     d. 1912
James Schoolcraft Sherman, 27th U.S. Vice-President (1909-12).

1788     d. 1879
Sarah Josepha Hale, American author, Mary Had a Little Lamb (1830).

1632     d. 1723
Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch biologist, Father of Microscopy, using a crude microscope of his own design, he became the first person to see microorganisms in detail (1684).

51 A.D.     d. 96 A.D.
Domitian, Roman Emperor (81-96 AD). Known for his cruelty, he was assassinated by a man hired by his wife and court officers after they discovered the emperor's plans to execute them.

2005     b. 1913
Rosa Parks, American civil-rights leader. She helped start the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man (1955).

1972     b. 1919
Jackie Robinson (Jack Roosevelt Robinson), American baseball player, 1949 MVP. He was the first black to play major-league baseball (1947, Brooklyn Dodgers) and was the first black inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (1962).

1852     b. 1782
Daniel Webster, American statesman.

1821     b. 1740
Elias Boudinot, 10th president of the Continental Congress (1782-83), and missionary to the Indians.

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