History for October 24

History for October 24 - On-This-Day.com
Sarah J. Hale 1788 - She wrote the poem "Mary Had A Little Lamb.",
Moss Hart 1904 - Playwright, Bob Kane 1915 - Comic book artist, creator of Batman
 

F. Murray Abraham 1939 - Actor, Kevin Kline 1947 - Actor, Kweisi Mfume 1948 - President of NAACP


1632 - Scientist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, Holland. He created the first microscope lenses that were powerful enough to observe single-celled animals.



1648 - The Holy Roman Empire was effectively destroyed by the Peace of Westphalia that brought an end to the Thirty Years War.


1836 - Alonzo D. Phillips received a patent for the phosphorous friction safety match.


1929 - In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged starting the stock-market crash that began the Great Depression. 

1939 - Nylon stockings were sold to the public for the first time in Wilmington, DE.


1948 - The term "cold war" was used for the first time. It was in a speech by Bernard Baruch before the Senate War Investigating Committee.


1962 - During the Cuban Missile Crisis, U.S. military forces went on the highest alert in the postwar era in preparation for a possible full-scale war with the Soviet Union. The U.S. blockade of Cuba officially began on this day.


2003 - In London, the last commercial supersonic Concorde flight landed.