Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Friday, October 4, 2024
Today is the 278th day of 2024. There are 87 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1777
George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Penn., resulting in heavy American casualties.
1887
The first issue of the International Herald Tribune was published as the Paris Herald Tribune.
1895
The first U.S. Open golf tournament was held, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
1931
The comic strip ''Dick Tracy,'' created by Chester Gould, made its debut.
1940
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps, where the Nazi leader sought Italy's help in fighting the British.
1957
''Leave It to Beaver'' premiered on CBS.
1957
The Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into orbit.
1958
The first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by British Overseas Airways Corp. with flights between London and New York.
1965
Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
1970
Rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room.
1976
Agriculture secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he'd made about blacks.
1985
Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley.
1990
German lawmakers met in the Reichstag for the first meeting of reunified Germany's parliament.
1997
Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C., in one of the largest religious gatherings in U.S. history.
Notable Births
1822
Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio.
1895
Silent film comedian Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kan.