On October 1, 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927.

On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; he was the first black appointed to the nation's highest court.

On October 3, 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a new unified country.

On October 4,1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into orbit.

On October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.

On October 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.

On October 7,1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard.

On October 8,1982,all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, were banned.

On October 9,1967, Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara was executed in Bolivia while attempting to incite revolution.

On October 10,1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion, and resigned his office.

On October 11,1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

On October 12, 1870, Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63. On October 13,1943, during World War II, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.

On October 14,1962, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

On October 15,1964, it was announced that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev had been removed from office. Leonid I. Brezhnev succeeded him as premier by Alexei N. Kosygin and as Communist Party secretary.

On October 16,1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb.

On October 17, 1931, Mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released in 1939.

On October 18,1968, the U.S. Olympic Committee suspended two black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, for giving a "black power" salute as a protest during a victory ceremony in Mexico City.

On October 19,1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, amid frenzied selling, plunged 508 points - its biggest one-day decline to date.

On October 20,1973, in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was fired. For their refusal to dismiss Cox, Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigned and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus was fired.

On October 21,1879, Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. On

October 22, 1962, President Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island.

On October 23, 1983, a suicide truck bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon killed 241 U.S. Marines and sailors; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

On October 24, 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.

On October 25, 1971, the U.N. General Assembly voted to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.

On October 26,1994, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali of Jordan signed a peace treaty in a ceremony attended by President Clinton.

On October 27,1904, the first rapid transit subway opened in New York City.

On October 28, 1886, President Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, in New York Harbor.

On October 29, 1929, Black Tuesday descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America's Great Depression began.

On October 30,1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, to regain his world heavyweight title.

On October 31,1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards