HISTORY TODAY: October 05

1947

US President Harry S Truman delivers the first televised White House address.

1795		The day after he routed counterrevolutionaries in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte accepts their formal surrender.
1813		The U.S. emerges victorious at the Battle of the Thames, in Ontario, breaking Britain’s Indian allies with the death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, and making the Detroit frontier safe.
1821		Greek rebels capture Tripolitsa, the main Turkish fort in the Peloponnese area of Greece.
1864		At the Battle of Allatoona, a small Union post is saved from Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood‘s army.
1877		Nez Perce Chief Joseph surrenders to Colonel Nelson Miles in Montana Territory, after a 1,700-mile trek to reach Canada falls 40 miles short.
1880		The first ball-point pen is patented by Alonzo T. Cross.
1882		Outlaw Frank James surrenders in Missouri six months after his brother Jesse’s assassination.
1915		Germany issues an apology and promises payment for the 128 American passengers killed in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania.
1915		Bulgaria enters World War I on the side of the Central Powers.
1931		Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon complete the first heavier than air nonstop flight over the Pacific. Their flight, begun October 3, lasted 41 hours, 31 minutes and covered 5,000 miles. They piloted their Bellanca CH-200 monoplane from Samushiro, 300 miles north of Tokyo, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington.
1938		Germany invalidates Jews’ passports.
1943		Imperial Japanese forces execute 98 American POWs on Wake Island.
1947		US President Harry S Truman delivers the first televised White House address.
1965		U.S. forces in Saigon receive permission to use tear gas.
1966		A sodium cooling system malfunction causes a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor near Detroit. Radiation is contained.
1968		Police attack civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland; the event is considered to be the beginning of “The Troubles.”
1986		Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper publishes details of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons development program.
2000		Slobodan Milosevic, president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, resigns in the wake of mass protest demonstrations.
Born on October 5
1830		Chester A. Arthur, 21st president of the United States (1881-1885).
1882		Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist, held more than 200 rocketry patents.
1902		Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald’s hamburger franchise in 1955.
1911		Flann O’Brien, Irish novelist and playwright (The Hard Life, The Third Policeman).
1936		Václav Havel, Czech dissident dramatist who became the first freely elected president of Czechoslovakia in 55 years.
1937		Barry Switzer, longtime coach of the University of Oklahoma, later coach of the Dallas Cowboys; one of only two head coaches to win both an NCAA college football championship and a Super Bowl.
1943		Steve Miller, singer, songwriter, guitarist; lead singer of Steve Miller Band.
1952		Clive Barker, author, director (Hellraiser, Candyman).
1957		Bernie Mac, comedian, actor; member of the Original Kings of Comedy.
1959		Maya Lin, American architect who designed the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
1963		Laura Davies, England’s top professional female golfer.
1965		Mario Lemieux, hockey player, led Pittsburgh Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups (1991-92).

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