What Happened on October 5?

What Happened on October 5?



 The Presidential White House address was televised for the first time. (1947) US President Harry S. Truman delivered the speech, which asked US citizens not to eat meat or poultry on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively. The idea was that a reduced demand on the grain used for livestock would free that same grain up to be sent to help starving Europeans.
[*] Israeli scientist Mordechai Vanunu claimed that Israel had a secret stash of nuclear weapons. (1986) Vanunu, who was opposed to using weapons of mass destruction, published a story on the front page of the Sunday Times in Britain. Israel would not confirm nor deny the existence of such weapons.

[*] The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was founded. (1970)PBS is a non-profit television broadcasting company that replaced the educational television network, National Educational Television (NET).

[*] The world was circumnavigated on foot for the first time. (1974) David Kunst, an American from Minnesota, wore out 21 pairs of shoes walking 14,500 miles (about 23,335 kilometers) across four continents. Portions of the trip, like that across the Atlantic Ocean, were traversed by plane. The journey, which he used to raise money for UNICEF, took four years to complete.

[*] The "March on Versailles" took place, marking a major turning point in the French Revolution. (1789) Impoverished women in France banded together to make a stand against King Louis XVI. They demanded lower prices for bread, an end to feudalism and for the King and his court to leave Versailles. The successful uprising inspired and strengthened the position of the working class during the French Revolution.

[*] Fans listened to a radio broadcast of the Major League Baseball World Series for the first time. (1921) This first baseball radio broadcast featured the best-of-nine series in which the New York Yankees lost to the New York Giants.

[*] The first cycling time-trial competition took place. (1895) The first time-trial cycling race occurred outside of London, England, on a 50-mile (about 80-kilometer) course. Time-trial races have staggered starts, with racers taking off at different times, a few minutes apart. Mass starts, in which all racers take off at once, didn't become popular until after World War II.

[*] Wilbur Wright set a world record for flight time. (1905) Wright's plane, Wright Flyer III, remained in flight for 39 minutes and 23 seconds, covering 24 miles (about 39 kilometers) — longer than his individual flights of 1903 and 1904 combined. The record held until 1908.

[*] The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to gain Tibet's independence. (1989) The Dalai Lama has been traveling the world since 1959, peacefully campaigning for a self-governing Tibet, free from Chinese rule. His campaign continues today.

[*] The first NC-17-rated film was released in the US. (1990)Henry & June was the first film to get the new rating, which replaced the "Rated X" moniker earlier that year in September.