OCTOBER 31
1956:U.S. Navy Rear Adm. George J. Dufek makes the first airplane landing
at the South Pole, becoming the first man since Robert F. Scott's
ill-fated expedition in 1912 to set foot on the South Pole. Dufek is
also the first American to reach the pole, having piloted the transport
plane Que Sera Sera to bring supplies for the construction of a permanent Antarctic station.
1517: Theologian Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door
of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, criticizing the corrupt
practices of the Catholic Church; the event is hailed as the beginning
of the Protestant Reformation. In 1521, Luther will be excommunicated by
Pope Leo X and labeled a heretic by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
1959: Lee Harvey Oswald makes the local newspapers after he
appears at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, expressing his desire to become a
Soviet citizen. Oswald will make much bigger headlines in November 1963
as the assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
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