October 21

Thursday 21, 2004:

The Boston Red Sox win the American League pennant, defeating the New York Yankees 10-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, capping off a remarkable comeback from three games to none down to win.

Tuesday 21, 1997:

The government of Singapore announces in a widely-publicized "toilet alert" that the drive for toilet cleanliness is a great success; five toilets were selected by citizens as toilet role models.

Friday 21, 1994:

North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

Wednesday 21, 1987:

Former Miss America Bess Myerson is arrested on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud, all involving an alimony-fixing scandal. She is later found not guilty.

Tuesday 21, 1986:

In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he will be released in August 1991).

Tuesday 21, 1980:

1980 World Series: In 6 games, the Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Series.

Friday 21, 1977:

The European Patent Institute is founded

Sunday 21, 1973:

John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.

Saturday 21, 1967:

Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, DC. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility (event lasts until October 23; 683 people will be arrested). Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.

Friday 21, 1966:

Aberfan disaster: A coal tip falls on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren

Wednesday 21, 1959:

US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.

Monday 21, 1957:

The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.

Tuesday 21, 1947:

21 die as a fire destroys an asylum in Hoff, Germany.

Sunday 21, 1945:

Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón married actress Evita.

Saturday 21, 1944:

The first kamikaze attack: HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

Tuesday 21, 1941:

World War II: Germans rampage in Yugoslavia, killing thousands of civilians.

Sunday 21, 1934:

Mao Tse-tung and his followers begin the Long March.

Friday 21, 1921:

President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting President against lynching in the deep south.

Tuesday 21, 1902:

In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.

Monday 21, 1895:

The Republic of Taiwan collapses as Japanese forces invade.

Tuesday 21, 1879:

Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric light bulb (it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out).

Monday 21, 1867:

Near Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate a reservation in western Oklahoma.

Monday 21, 1861:

Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.

Saturday 21, 1854:

Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War.

Thursday 21, 1824:

Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.

Monday 21, 1805:

Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrendurs his army to the Grand Army of Napoleon at Ulm, reaping Napoleon over 30,000 prisoners and inflicting 10,000 casualties on the losers. Ulm was considered to be one of Napoleon's finest hours.

Saturday 21, 1797:

In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.

Friday 21, 1774:

First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.

Saturday 21, 1600:

Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, who in effect rule Japan until the mid-Nineteenth century.

Monday 21, 1512:

Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg

Thursday 21, 686:

Conon becomes Pope.

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