- 1850 – The first National Women’s Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts.
- 1915 – In New York City, an estimated 25,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote.
- 1917 – Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
- 1929 – Wall Street Crash of 1929. After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to crash.
- 1945 – Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player hired by a major league team, was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
- 1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
- 1962 – President John F. Kennedy signed Proclamation 3504, authorizing the naval blockade of Cuba following the discovery of Soviet missiles on the island.
- 1973 – President Richard Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations.
- 1983 – A suicide bombing on peacekeeping troops in Beirut killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French soldiers.
- 1987 – The U.S. Senate rejected President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court by the biggest margin in history, 58-42.
- 1998 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a land-for-peace agreement at the White House, following nine days of talks at Wye River, Md.
- 1998 – Dr. Barnett Slepian, a doctor who performed abortions, was killed at his home in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., when a sniper fired through his kitchen window.
- 2001 – Apple introduced the iPod portable digital music player.
