October 2

October 2nd is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining.

Events

• 1187 – Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule.
• 1535 – Jacques Cartier discovers Montreal, Quebec.
• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: British spy John Andre is hanged by American forces for his role in Benedict Arnold's plot to sell West Point to the British Army.
• 1835 – Texas Revolution begins: Battle of Gonzales – Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
• 1836 – Naturalist Charles Darwin returns to Falmouth, England aboard the HMS Beagle after a 5-year journey collecting biological data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Saltville – Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia but are defeated by Confederate troops.
• 1889 – In Washington, DC, the first international Conference of American States begins.
• 1919 – US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed.
• 1924 – The Geneva Protocol is adopted as a means to strengthen the League of Nations.
• 1928 – The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, was founded by Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
• 1935 – Italy invades Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
• 1941 – World War II: Operation Typhoon – Germany begins an all-out offensive against Moscow.
• 1944 – Holocaust: Nazi troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
• 1950 – The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.
• 1955 – The ENIAC computer is deactivated at 11:45 PM.
• 1955 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuts (last new episode aired on June 26, 1962).
• 1958 – Guinea declares itself independent from France.
• 1959 – The Twilight Zone pilot premieres.
• 1962 – Johnny Carson debuts as host of The Tonight Show.
• 1967 – Thurgood Marshall sworn in as the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.
• 1968 – A peaceful student demonstration in Mexico City ends in the Tlatelolco massacre.
• 1990 – A Chinese airline Boeing 737-247 is hijacked; after landing at Guangzhou, crashes into an empty Boeing 707-3J6B and then a Boeing 757-21B on the ground killing 132
• 1992 – Hero opens in theaters, starring Dustin Hoffman.
• 1992 – The Carandiru Massacre takes place after a riot in the Carandiru prison system in São Paulo, Brazil.
• 1996 – The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• 1996  – An Aeroperu Boeing 757 crashes in Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from Lima, Peru killing 70.
• 2001 – Bankruptcy of Swissair.
• 2004 – American Samoa joins the North American Numbering Plan.

Births

• 1452 – King Richard III of England (d. 1485)
• 1737 – Francis Hopkinson, American author and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1791)
• 1798 – Charles Albert of Savoy (d. 1849)
• 1800 – Nat Turner, American leader of slave uprising (d. 1831)
• 1832 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (d. 1917)
• 1847 – Paul von Hindenburg, German officer and politician (d. 1934)
• 1851 – Ferdinand Foch, French soldier (d. 1929)
• 1852 – William Ramsay, Scottish chemist (d. 1916)
• 1869 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader (d. 1948)
• 1871 – Cordell Hull, U.S. Secretary of State (d. 1955)
• 1879 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (d. 1955)
• 1890 – Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
• 1895 – Bud Abbott, comedian and actor (d. 1974)
• 1901 – Alice Prin, singer and artist (d. 1953)
• 1904 – Graham Greene, British novelist (d. 1991)
• 1911 – Jack Finney, author (d. 1995)
• 1914 – Jack Parsons, American rocket scientist (d. 1952)
• 1921 – Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
• 1928 – George McFarland, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1932 – Maury Wills, baseball star
• 1934 – Earl Wilson, Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1937 – Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., American attorney (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Rex Reed, movie critic and actor
• 1943 – Franklin Rosemont, American artist
• 1945 – Don McLean, American songwriter
• 1948 – Avery Brooks, American actor
• 1948  – Donna Karan, American fashion designer
• 1948  – Chris LeDoux, American country music and rodeo performer (d. 2005)
• 1949 – Richard Hell, American musician
• 1950 – Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (d. 1998)
• 1951 – Sting, British singer and actor
• 1954 – Lani O'Grady, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1955 – Lorraine Bracco, American actress
• 1966 – Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoai, Samoan professional wrestler (d. 2000)
• 1967 – Frankie Fredericks, Namibian athlete
• 1970 – Kelly Ripa, American actress and television host
• 1971 – Tiffany, American singer
• 1973 – Susana Gonzalez, Mexican actress
• 1978 – Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer

Deaths

• 1264 – Pope Urban IV
• 1782 – Charles Lee, British and U.S. general (b. 1732)
• 1803 – Samuel Adams, American patriot (b. 1722)
• 1850 – Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)
• 1853 – François Jean Dominique Arago, French mathematician (b. 1786)
• 1927 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• 1962 – Boris Y. Bukreev, Soviet mathematician (b. 1859)
• 1968 – Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
• 1973 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b. 1897)
• 1981 – Hazel Scott, singer (b. 1920)
• 1981  – Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)
• 1985 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1998 – Gene Autry, American singer, actor, and entrepreneur (b. 1907)
• 2002 – Heinz von Foerster, physicist and philosopher
• 2003 – John T. Dunlop, U.S. Secretary of Labor
• 2003 – Gunther Philipp, Austrian comedian and actor

External links

• BBC: On This Day

Links to October 2

Holidays and observances

Feast of Guardian angels

October 1 – October 3 – September 2 – November 2 – more historical anniversaries