October 15
1860
Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.
1914
With the support of President Wilson, the Clayton Antitrust Act, which made it illegal for companies to buy competitors’ stock, was passed.
1917
Mata Hari, World War I spy, was executed by a firing squad in Vincennes, France.
1951
I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had its television debut.
1964
It was announced that Nikita Khrushchev was removed from his positions as premier and secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR.
1966
The U.S. Department of Transportation was created.
1989
Wayne Gretzky topped Gordie Howe’s NHL scoring record.
1991
Clarence Thomas got a narrow (52â48) Senate confirmation of his nomination to the Supreme Court.
1993
Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to end apartheid in South Africa.
2003
China became the third country to launch a staffed space mission.
Birthdays
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse), 1881â1975, English-American novelist and humorist.
Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov
poet and novelist (1814)
Helen Hunt Jackson
writer (1830)
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
philosopher (1844)
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson
U.S. First Lady (1872)
C. P. Snow
author and physicist (1905)
Hiram Leong Fong
politician (1906)
John Kenneth Galbraith
economist (1908)
Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
historian and public official (1917)
Mario Puzo
novelist (1920)
Lee Iacocca
business executive (1924)
Michel Foucault
philosopher and historian (1926)
Penny Marshall
actress, director (1942)