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US-Soviet arms control talks stalled in 1986 due to disagreement over the Strategic Defense Initiative. The Day of Six Billion was established in 1999. The Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1 in 1964, and in 1960, Khrushchev famously slammed his shoe at the UN. Thatcher narrowly escaped an IRA bombing in 1984. Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for raising awareness of global warming. The first raincoat was sold in 1823, and the first Oktoberfest occurred in 1810. The first US asylum opened in 1773, and Columbus Day was first celebrated in 1792. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in US schools for the first time in 1892.
Peace talks over arms control have stalled between the US and Soviet superpowers. (1986) Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan failed to reach an agreement as Gorbachev insisted on limiting the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a pet project of President Reagan. Talks did not resume until more than a year later when Gorbachev conceded the point.
The sixth billionth person in the world was born. (1999) Although there is some disagreement about the exact date, the United Nations Population Fund has established this day as “The Day of Six Billion”.
The Soviet Union went on in the “space race” by launching a spacecraft into orbit with a multi-man crew. (1964) Voskhod 1 launched with astronauts Boris Yegorov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Vladamir Komarov on board. This was also the first mission flown without spacesuits.
Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, lashed out at a session of the United Nations General Assembly. (1960) Khrushchev protested a speech criticizing Soviet policy by angrily slapping his shoe on the conference table. Frederick Boland, the president of the General Assembly, was only able to regain control of the meeting by smashing his gavel on the table.
UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped assassination. (1984) Irish Republican Army terrorists bomb the Grand Hotel where Prime Minister Thatcher was staying. Five people were killed and 31 were injured in the blast, but the Prime Minister managed to escape unharmed.
US Vice President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (2007) Vice President Gore won the award along with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for raising awareness of global warming.
Sold the first raincoat in the world. (1823) Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh, who invented waterproof fabric, sold the first raincoat.
The first Oktoberfest occurred. (1810) The Oktoberfest tradition actually began as a festival celebrating the wedding of Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen and Prince Louis of Bavaria in Munich, Germany. The festival was such a success that locals decided to hold it every year.
The first asylum in the United States opens. (1773) Eastern State Hospital asylum opened in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Columbus Day was first celebrated in the United States. (1792) This first celebration occurred on the 300th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus. The day did not become a federal holiday until 1934.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited for the first time in US schools. (1892) The pledge was recited to honor the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World.
