History on Oct. 24
In 1861, workers of the Western Union Telegraph Company link the eastern and western telegraph networks of the nation at Salt Lake City, Utah, completing a transcontinental line that for the first time allows instantaneous communication between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
In 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to successfully take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
In 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect in the United States under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
In 1945, the United Nations is born.
In 1951, President Truman declares war with Germany is officially over.
In 1954, President Eisenhower pledges support to South Vietnam.
In 1962, a naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect during the missile crisis.
In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who’d broken Major League Baseball’s modern-era color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.
In 1973, President Nixon vetoes the War Powers Resolution, which would limit presidential power to commit armed forces abroad without Congressional approval. The bill required the president to report to Congress within 48 hours after commitment of armed forces to foreign combat and limited to 60 days the time they could stay there without Congressional approval.
In 2003, the Concorde makes its last commercial flight.
In 2005, civil rights icon Rosa Parks died in Detroit at age 92.
In 2017, Fats Domino, the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose hits included “Blueberry Hill” and “Ain’t That a Shame,” died in Louisiana at age 89.
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