History Today

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 20th. What can $15 million buy? Your own island? A private jet? In 1803, that was the price the U.S. paid France for the Louisiana Purchase, which was ratified by the Senate on this day. The 530 million acre land deal doubled the size of the United States and included the land which now makes up 15 U.S. states. Surprising fact? Thomas Jefferson initially sent James Monroe to ask France if the U.S.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History brought to you by AARP. Take on today and every day with AARP. 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. Everyone loves a bargain, though at the time, this one wasn’t so popular. On this day in 1867, Alaska officially became a part of the United States. Under terms negotiated by Secretary of State William Henry Seward for President Andrew Johnson, the U.S. paid Russia about $7.2 million for close to 587,000 acres of land. That's less than 2 cents an acre.

Check in every day to hear the top historical event for this day in past years.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 14th. In the wake of last week’s Nobel Prize announcements, we look back to this day in 1964, when civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his decade of non-violent resistance to racial oppression in America.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 13th. The White House: it’s one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, and on this day in 1792, the cornerstone was laid for the presidential residence in the newly designed capital city of Washington, D.C. President George Washington chose the site for the neoclassical mansion, though second president John Adams became the first president to live in the White House.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 12th. It’s October, and that means beer lovers around the world will be donning their finest lederhosen to celebrate the German tradition of Oktoberfest, which got its start on this day in 1810. It was then that citizens of Munich were invited to attend the wedding festivities of the Bavarian royal couple on the fields outside the city gates.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 11th. Less than a month after fans across the country celebrated his 70th birthday, we look back to this day in 1975, when rocker Bruce Springsteen scored his first pop hit with “Born to Run.” Although he was already loved by rock critics, “Born to Run” was the first Springsteen song most Americans had ever heard.

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 9th. His name was Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna though you probably know him better as Che. The guerrilla leader from Argentina was killed while fighting in Bolivia on this day in 1967. As a young man, Che Guevara witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes while traveling around Latin America on a motorcycle.

Hello and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on October 8th. Chicago: Today it’s America’s third largest city, home to more than 2.7 million people. But way back on this day in 1871, much of the city went up in flames during the Great Chicago Fire. Thought to have been started when a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn, the Great Fire killed between 200 and 300 people; left 100,000 people homeless; and destroyed more than 17,000 buildings.