Mark The Day

On July 2, 1865, William Booth and his wife, Catherine Booth, founded the Christian Mission in London's East End. Their goal was to bring practical help and Christian teaching to people struggling with poverty and hardship. Inspired by military organization, Booth introduced ranks such as officers and recruits, believing discipline and structure would strengthen the movement. Women were given leadership roles alongside men, an uncommon practice for the time.

The Christian Mission quickly expanded its work into some of London's poorest communities, opening soup kitchens and offering both physical assistance and spiritual support. Its energetic public preaching and unusual methods were not welcomed by everyone, and members frequently faced hostility, fines, and even imprisonment as authorities attempted to curb their activities.

In 1878, the organization adopted the name the The Salvation Army, and two years later established its first branch in the United States. During the Great Depression and both World Wars, the organization became widely respected for providing food, shelter, and support to civilians and military personnel alike. Today, the Salvation Army operates in more than 130 countries, delivering disaster relief, rehabilitation programs, community services, hospitals, thrift stores, and other charitable initiatives, supported through donations and the proceeds of its retail operations.

On September 29, 1941, Nazi forces began the mass murder of Jewish residents of Kyiv at Babi Yar, a ravine outside the German-occupied Ukrainian city. German troops had captured Kyiv ten days earlier, and SS and police units soon prepared to carry out the systematic killing of the city's Jewish population. Notices ordered Jewish residents to assemble with their belongings, leading many to believe they were being relocated rather than taken to their deaths.

Over September 29 and 30, victims were forced toward the ravine in groups, made to surrender their possessions and clothing, and then shot. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, German reports recorded 33,771 Jewish people murdered during those two days, making Babi Yar one of the largest single mass shootings carried out during the Holocaust.

The ravine continued to serve as an execution site during the German occupation. Jews, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, resistance members and others were murdered there, with estimates of the total number of victims reaching approximately 100,000. As Soviet forces approached Kyiv in 1943, the Nazis attempted to destroy evidence by forcing prisoners to exhume and burn bodies. The effort failed to erase the evidence, and Babi Yar remains one of the most powerful symbols of the Holocaust by bullets and the mass murder committed by Nazi Germany in occupied Eastern Europe.

On September 29, 1982, a series of mysterious deaths began in the Chicago area when people who had taken Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules suddenly became critically ill. The first victim was 12-year-old Mary Kellerman, who had been given Tylenol for cold symptoms. That same day, Adam Janus died after taking the medication, followed by his brother Stanley and Stanley's wife, Theresa, who unknowingly took capsules from the same bottle while grieving at Adam's home. Investigators eventually determined that capsules in several bottles had been deliberately contaminated with potassium cyanide.

Seven people ultimately died, with Mary Reiner, Mary McFarland and flight attendant Paula Prince among the other victims. As investigators searched for a common connection, authorities realized that each had taken Extra-Strength Tylenol shortly before becoming ill. Johnson & Johnson responded by recalling Tylenol capsules nationwide and warning consumers not to use the product. Although the poisoned bottles were traced to stores in the Chicago area, investigators concluded that the contamination had occurred after the medicine left the manufacturer, suggesting someone had altered bottles and returned them to store shelves.

The murders triggered nationwide alarm and permanently changed the way medications and many other consumer products are packaged. Manufacturers introduced increasingly sophisticated tamper-evident seals and abandoned easily opened capsules in favor of more secure alternatives, while federal legislation made tampering with consumer products a specific crime. Investigators pursued numerous leads—including an extortion attempt demanding money from Johnson & Johnson—but no one has ever been convicted of the seven murders. The Chicago Tylenol killings remain one of America's most notorious unsolved poisoning cases and fundamentally changed consumer expectations about product safety.

On September 29, 1988, Oregon mountaineer Stacy Allison became the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Climbing as part of the Northwest American Everest Expedition, Allison reached the top by way of the mountain's southeast ridge. Rising 29,032 feet above sea level according to the elevation officially recognized today, Everest presents climbers with extreme cold, unpredictable weather and dangerously thin air, making even survival near the summit a formidable challenge.

Mount Everest rises along the border between Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayas and is known as Chomolungma in Tibetan and Sagarmatha in Nepali. The mountain received its English name in honor of Sir George Everest, a former Surveyor General of India. New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa mountaineer from Nepal, made the first confirmed ascent of Everest in 1953. American James Whittaker reached the summit with Nawang Gombu in 1963, while Japan's Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the top in 1975.

Everest continued to produce major mountaineering milestones during the following years. Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler completed the first ascent without supplemental oxygen in 1978, demonstrating that a feat previously considered nearly impossible could be achieved. A decade later, Allison added her own name to Everest history when she reached the summit, opening another important chapter for American women in high-altitude mountaineering. Her achievement was particularly significant in a sport in which relatively few women had yet been given opportunities to participate in major Himalayan expeditions.

On September 29, 2006, Weston High School principal John Klang was fatally shot by 15-year-old student Eric Hainstock at the school in Cazenovia, Wisconsin. Hainstock had taken firearms from his family's home and brought them to school that morning. After he pointed one weapon at a teacher, a custodian managed to take it from him. Hainstock still had another gun, however, and encountered Klang in a hallway. Although seriously wounded, the principal confronted the teenager, wrestled him to the floor and helped prevent further violence before other students and staff members took control of the situation. Klang later died from his injuries.

Hainstock had received a disciplinary warning from Klang the previous day after bringing tobacco onto school property and later said that he was also angry about bullying he believed school officials had failed to stop. He was prosecuted as an adult and, in 2007, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide. He received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years. Klang, meanwhile, was widely remembered for confronting the armed student despite having already been wounded, actions credited with helping protect others at the school.

The Wisconsin shooting occurred during a particularly grim period of school violence in North America. Earlier that month, a gunman killed a student and wounded others at Dawson College in Montreal, while another attacker took students hostage and killed Emily Keyes at Platte Canyon High School in Colorado. Just three days after Klang's death, five girls were murdered at an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The succession of attacks renewed public concern about school security and violence, while Klang's actions became an enduring part of how the Cazenovia community remembered the tragedy.

On September 30, 1918, Arab forces and Australian mounted troops reached Damascus as the Ottoman position in Syria collapsed during the closing weeks of World War I. British-led forces followed as Damascus passed from Ottoman control by October 1. Among the most famous figures involved in the campaign was British officer T.E. Lawrence, later immortalized as “Lawrence of Arabia.” Born in Tremadoc, Wales, and educated at Oxford, Lawrence had extensive knowledge of Arab history and culture before joining British military intelligence in Cairo in 1914. Two years later, after Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, launched the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, Lawrence became a liaison officer with forces commanded by Hussein's son, Faisal.

Working alongside Arab commanders rather than commanding the revolt himself, Lawrence became an influential adviser and advocate of guerrilla warfare. Arab forces attacked Ottoman communications and railway lines, helping disrupt the enemy while British armies advanced through the region. The capture of Aqaba in July 1917 was one of the campaign's most important successes and strengthened cooperation between the Arab forces and the British. Lawrence continued north with Faisal's army toward Damascus as Australian mounted troops and other Allied units pursued retreating Ottoman forces. Damascus fell at the end of September and beginning of October 1918, but the victory did not produce the independent and unified Arab state Lawrence had hoped would emerge from the revolt.

Disillusioned by the postwar political settlement and Britain's role in determining the future of former Ottoman territories, Lawrence returned home and advocated Arab self-government, attending the Paris Peace Conference with Faisal's delegation in 1919. His wartime experiences eventually became the basis for Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the book that helped create his enduring legend. Uncomfortable with celebrity, Lawrence later served under assumed names in the Royal Air Force and Royal Tank Corps. Shortly after leaving the RAF in 1935, he suffered severe injuries in a motorcycle accident near his Dorset home and died several days later, ending the extraordinary life behind one of World War I's most enduring personalities.

On September 30, 1947, the New York Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-3 at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the World Series, but the afternoon was historic for reasons extending far beyond the score. It became the first World Series game shown on television and the first Fall Classic to include a Black player. Dodgers first baseman Jackie Robinson had broken Major League Baseball's longstanding color barrier earlier that season and played before more than 73,000 spectators as the two New York rivals met in another “Subway Series.” Millions more followed by radio, where Red Barber and Mel Allen were among the broadcasters describing the action, while Bob Stanton handled NBC's television coverage.

Television was still very much a novelty in 1947. Only a small number of American households and businesses owned sets, with many concentrated around major East Coast cities, and viewers often gathered in bars, restaurants and other public locations to watch. The technology was also far from polished. Bright sunlight and deep shadows at Yankee Stadium made portions of the action difficult for television cameras to capture, while NBC's bulky equipment experienced technical problems. Compared with the dependable familiarity of radio, televised baseball remained an experiment—but one that offered an intriguing glimpse of how Americans would eventually watch their national pastime.

The Yankees went on to defeat Brooklyn in a dramatic seven-game series, but television's relationship with the World Series had only begun. Eight years later, the same clubs met again when the 1955 World Series became the first televised in color. That time Brooklyn finally prevailed, defeating the Yankees in seven games to capture the franchise's first World Series championship and its only title before the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.

On September 30, 1954, the U.S. Navy commissioned USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine. The revolutionary vessel emerged from the Navy's nuclear propulsion program led by Captain Hyman G. Rickover, an engineer whose relentless approach to technical standards earned him both considerable admiration and a reputation for being exceptionally difficult to satisfy. President Harry S. Truman participated in the keel-laying ceremony at Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, in 1952, and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened Nautilus when the submarine was launched on January 21, 1954. Following commissioning, further testing and preparation continued until January 17, 1955, when Nautilus famously reported “UNDERWAY ON NUCLEAR POWER” and began demonstrating just how dramatically naval propulsion had changed.

At roughly 319 feet long and considerably larger than many earlier diesel-electric submarines, Nautilus possessed an enormous operational advantage: its reactor did not require atmospheric oxygen for propulsion. Conventional submarines had to surface or snorkel periodically to operate diesel engines and recharge batteries, but nuclear power allowed Nautilus to remain submerged for far longer periods while maintaining sustained underwater speeds exceeding 20 knots. Its reactor generated heat to produce steam, which powered turbines connected to the propulsion system. Nuclear submarines would still need to surface for supplies, maintenance and the requirements of their crews, of course—nuclear reactors may have tremendous endurance, but sailors stubbornly continue requiring food.

Nautilus quickly established records for submerged speed, distance and endurance, but its most celebrated achievement came in August 1958 during Operation Sunshine. Traveling beneath the Arctic ice, the submarine became the first vessel to reach the geographic North Pole while submerged, passing beneath it during a voyage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. After approximately a quarter-century of service and roughly half a million miles traveled, Nautilus was decommissioned on March 3, 1980. The submarine was later designated a National Historic Landmark and preserved at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel that helped usher the world's navies into the nuclear age remains open to visitors.

At approximately 5:45 p.m. on September 30, 1955, actor James Dean was fatally injured when his Porsche 550 Spyder collided with another automobile near Cholame, California. Dean, just 24, was traveling toward Salinas with Porsche mechanic Rolf Wütherich when a Ford driven by college student Donald Turnupseed turned across the Porsche's path at an intersection. Wütherich suffered serious injuries but survived, while Turnupseed escaped with relatively minor injuries. Dean was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Paso Robles, where he was pronounced dead. Only East of Eden had reached theaters during his lifetime; Rebel Without a Cause opened less than a month after his death, followed by Giant in 1956. Together, the three films transformed an extraordinarily brief screen career into one of Hollywood's most enduring legends.

Dean was passionate about automobiles and motor racing and had competed successfully in several events earlier that year. He had recently purchased the silver Porsche, which became known as “Little Bastard,” and was taking it to a racing event at Salinas when the collision occurred. Dean had received a speeding citation earlier in the journey, although the precise speed of the Porsche immediately before the crash has remained a subject of debate. Investigations and later reconstructions have focused on Turnupseed's left turn, the small Porsche's low profile and the difficult visibility conditions around the intersection. Whatever the exact combination of circumstances, the collision brought an abrupt end to the career of an actor who was only beginning to discover the extent of his fame.

In the years afterward, the wrecked Porsche acquired a mythology almost as famous as Dean himself. Stories circulated that the car was “cursed,” with various accidents and deaths supposedly connected to components salvaged from the wreck. Many of those tales have proved difficult or impossible to document, and contradictory accounts surround what ultimately happened to the remains of the Spyder. The legend nevertheless became part of the James Dean story, reinforcing the image of the rebellious young star forever associated with speed, danger and an early death. Dean received two posthumous Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, for East of Eden and Giant, ensuring that behind the mythology remained evidence of a remarkable acting career that had barely begun.

On September 30, 2005, Michael Eisner ended his 21-year tenure as chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company, closing one of the most consequential periods in the entertainment company's history. Eisner had arrived at Disney in 1984 when the company was struggling creatively and had recently faced the possibility of a corporate takeover. During the following two decades, Disney expanded dramatically through movies, television, theme parks, consumer products and other entertainment businesses. The period also included the celebrated revival of Disney animation, producing enormously successful films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Disney's acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC in 1996 added the ABC television network and ESPN to an increasingly formidable entertainment empire.

Born in New York City in 1942 and educated at Denison University, Eisner began his career in television before joining ABC, where he rose through the programming ranks. In 1976, Barry Diller recruited him as president and CEO of Paramount Pictures. During Eisner's years there, Paramount enjoyed a remarkable run that included such hits as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Flashdance, Trading Places, Footloose, Beverly Hills Cop and Terms of Endearment. His success made him a natural candidate when Disney's leadership sought someone capable of revitalizing the company in the mid-1980s.

Eisner's later years at Disney were considerably more contentious. Highly publicized disputes included the departure of studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and the costly severance agreement involving short-lived Disney president Michael Ovitz. Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, resigned from the company's board in 2003 and became a prominent critic of Eisner's leadership. At Disney's 2004 shareholder meeting, about 43 percent of votes cast opposed Eisner's reelection to the board, after which he surrendered the chairman's position while remaining chief executive. Eisner finally stepped down as CEO on September 30, 2005, and was succeeded by Robert Iger. Whatever the controversies surrounding his departure, the Disney Eisner left behind was vastly larger and more diversified than the company he had taken over two decades earlier.