On this day in 1986, the Ash-Shiraa, pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran to secure the release of seven American hostages. The story turned into the Iran-Contra affair.
Reagan meets with aides on the Iran-Contra affair.
President Ronald Reagan holds up a copy of the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra affair.
One of the 52 United States hostages is displayed to the crowd outside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by his captors, a few days into their ordeal.
On this day in 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman U.S. senator.
Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun turned 71 August 16.
On this day in 1938, Orson Welles’ "The War of the Worlds" aired on CBS radio. The belief that the realistic radio dramatization was a live news event about a Martian invasion caused panic among listeners.
Welles takes questions from reporters at a press conference the day after the broadcast, on October 31, 1938. He told them that no one connected with the broadcast had any idea it would cause panic.
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985)
The first of the Federalist Papers were published in the New York Independent on this day in 1787. The series of 85 essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were published under the pen name "Publius."
On this day in 1978, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (left) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (Right) were both named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
(Left to right) Egyptian Pres. Anwar Sadat, U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signing the Camp David Accords in the White House, Washington, D.C., September 17, 1978.
On this day in 1962, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson presented photographic evidence to the United Nations Security Council. The photos were of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
Soviet Ambassador Zorin.
A Kennedy administration official (upper left) shows aerial views of one of the Cuban medium-range missile bases, taken in October 1962.
The Charge of the Light Brigade took place during the Crimean War on this day in 1854. The British were winning the Battle of Balaclava when Lord James Cardigan received an order to attack the Russians and took his troops into a valley where they suffered 40 percent casualties. It was later revealed that the order was the result of confusion and was not given intentionally.
Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. The view is from the Fedokine hills across the Causeway toward Balaklava harbor in this painting by William Simpson.
On this day in 1983,U.S. troops and soldiers from six Caribbean nations invaded Grenada to restore order and provide protection to U.S. citizens after a recent coup within Grenada’s Communist (pro-Cuban) government.
U.S Special Operations Forces in Grenada.
William Payne Stewart(January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999)
It was on this day in 1999.
Stewart, 42, was one of the world’s most recognizable golfers because of his trademark knickerbockers. The plane carrying Stewart and five others crashed near Aberdeen, South Dakota, after traveling 1,500 miles, most of it while the pilot, co-pilot and passengers were apparently unconscious or dead when the plane lost cabin pressure during its flight and ran out of fuel and crashed. The sounds of a low-pressure alarm could be heard on the recovered cockpit voice recorder.
The Learjet 35, N47BA, before its final flight on October 25, 1999.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Busch Series Championship in 1998 and 1999 and the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014. He went on to become an analyst for NASCAR on NBC-TV. He went into his first race with a car he co-owned with his half brother Kerry. Junior, as he is often called, won his 12th consecutive Sprint Cup Series Most Popular Driver Award in 2014.
