Today in History: October 29, ‘Black Tuesday’ signals start of Great Depression
In this Oct. 9, 1930 file photo, thousands of unemployed people gather outside City Hall in Cleveland during the Great Depression, after some 2,000 jobs were made available for park improvements and repairs. (AP Photo/File)
Today in history:
On Oct. 29, 1929, ‘Black Tuesday’ descended on the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panicked selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America’s Great Depression began.
Also on this date:
In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for treason.
In 1922, Benito Mussolini, the founder of fascism, is appointed Italian prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III. (He was dismissed by Emmanuel in 1943 after the Allied invasion of Italy and was executed by partisans in 1945).
Secretary of War Henry Stimson, still blindfolded, holds out the first capsule drawn on Oct. 29, 1940 in Washington, D.C., in the nation’s first peacetime draft lottery. It was No. 158. From Left to right are: President Roosevelt, who announced the first number; Maj. Edward S. Shattuck, who read later numbers; Stimson; and Lieut. Col. Charles R. Morris, who did the blindfolding in the World War lottery. (AP Photo)
Secretary of War Henry Stimson, still blindfolded, holds out the first capsule drawn on Oct. 29, 1940 in Washington, D.C., in the nation’s first peacetime draft lottery. It was No. 158. From Left to right are: President Roosevelt, who announced the first number; Maj. Edward S. Shattuck, who read later numbers; Stimson; and Lieut. Col. Charles R. Morris, who did the blindfolding in the World War lottery. (AP Photo)
In 1940, a blindfolded Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number — 158 — from a glass bowl in America’s first peacetime military draft.
In this Oct. 31, 1960 file photo, the broken hull and wreckage of a chartered plane that crashed on Oct. 29, 1960, killing 22 people, including 16 Cal Poly players, a manager and a booster, is shown in Toledo, Ohio. The team was returning home after playing Bowling Green in a college football game when the plane crashed shortly after take-off. (AP Photo/File)
In this Oct. 31, 1960 file photo, the broken hull and wreckage of a chartered plane that crashed on Oct. 29, 1960, killing 22 people, including 16 Cal Poly players, a manager and a booster, is shown in Toledo, Ohio. The team was returning home after playing Bowling Green in a college football game when the plane crashed shortly after take-off. (AP Photo/File)
In 1956, the Suez Crisis began as Israel invaded Egypt to seize control of the vital waterway, backed by France and Britain, after its nationalization by Egypt. Their forces eventually withdrew after U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration refused to back the effort and threatened sanctions.
In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board.
This 1987 file photo shows former Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg speaking at the White House in Washington. Nine days after President Ronald Reagan nominated him for the high court, new revelations that he’d previously smoked marijuana forced him to bow out. (AP Photo, File)
This 1987 file photo shows former Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg speaking at the White House in Washington. Nine days after President Ronald Reagan nominated him for the high court, new revelations that he’d previously smoked marijuana forced him to bow out. (AP Photo, File)
In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his next choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburg’s previous marijuana use.
Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, waves as he leaves the Operations and Checkout Building Thursday morning Oct. 29, 1998 at Kennedy Space Center. Glenn, Commander Curt Brown, front, and five other crew members were on their way to Launch Pad 39-B and a planned liftoff on the Space Shuttle Discovery. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, waves as he leaves the Operations and Checkout Building Thursday morning Oct. 29, 1998 at Kennedy Space Center. Glenn, Commander Curt Brown, front, and five other crew members were on their way to Launch Pad 39-B and a planned liftoff on the Space Shuttle Discovery. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he had blazed as the first American to orbit the Earth 36 years earlier.
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S.
In this Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, file photo, a child bends over in a public park in Yinchuan in northwestern China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region. China’s ruling Communist Party announced Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, that it will abolish the country’s decades-old one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, removing remaining restrictions that limited many urban couples to only one, the official Xinhua News Agency said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, file photo, a child bends over in a public park in Yinchuan in northwestern China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region. China’s ruling Communist Party announced Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, that it will abolish the country’s decades-old one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, removing remaining restrictions that limited many urban couples to only one, the official Xinhua News Agency said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In 2015, China announced plans to abolish its one-child policy, allowing all families to have two children for the first time in over 35 years.
In this Oct. 29, 2017, file photo, Houston Texans players kneel and stand during the singing of the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
In this Oct. 29, 2017, file photo, Houston Texans players kneel and stand during the singing of the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
In 2017, all but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.”
In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, a relative sprinkles flowers for the victims of the crashed Lion Air flight 610 from an Indonesia Navy ship in the waters where the airplane is believed to have crashed in Tanjung Karawang, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, a relative sprinkles flowers for the victims of the crashed Lion Air flight 610 from an Indonesia Navy ship in the waters where the airplane is believed to have crashed in Tanjung Karawang, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
In 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Five months later, an Ethiopian Airlines Max crashed after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board; the 737 MAX was grounded worldwide, and a flight-control system was implicated in the crashes.
Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene of a crowd surge in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene of a crowd surge in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
In 2022, more than 150 people were killed and dozens more injured in South Korea after being crushed by a large crowd pushing forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities in Seoul.
In 2024, Hezbollah said it had chosen cleric Naim Kassem to lead the Lebanese militant group after the killing of its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb in late September.
