This Day in History

[Amnorix]

Today...

[Amnorix]

October 24

1861. In the midst of war, the transcontinental telegraph is completed, signalling the end for the 18 month old Pony Express.

1929. Black Thursday signals the beginning of the Great Depression. A then-record 12.9 million shares trade hands as the market undergoes systemic collapse. A group of leading Wall Street bankers intervene, tasking the President of the NYSE to act on their behalf and put in bids at price well above ask for US Steel and several other blue chip companies -- the same strategy that J.P. Morgan had used to stabilize the market in 1907. It offers only a temporary respite from the freefall.

Over the weekend, the papers cover the fall. On Monday, more investors pull out, and the market falls a then-record 13%. Rumors that President Hoover will not veto the Hawley-Smoot tariff bill puts further pressure on stocks. Several famous financiers, led by John D. Rockefeller (THE Rockefeller), lead an effort to stabilize stocks by making large purchase orders. Their efforts fail. On Black Tuesday, October 29, a new record is set when 16 million shares trade, and the market loses another 12 percent. The record for shares traded will stand for 40 years, until 1968.

1931. The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic.

1944. The Japanese Carrier Zuikaku, one of the six Japanese carriers involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor, is sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

1945. Founding of the United Nations.

[Amnorix]

A few pictures of the famous financiers who have been metnioned lately:

John D. Rockefeller, who was probably the richest man in the world for most of his life after founding Standard Oil Company, which was later split into several major oil companies, including Exxon and Mobil. He lived into his 90s, and led an amazing life in terms of his public profile and image.




J.P. Morgan, who was the unquestioned leader of Wall Street during his heyday. He put together the consortium that became US Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation in the world. His wealth did not match his power, however, as he was dwarfed by contemporaries such as John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie when it came to fortunes. He was very conscious of his very prominent nose, reputedly broken at least twice, and pock-marked, and disliked having his photograph taken. Nearly all photographs used what remedial measures they could to hide the pock-marking.







Like I said -- not a fan of having his picture taken:

[Amnorix]

October 25

1415. The English once again trounce the French, this time at the Battle of Agincourt. Henry V of England had a string of successes against France, beginning in this battle, and by the end it was clear the French could do nothing to him. Luckily for them, he died young, in 1422, leaving an infant successor to the throne, who would prove a weak king. By 1420 Henry V had married the French King's daughter, and was mindful of the fact that the French King was sickly. Ironically, however, the sickly king lived two months longer than the mighty warrior. Had Henry V lived longer, he may well have united all of England and France under his rulership.

1854. The Charge of the Light Brigade occurs at the Battle of Balaklava during hte Crimean War.

1962. At the UN, Adlai Stevenson shows photos of the Cuban missiles.

[Rain Man]

I've read that John D. Rockefeller was by far the richest American ever if you measure it as a percent of the nation's wealth in his era. In fact, this link by Forbes shows that he was 1.53 percent of the entire U.S. GDP. That's pretty impressive. Bill Gates, by contrast, is 0.58 percent, which is still impressive, but he's a housemaid compared to Rockefeller.

http://www.forbes.com/asap/1998/0824/032.html

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I've read that John D. Rockefeller was by far the richest American ever if you measure it as a percent of the nation's wealth in his era. In fact, this link by Forbes shows that he was 1.53 percent of the entire U.S. GDP. That's pretty impressive. Bill Gates, by contrast, is 0.58 percent, which is still impressive, but he's a housemaid compared to Rockefeller.

http://www.forbes.com/asap/1998/0824/032.html

Interesting analysis. I never even heard of the last guy on the list (#7), Alexander Stewart.

Best book on Rockefeller is "Titan", by Ron Chernow. He also wrote a very good one on J.P. Morgan and the entire Morgan "dynasty", called House of Morgan.

I finished reading the book on Vanderbilt (Cornelia?! WTF?!?!, it's Cornelius) -- The First Tycoon.

They are all very good reads if you're interested in economic history stuff, because economic history by itself is painfully dry, but if you study how people interacted with the world around them in terms of economics, then it becomes much livelier.

Chernow also wrote the seminal book on Alexander Hamilton, which obviously also has alot of economic stuff involved (the debt funding scheme, etc.)

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Interesting analysis. I never even heard of the last guy on the list (#7), Alexander Stewart.

Reading the fine print below is informative as well. It shows both George Washington and Benjamin Franklin being among the wealthiest 100 Americans in history. I would've never guessed that.

I might have to check out some of those books. I'm not much on economic history, but the history of how wealth is used is interesting to me.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Reading the fine print below is informative as well. It shows both George Washington and Benjamin Franklin being among the wealthiest 100 Americans in history. I would've never guessed that.

I might have to check out some of those books. I'm not much on economic history, but the history of how wealth is used is interesting to me.

That's what makes these books very readable. It's about people who amassed amazing wealth, and how they did it. And about their lives, etc. Less insightful, no doubt, than a hard core economics 101 book, but who can read that for pleasure?

Didn't know those two founders were that rich either.

[Amnorix]

October 26

1776. Benjamin Franklin, one of the richest Americans (as a percentage of GDP) in history, leaves for France on a critical mission to obtain support for the Revolution.

1795. In Revolutionary France, the Directory is created.

1825. The Erie Canal opens, revolutionizing commerce.

1861. The Pony Express ceases operations.

1881. The gunfight at the OK Corral occurs.

[Amnorix]

October 27

1275. Traditional founding date of the city of Amsterdam.

1682. Philadelphia, PA is founded.

1806. The French Army (Napoleonic) enters Berlin.

1870. 140,000 French soldiers surrender to Prussia following the siege of Metz. Marshall Bazaine, in command, surrenders the entire Army of the Rhine under his command, totalling 180,000 soldiers. He will eventually be made a scapegoat for the defeat of the French by the Prussians, put on trial, sentenced to death, and then granted clemency.

1936. Mrs. Wallis Simpson, who has been involved in a romantic relationship with King Edward VIII of some time, divorces her husband, paving the way for her to marry the king and give rise to a constitutional crisis in Great Britain.

1962. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance plane is shot down, its pilot becoming the only casualty of the crisis.

2004. The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in 86 years.

[Amnorix]

October 28

312. Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, becoming sole emperor.

1636. What will eventually be known as Harvard University is established.

1885. The first porcelain toilet is built.

1919. Over President Wilson's veto, the Volstead Act is passed, paving the way for Prohibition.

1922. Italian Fascists, under Mussolini, march on Rome.

1962. Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of the missiles from Cuba.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Oct 28 1985.

At 10:12 pm:

Andy van Slyke's lazy fly ball nestles into the glove of Darrell Motley and the Royals are WS Champions.

[Amnorix]

October 29

1618. English adventurer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for an alleged plot against King James I. As he was shown the axe that would remove his head from his body, the aged courtier remarked that "This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries."

Though his popularity had waned, Raleigh's execution was seen by many as a travesty, as his "involvement" in the plot was exceedingly limited and may have been unknowing. One of the judges at his trial later remarked that "[T]he justice of England has never been so degraded and injured as by the condemnation of the honourable Sir Walter Raleigh."

1863. Eighteen countries meeting in Geneva form the International Red Cross.

1886. At a parade for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, office workers in New York spontaneously throw ticker tape into the air, thus being the first "ticker tape parade". The stock ticker had first gained use in New York City in 1867.

1918. In an action that will trigger the German Revolution, sailors of the German High Seas Fleet mutiny. This mutiny will place a stain on the Navy in the eyes of the German government right through to the end of the Nazi era.

1923. Turkey reforms as a republic following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

1929. The Great Crash, or "Crash of '29", on Black Tuesday signals the onset of the Great Depression. As noted earlier, this was really a multi-day affair.

1956. The beginning of the Suez Crisis, when Israeli forces attack the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula and starts pushing them back towards the Suez Canal. The war was between England, FRance and Israel against Egypt, mostly as a result of Egypt's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal. Eventually, under US pressure (Eisenhower Administration), the Egyptians got their way even though they had suffered military reverses on the field. Today, the Suez Canal is run by an authority of the Egyptian government, and by international treaty is open to all during times of war or peace.

1960. Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, wins his first professional fight.

[Amnorix]

October 30

1938. Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, creating anxiety and, in some cases, outright panic in parts of the US that Earth is being invaded by Martians. The realism of the attack was heightened by the fact that parts of the show were broadcast as pretend news reports, and it ran without commercial break.

1945. Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers to break baseball's color barrier.

1961. The Soviet Union detonates the most powerful explosive device ever detonated -- the 58 megaton hydrogen "Tsar Bomba".

1974. The Rumble in the Jungle, a boxing match between former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and then heavyweight champion George Foreman, takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire. Using his rope-a-dope technique, Ali wins by knockout in the eighth round.

[Amnorix]

October 31

475. Romulus Augustus is crowned as Western Roman Emperor. His reign will last less than a year, and he will be the last Emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire.

1517. Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany.

1861. General Winfield Scott, citing failing health, resigns as a general in the United States army. In truth, the man who had served as Commander in Chief for 20 years -- longer than anyone in American history -- had been squeezed out by the seriously ambitious and seriously incompetent (on the field of battle at least) General McClellan. The former Presidential candidate (Whig, 1852) will live to see the Union victory, largely using his "Anaconda Plan", and to see McClellan fail spectacularly.

[Amnorix]

November 1

1512. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is revealed to the public.

1604. Shakespeare's Othello debuts.

1755. Lisbon, Portugal is practically wiped off the map by an earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 to 90,000 people.

1800. The Executive Mansion, later renamed the White House, is first occupied, by John Adams.

1814. The Congress of Vienna opens to redraw Europe's political map in the wake of the fall of Napoleon. The "Final Act" will be signed, ironically, a few days before Waterloo as Napoleon had since escaped his exile and sought to reestablish his empire.

1896. National Geographic includes a photograph of a woman's bare breast for the first time. Unrelatedly, teenage boys everywhere start taking much longer trips to the bathroom.

1911. Again the little-known Turko-Italian War makes it mark as the first bomb is dropped from an airplane.

1938. Seabiscuit defeats Triple Crown champion War Admiral in a race dubbed "the Match of the Century."

1959. Montreal Canadians goalie Jacques Plante, who clearly also needed a skirt (or was the first goalie with an IQ over 80 -- and wanted to keep it that way, you decide), is the first goalie to don a face mask in a NHL game. Unrelatedly, the script for the first Friday the 13th movie starts being written the next day.

Monsieur Plante:



1982. Honda becomes the first Asian car company to begin production in the US, when it opens its Marysville, Ohio plant. It will start producing Honda Accords. Detroit probably didn't realize for whom the bell tolled.