October 15 in History

History is being made every day,  so when I  read about important events that took place on a particular date, I'm amazed that there isn't something every year.  However, in times gone by, things changed slowly.  Today, every day has a new "first ever."  Here are a few things that happened on October 15, in years past.

1917 Dutch dance Mata Hare was convicted of spying for the Germans, and was executed by a firing squad outside Paris.

1940 Charles Chaplin's first talking comedy, "The Great Dictator," a lampoon of Adolf Hitler, opened in New York.

1945 Vichy leader, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.

1946 Herman Goering fatally poisoned himself hours before his scheduled execution.

1951 The first episode of I Love Lucy aired on CBS.

1966 The Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, Ca.

1966 Lyndon Johnson signed a bill creating the U.S. Department of Transportation.

1969 Peace demonstrators staged activities across the country as part of a "moratorium" against the Vietnam War.

1989 LA King hockey player Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's point record of 1850, in the final period of a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

1990 Mikhail Gorbechov, president of the Soviet Union, received the Nobel Peace Prize.