History for October 24

History for October 24 - On-This-Day.com 

Belva Lockwood 1830 - Attorney, politician, educator

• 1648 - The Holy Roman Empire was effectively destroyed by the Peace of Westphalia that brought an end to the Thirty Years War.
• 1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent when Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmitted a telegram to U.S. President Lincoln.
• 1929 - In the U.S., investors dumped more than 13 million shares on the stock market. The day is known as "Black Tuesday."
• 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.
• 2001 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that gave police the power to secretly search homes, tap all of a person's telephone conversation and track people's use of the Internet.