Mikhail Gorbachev becomes head of Soviet Union

Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow drowns off the North Carolina coast when a Yankee craft runs her ship aground. She was returning from a trip to England. At the beginning of the war, Maryland native Rose O’Neal Greenhow lived in Washington, D.C., with her four children. Her deceased husband was wealthy and well connected in […]

In Boston on October 1, 1903, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Americans, 7-3, in the first professional baseball World Series game. Pirates right fielder Jimmy Sebring hits the first World Series home run—an inside-the-park shot to deep center field off Americans ace Cy Young—in the seventh inning to extend the Pirates’ lead to 7-0. Sebring […]

On October 1, 1910, a massive explosion destroys the Los Angeles Times building in the city’s downtown area, killing 21 and injuring many more. Since Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Otis, a virulent opponent of unions, believed that the bomb was directed at him, he hired the nation’s premier private detective, William J. Burns, to […]

On October 1, 1924, future President James Earl Carter is born in Plains, Georgia. Carter, who preferred to be called “Jimmy,” was the son of a peanut farmer and was the first president to be born in a hospital. Carter was raised a devoted Southern Baptist and graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, […]

Naming himself head of state, communist revolutionary Mao Zedong officially proclaims the existence of the People’s Republic of China; Zhou Enlai is named premier. The proclamation was the climax of years of battle between Mao’s communist forces and the regime of Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who had been supported with money and arms from […]

On October 1, 1961, in New York’s final game of the regular season, Yankees slugger Roger Maris hits his 61st home run, becoming the first player in Major League Baseball to hit more than 60 in a season. He tops former Yankees great Babe Ruth, who hit 60 home runs in 1927. After hitting 54 homers, […]

On October 1, 1977, despite a downpour, 75,646 fans pack Giants Stadium in New Jersey for soccer star Pelé’s farewell game. In the exhibition, Pelé plays for the only professional teams he ever played for—the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League for the first half and Santos of Brazil for the second half. Pelé, considered […]

Polly Klaas is abducted at knifepoint by an intruder in her Petaluma, California, home during a slumber party with two friends. Despite a massive manhunt and national attention, there was no sign of the missing 12-year-old or her abductor for two months. Eventually, investigators found some children’s clothing in the northern California woods, along with […]

On October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a crowd attending the final night of a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and injuring more than 800.