October 4 in History

2004

SpaceShipOne, which had achieved the first privately funded human space flight on June 21, wins the Ansari X Prize for the first non-government organization to successfully launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space.

1993

Russia’s constitutional crisis over President Boris Yeltsin’s attempts to dissolve the legislature takes place: the army violently arrests civilian protesters occupying government buildings.

1992

Mozambique’s 16-year civil war ends with the Rome General Peace Accords.

1985

The Free Software Foundation is founded to promote universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software.

1976

In Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the ban on the death sentence in murder cases. This restores the legality of capital punishment, which had not been practiced since 1967. The first execution following this ruling was Gary Gilmore in 1977.

1972

Judge John Sirica imposes a gag order on the Watergate break-in case.

1968

Cambodia admits that the Viet Cong use their country for sanctuary.

1965

Pope Paul VI arrives in New York, the first Pope ever to visit the US and the Western hemisphere.

1963

Hurricane Flora storms through the Caribbean, killing 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.

1957

Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, is launched, beginning the “space race.” The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles. In 1958, it reentered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up.

1943

US captures the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.

1941

Willie Gillis Jr., a fictional everyman created by illustrator Norman Rockwell, makes his first appearance, on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post; a series of illustrations on several magazines’ covers would depict young Gillis throughout World War II.

1940

Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass.

1927

Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting the heads of 4 US presidents on Mount Rushmore.

1917

The Battle of Broodseinde takes place near Ypres, Flanders, as a part of the larger Battle of Passchendaele, between the British 2nd and 5th armies and the defenders of the German 4th Army; it is the most successful Allied attack of the Passchendaele offensive.

1914

The first German Zeppelin raids London.

1905

Orville Wright pilots the first flight longer than 30 minutes. The flight lasted 33 minutes, 17 seconds and covered 21 miles.

1874

Kiowa leader Satanta, known as “the Orator of the Plains,” surrenders in Darlington, Texas. He is later sent to the state penitentiary, where he commits suicide on October 11, 1878.

1861

The Union ship USS South Carolina captures two Confederate blockade runners outside of New Orleans, La.

1795

General Napoleon Bonaparte leads the rout of counterrevolutionaries in the streets of Paris, beginning his rise to power.

1777

At Germantown, Pa., British General Sir William Howe repels George Washington‘s last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.