This Day In History — Entrapment of the Donner Party

October 31

1517
Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

1846
A heavy snowfall trapped the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

1864
Nevada became the 36th state.

1941
Work on the Mount Rushmore monument was completed.

1956
Rear Admiral G. J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole.

1984
Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated.

1992
Pope John Paul II admitted that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in convicting Galileo of heresy 350 years earlier.

Birthdays

Chiang Kai-shek

1887–1975, Chinese Nationalist leader. He was also called Chiang Chung-cheng.

Jan Vermeer

painter (1632)

John Keats

poet (1795)

Juliette Gordon Low

founder of the Girl Scouts of America (1860)

Dale Evans

actor and singer (1912)

Barbara Bel Geddes

actress (1922)

Michael Collins

astronaut (1930)

Dan Rather

television journalist, writer (1931)

Michael Landon

actor (1936)

Jane Pauley

TV journalist (1950)

Peter Jackson

director (1961)

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