History for October 18

History for October 18 - On-This-Day.com
Henri Bergson 1859 - Philosopher, author, Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919 - Prime Minister of Canada, Chuck Berry (Charles Edward Anderson Berry) 1926 - Singer


George C. Scott 1927 - Actor ("Patton," "Taps"), Mike Ditka 1939 - Football player and coach, Lee Harvey Oswald 1939 - Accused of assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy


1767 - The Mason-Dixon line was agreed upon. It was the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania.


1842 - Samuel Finley Breese Morse laid his first telegraph cable.


1867 - The U.S. took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. The land was purchased of a total of $7 million dollars (2 cents per acre).


1898 - The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico only one year after the Caribbean nation won its independence from Spain.


1929 - The Judicial Committee of England’s Privy Council ruled that women were to be considered as persons in Canada.


1956 - NFL commissioner Bert Bell disallowed the use of radio-equipped helmets by NFL quarterbacks.


1961 - Henri Matiss' "Le Bateau" went on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was discovered 46 days later that the painting had been hanging upside down.


1968 - Two black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, were suspended by the U.S. Olympic Committee for giving a "black power" salute during a ceremony in Mexico City.