This Day In History

On October 18, 1937, the US Post Office issued the first stamp in a new series honoring the overseas territories of the United States. These stamps chronicled decades of US territorial expansion.

Poet and reformer Julia Ward Howe died in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, on October 17, 1910. Best known for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” she also spent decades organizing for women’s rights and peace.

On October 16, 1962, President John F. Kennedy learned that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missile sites in Cuba. The discovery began thirteen days of tense negotiations and military alert that brought the United States and the Soviet Union dangerously close to nuclear war.

On October 15, 1940, the Pitcairn Islands Post Office opened, issuing the colony’s first stamps. These stamps were very popular with collectors and eventually helped support most of the colony’s budget.

Poet and reformer Julia Ward Howe died in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, on October 17, 1910. Best known for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” she also spent decades organizing for women’s rights and peace.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born on October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio. He would become president after the nation’s most disputed election of the 19th century, then serve a single term shaped by Reconstruction’s end, civil-service reform, and difficult questions about money, immigration, and racial equality.

Mary Church Terrell was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee. Over the next nine decades, she used education, writing, public speaking, and direct protest to challenge racial discrimination and support women’s voting rights.

On September 21, 1866, the US Army organized six new Black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry. Created during Reconstruction, they gave African American soldiers a continuing place in the peacetime Regular Army and began the history of the troops later known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

On October 19, 1789, John Jay was sworn in as the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the head of a new judicial branch that would help define the rule of law in the young country. Though the event was modest in ceremony, it marked the beginning of one of the most important institutions in American government.

US Navy Admiral Arleigh Burke was born on October 19, 1901, in Boulder, Colorado. He Served with distinction during WWII and went on to serve an unprecedented three terms as chief of Naval Operations.

On October 19, 1847, a grand celebration proceeded the laying of the cornerstone of New York City’s planned 425-foot Washington Monument.  The monument was never completed and the cornerstone was lost to time.

On October 19, 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the first embargo on Cuba. It banned most US exports to Cuba, including postage stamps!