John Samuel Blankenbeker (born 1835)

In 1835, in the year that John Samuel Blankenbeker was born, on June 2nd, P. T. Barnum and his "circus" began their first tour of the U.S. He had paid $1,000 for an elderly slave named Joice Heth, who he claimed was 161 years old and a former nurse for George Washington. Touring the northeast of the U.S., he made more than $1,000 per week. Joice died the next year - at about 80 years old.

In 1855, on November 17th, David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary and explorer, became the first known European to see Victoria Falls. He named the falls in honor of Queen Victoria but locally it was - and is - Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means "The Smoke That Thunders".

In 1912, in October, former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot, but not killed, while campaigning for another term as President with the newly created Bull Moose (Progressive) Party. John Schrank was a Bavarian-born saloon-keeper from New York who had been stalking Roosevelt when he shot him just before a campaign speech. Shot in the chest (and showing the audience his bloody shirt), Roosevelt went on to give a 55 to 90 minute talk (reports vary on the length) before being treated for the injury. After 8 days in the hospital, Roosevelt went back on the campaign trail.

In 1938, on October 30th, a Sunday, The Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast Orson Welles' special Halloween show The War of the World's. A clever take on H.G. Wells' novel, the show began with simulated "breaking news" of an invasion by Martians. Because of the realistic nature of the "news," there was a public outcry the next day, calling for regulation by the FCC. Although the current story is that many were fooled and panicked, in reality very few people were fooled. But the show made Orson Welles' career.

In 1949, on April 4th, NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was established. Twelve nations originally signed the North Atlantic Treaty - the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Portugal. Greece, Turkey, and West Germany later joined. Today, there are 26 nations in NATO.