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Today in History, October 11th

On October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council, the first in 92 years. Plus the debut of Saturday Night Live and Apollo 7.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published October 11, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

October 11 is best known for 1962, when Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church’s first ecumenical council in 92 years. The date also saw the debut of Saturday Night Live in 1975 and the first spacewalk by an American woman in 1984.

The big story: The Second Vatican Council opens (1962)

Popes do not call ecumenical councils often. When John XXIII announced one on January 25, 1959, the Roman Catholic Church had not held such a gathering in nearly a century, and years of preparation followed. Commissions drew up an agenda and drafted proposals, and every Catholic bishop in the world was summoned, along with certain other church officials. On October 11, 1962, the Second Vatican Council opened, the first ecumenical council in 92 years and the 21st in the church’s history. John XXIII called it a “New Pentecost.” His goals were spiritual renewal inside the church and closer ties with other Christians, and in a notable gesture he invited Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant observers to attend. The pope did not live to see the finish. He died in June 1963, and the council carried on under his successor, Paul VI, until it closed in 1965.

More events on October 11

Year	What happened
1531	Catholic troops defeated Protestant forces at the Battle of Kappel during the Swiss Reformation.
1737	A cyclone struck the Hooghly River near present-day Kolkata, India, killing an estimated 25,000 to 45,000 people.
1776	A British fleet beat Benedict Arnold’s American gunboats at Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, wrecking nearly all of them.
1809	Explorer Meriwether Lewis died under mysterious circumstances at Grinder’s Tavern on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee.
1899	The South African (Boer) War began between Britain and the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
1968	Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission, launched. Its crew sent the first live TV broadcasts from orbit.
1975	Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC.
1984	Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space, testing satellite refueling outside the shuttle Challenger.
1987	The AIDS Memorial Quilt, larger than a football field, was shown for the first time, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
1991	Anita Hill testified at Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings that he had sexually harassed her. He was later confirmed 52–48.
2002	Former President Jimmy Carter was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for decades of work on peace and human rights.
2005	The Army Corps of Engineers finished pumping floodwater out of New Orleans, about 43 days after Hurricane Katrina.

Born on October 11

1884: Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady, diplomat and human rights champion, born in New York City.
1896: Roman Jakobson, linguist who helped found the Prague school of structural linguistics, born in Moscow.
1918: Jerome Robbins, choreographer and director whose work on West Side Story changed dance on stage and screen, born in New York City.