History Today

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 23rd. Sure, there were digital music players before this day in 2001, but none of them held a candle to the soon to be ubiquitous iPod, which was introduced to the world by Apple 19 years ago today. Although critics initially questioned Apple’s decision to enter the digital music market, the iPod proved to be a runaway success.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 22nd. Americans love their road trips, and those trips became a whole lot more pleasant beginning on this day in 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Highway Beautification Act into law. The act worked to limit billboards and outdoor advertising, as well as junkyards and other unsightly roadside messes, along America’s interstate highways.

Hello, and welcome to this day in history. Here’s what happened on October 21st. The USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat, and you can still visit it at Boston’s Charlestown Navy Yard. Two hundred and twenty one years ago today, that same ship was launched into Boston Harbor.

Hello, and welcome to this day in history. Here’s what happened on October 20th. It was a sad day in rock-n-roll history: On this day in 1977, three members of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines, died when the band’s tour plane crashed in Mississippi during a failed emergency landing attempt. The plane’s pilot and co-pilot as well as the band’s assistant road manager also died. Twenty others survived the crash.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 19th. Today, the city of Bend, Oregon, is home to the very last Blockbuster store in the country, but in the mid-1990s there were more than 9,000 Blockbusters scattered across America. And it all started on this day in 1985, when the first Blockbuster opened in Dallas, Texas.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 18th. With climate change set to be a major issue in the ongoing presidential election, we look back to this day in 1972, when the Clean Water Act became law. The landmark act instituted strict regulations on pollution and quality controls for the nation’s waters for the first time in U.S. history.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 17th. Al Capone: he was one of America’s most notorious gangsters and raked in millions from his extralegal activities until this day in 1931, when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000. For Capone, it was the beginning of the end. After doing his initial jail time at the U.S.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 16th. If you’re a child of the ‘80s, then you probably remember Baby Jessica, and her dramatic rescue from an abandoned well in Midland, Texas, way back on this day in 1987. The 18-month-old had fallen through an 8-inch hole in the well while playing at her aunt’s home day care center.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 15th. In the midst of a bitter fight over replacing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we look back to this day in 1991, when Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the court after a controversial hearing process. The confirmation of Thomas, a conservative judge, seemed assured until Anita Hill, a former aide, accused him of sexual harassment.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 14th. As Americans make their plans to vote in next month’s presidential election, we look back to this day in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for a third presidential term in Milwaukee. While greeting the public before a speech, Roosevelt was shot at close range by saloonkeeper John Schrank.