Monday, October 31, 2011

TODAY IN HISTORY

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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