October 7th History Tidbit: 1913 Henry Ford’s entire Highland Park automobile factory is run on a continuously moving assembly line for the first time when the chassis is pulled past workers using a motor and rope, allowing the factory to cut man-hours required to assemble one “Model T” from 12 ½ hours to six, and within the next year, to 93 man-minutes. Eventually, thanks to improvements in the moving assembly line, the company is producing one Model T every 24 seconds, allowing Ford to sell the car for below $300, versus its debut price of $850...1918 Without throwing a single pass, the Georgia Tech football team defeats Cumberland College 222-0, having carried the ball 978 yards...1950 U.S.-led United Nations forces cross the 38th parallel and enter North Korea...1960 In their second of four televised debates, Vice President Richard Nixon and Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy discuss Fidel Castro’s take-over of Cuba and the downing of an American U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union and subsequent canceling of a scheduled U.S.-Soviet summit...1963 President John F. Kennedy signs a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union...1966 The first episode of the one-hour TV drama “Route 66” airs on CBS, following two young men, Buz Murdock and Tod Stiles, as they drive across the country in an inherited Corvette...1968 The “G” to “X” film-rating system is adopted by the Motion Picture Association of America...1982 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats” opens on Broadway, eventually running for a record 7,485 performances, second only to “The Phantom of the Opera.”..1984 Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton carries the ball 154 yards in a game against the New Orleans Saints, becoming the NFL’s all-time rushing leader with 12,400 yards, 88 more than previous record-holder (1965) Jim Brown of Cleveland...1994 President Bill Clinton puts the U.S. Army on alert and sends an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf when Iraqi troops are spotted moving toward Kuwait...2001 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 73rd home run of the season, setting a new major league record...2001 In the first military response since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, a U.S.-led coalition begins intense airstrikes in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan due to that state’s support of al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden...2003 Actor and former body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California from a field of 135 candidates on the ballot in the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:39:56 +0000