Category: Today

On November 1, 1790, Edmund Burke published his “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” predicting that the French Revolution would end in disaster. Though many have disputed his premises, few dispute his prophecy, which proved spot on.

Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and other nations celebrate Halloween on October 31. The word Halloween or Hallowe’en dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin, meaning “hallowed evening” or “holy evening.” It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve (the evening before All Hallows’ Day). In Scots, the word “eve” is “even,” and this is contracted to “e’en” or “een.” Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en evolved into Halloween.

It is one of those darker-themed celebrations, often conjuring up images of death and horror. As if in keeping with this theme, Stalin’s body was removed from Lenin’s Tomb on October 31, 1961.

On October 30, 1907, Sol Tax was born. Tax, an important anthropologist at the University of Chicago, organized a four-day conference on military conscription, which was the start of an intellectual movement that led to the end of the draft less than seven years later. Tax’s most famous work was probably his study of a Guatemalen Indian economy, “Penny Capitalism.”

On October 29, 539 BC, Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon as conqueror. His general policy of religion toleration would be extended to the Jews, who were not long after allowed to return to their homeland.

On the same date in 1923 AD, the Ottomon Empire’s dissolution marked the start of the Turkish Republic.

On October 28, 1886, in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, despite the fact that the monument was not a federally funded project.

On October 27, 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater, thereby launching Reagan’s political career. The speech came to be known as “A Time for Choosing.”

On October 26, 1774, the first Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Exactly one year later, King George III of Great Britain went before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion. And one year later, to the day, in 1776, Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France, seeking financial support for the American Revolution.

On October 23, 1850, the first National Women’s Rights Convention began in Worcester, Massachusetts.

On the same October date 106 years later, thousands of Hungarians rose up against Soviet rule.

On October 22, 1964, philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but turned down the honor — establishing a precedent that should have been followed by numerous Peace Prize winners, including Barack Obama and the European Union.