American Express launches the American Express card. American Express previously had an international network of offices in place, and their traveler's' cheques had been accepted throughout the world for decades, this was the first credit card accepted internationally. More
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What Happened in October?
Explorations, great battles, and crowned leaders. Discover meaningful events and milestones from October throughout history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, Independence Day from France. Guinea was the only French West African colony to opt for complete independence, rather than membership in the French Community. France withdrew all aid to the new republic. shortly thereafter. More
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Independence Day from the UK.
Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, Independence day. The effective date of the London-Zürich Agreements was August 16 1960, but the public holiday was moved to October 1 to avoid summer heat and tourist season.
The fourth and final presidential debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, before the 1960 U.S. presidential election takes place at the ABC studios in New York City, New York.
The debate was moderated by Quincy Howe of ABC with Frank Singiser, John Edwards, Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor as panelists. The questions were related to Foreign affairs. More
President John F. Kennedy, in a letter to the members of the Committee on Civil Defense of the Governors’ Conference, urges Americans to build bomb shelters as protection from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. Kennedy also pressed Congress to allocate more than $100 million to build a network of public fallout shelters.
Only one year later, the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted over the USSR’s placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. During the tense 13-day crisis, some Americans prepared for nuclear war by buying up canned goods and completing last-minute work on their backyard bomb shelters. More
A team of scientists working at a University of Florida lab, invent a sports drink to quench thirst. the drink that would soon become known as Gatorade was born. The name "Gatorade" is derived from the nickname of the university's sports teams. Eventually, the drink becomes a phenomenon and made its inventors wealthy. More
The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. On Sep 16, the pictures were presented to President Kennedy after they were developed and analyzed by intelligence officers.
President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that the missiles had been discovered. He met in secret with his advisors for several days to discuss the problem. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address and his decision to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites.For thirteen days in October 1962 the world waited—seemingly on the brink of nuclear war—and hoped for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis. More
President John F. Kennedy alerts the American people to the Cuban missile crisis, declaring a naval blockade to prevent further missile shipments to the island country 90 miles (145 km) off the coast of the U.S. The crisis brought the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.
The 13-day confrontation which started when the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being deployed in Cuba ended with the removal of the Russian missiles from Cuba and a U.S. agreement not to invade Cuba and a secret removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. President Kennedy Speech
A massive landslide from Monte Toc in the Belluno Alps in Northern Italy, plunges into the artificial lake in the Vaiont Gorge behind the Diga del Vajon dam; creating an immense wave of water to rise as high as 300 feet above the level of the dam and into the Piave River flooding the valley below, engulfing the town of Longarone.
Within minutes the town had almost vanished killing nearly 2,000 people the wave of water then rushed down to San Martino, where it killed hundreds more. The dam itself was almost totally undamaged and two-thirds of the water was retained behind it.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces that it has awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his his nonviolent struggle and leadership in the American civil rights movement against racial prejudice in the United States. View all Nobel Peace Prizes
The People's Republic of China (PRC) joined the nuclear club when it tested a nuclear device at its Lop Nur test site in Inner Mongolia. More
The last piece of the St. Louis's Gateway Arch is fitted into place. It was designed by Eero Saarinen, a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer. During his career, Saarinen created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments.
Lesotho Independence day from the UK. Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho (Basutoland), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, Lesotho is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest peak in Southern Africa. Its capital city is Maseru. Lesothos population is about 2.3 million.
A catastrophic collapse of a pile of accumulated coal waste slides and engulfs a school in Aberfan, South Wales, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The pile had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring.
Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill and engulfed the Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses. Many of the village's residents developed medical problems as a result of the disaster, and half the survivors have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder at some time in their lives.
By Unknown - Original publication: UnknownImmediate source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/57578811@N06/5304448493/, Fair use,
Thurgood Marshall is sworn in to the nation’s highest court at the opening ceremony of the Supreme Court term on October 2, 1967, becoming the first Black US Supreme Court justice. More
Che Guevara is captured by Bolivian troops from the the Bolivian Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion. He was executed the following day, on orders from the Bolivian President. More
NASA launches Apollo 7, the mission was commanded by U.S. Navy Cmdr. Walter “Wally” Schirra Jr. It was the first manned test of the command and service module.
Equatorial Guinea Independence Day from Spain.
PBS officially begins broadcasting on American television. This launch marked the formal debut of the Public Broadcasting Service. PBS and NPR are private, nonprofit organizations owned by their member stations and in turn distribute programming to them. The member stations are typically non-profit entities like universities, public school districts, community organizations, or state government agencies.
Their funding was historically supported in part by federal money channeled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) as dictated by the The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (PBA) and funded in two year increments by Congress. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private Non Profit Corporation for Public Broadcasting with the mission to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality educational, cultural, and other content and telecommunications services. CPB managed the distribution of the government funds to the public networks, both national such a PBS and NPR and for local public stations or programming. In July 2025, the Rescissions Act of 2025 was passed by the 119th United States Congress an d signed into law by Donald Trump, cutting all federal funding for CPB. In August 2025, CPB announced plans to shut down in January 2026 due to a lack of federal funding.