On This Day October 25

1992
Ross Perot: The presidential candidate states that he had dropped out the race because of threats to disrupt his daughter's wedding.

1960
First mass produced electronic wristwatch: Bulova's Accutron goes on sale.

1940
First black U.S. army brigadier general: Benjamin Oliver Davis is appointed.

1929
First president's cabinet member convicted of a crime: Warren Harding's Secretary of the Interior, Albert Bacon Fall, is convicted of accepting a $100,000 bribe. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $100,000.

1926
U.S. Supreme Court rules that the president has the authority to remove executive officers from their positions.

1870
First U.S. trademark is awarded, to the Averill Chemical Paint Co. of New York.

1867
First U.S. rabbinical school: Maimonides College of Philadelphia is founded.

1854
Charge of the Light Brigade: Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem was inspired by this Crimean War battle.

1850
Southern Rights Association is established. Its purpose was to end slavery.

1963
Tracy Nelson, American actress. TV: Father Dowling Mysteries (Sister Steve) and Melrose Place (Meredith).

1941
Helen Reddy, Australian singer. Music: I Am Woman (1972) and Delta Dawn (1973).

1933
Eugene Lee, American actor, The Little Rascals (Porky). He appeared in 42 Our Gang films. "Otay."

1928 d. 2006
Anthony Franciosa (Anthony Papaleo), American actor. TV: The Name of the Game (Jeff Dillon) and Matt Helm (title role).

1912
Minnie Pearl (Sarah Ophelia Cannon), comedienne, "Howdeeeeee!" She was the first woman inducted into the National Hall of Fame (1994). TV: Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw.

1910 d. 1994
William Higinbotham, American physicist, "Father of the Video Game." In 1958 he rigged up an oscilloscope for the public to play tennis on at New York's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

1888 d. 1957
Richard E. Byrd, American naval aviator. He and Floyd Bennett became the first to fly over the North Pole (1926), and he was the first to fly over the South Pole (1929).

1881 d. 1973
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish artist, considered the greatest artist of the 20th century. His last words were "Drink to me," which Paul McCartney used in a song about his death.

1994 b. 1908
Mildred Natwick, American Emmy-winning actress. TV: The Snoop Sisters (Gwendolyn Snoop).

1993 b. 1911
Vincent Price, American horror actor. Film: House of Wax (1953) and The Fly (1958). TV: Batman (as Egghead) and Mystery (as host).

1992 b. 1936
Roger Miller, American Grammy (11 from 1964-65) and Tony-winning composer. He wrote King of the Road (1965, #1), which became the hobo anthem.

1991 b. 1931
Bill Graham (Wolfgang Grajonca), German-born American concert promoter. He helped pioneer the mass rock concert as an American cultural event.

1957 b. ????
Albert Anastasia, American gangster and hit-man. He was killed by two gunmen in a New York barber shop.

1922 b. 1849
Oskar Hertwig, German embryologist. He discovered that a single spermatozoon (sperm cell) could fertilize and egg (1875).

1920 b. 1893
Alexander I, King of Greece (1917-20). Died of blood poisoning after being bitten by a pet monkey.

1826 b. 1745
Philippe Pinel, French physician, "father of modern psychiatry." He pioneered the humane treatment of the mentally ill and opposed the commonly-held belief that mental illness was caused by demonic possession.

1806 b. 1750
Henry Knox, American Revolutionary War hero. He established the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1779) and was the first U.S. Secretary of War (1785-94).

1647 b. 1608
Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist, inventor of the barometer (1643).

304 b. ????
Saint Marcellinus, Italian religious leader, 29th Pope (296-304).

October 25

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