Today in History, October 24th
On October 24, 1945, the UN Charter took effect and the United Nations was born. Plus Black Thursday, a Niagara barrel ride and Concorde's last flight.
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October 24 is best known as the day in 1945 when the United Nations Charter took effect and the UN officially came into being. The date also brought “Black Thursday” on Wall Street in 1929 and Annie Edson Taylor’s barrel ride over Niagara Falls in 1901.
The big story: The United Nations officially comes into being (1945)
The idea was older than the organization. In January 1942, 26 nations signed a declaration pledging to fight the Axis powers together, and the “United Nations” name stuck. On April 25, 1945, with the war in Europe nearly over, delegates gathered in San Francisco to turn that alliance into something permanent. Representatives of 50 countries drafted the Charter, and it was signed on June 26. Signing was only half the job. The Charter would take effect once China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the U.S. had ratified it, along with a majority of the other signers. That threshold was reached on October 24, 1945, and the UN officially existed. Those five powers became permanent members of the Security Council, each holding a veto. The hope was that the new body would settle disputes and keep the peace better than the League of Nations, which had failed to stop a second world war.
More events on October 24
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1648 | The treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia were signed, ending the Thirty Years’ War and reshaping the balance of power in Europe. |
| 1861 | Western Union joined its eastern and western lines at Salt Lake City, completing the first transcontinental telegraph. The Pony Express was effectively finished. |
| 1901 | Annie Edson Taylor, a 63-year-old former dance teacher, became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survive. |
| 1917 | The Battle of Caporetto began. German and Austro-Hungarian forces broke the Italian line, and more than 600,000 Italians eventually surrendered or retreated. |
| 1921 | A U.S. Army sergeant selected the body of an unidentified American soldier from World War I to be honored as the Unknown Soldier. |
| 1929 | On “Black Thursday,” a record 12,894,650 shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange as panic set in at the start of the Crash of 1929. |
| 1931 | New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River, finished ahead of schedule. |
| 1962 | James Brown recorded a show at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. The result, Live at the Apollo, became his breakthrough album. |
| 1970 | Salvador Allende’s election as president of Chile was confirmed, making him the country’s first Marxist president. |
| 1973 | President Richard Nixon vetoed the War Powers Resolution, which sought to limit a president’s power to send troops into combat without Congress. |
| 1992 | The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves to become the first team based outside the U.S. to win the World Series. |
| 2003 | British Airways flew the last commercial Concorde flight, from New York’s JFK to London Heathrow, ending supersonic passenger service. |
Born on October 24
- 1632: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch lens grinder and scientist who was among the first to see bacteria, born in Delft.
- 1855: James S. Sherman, 27th vice president of the U.S. under William Howard Taft, born in Utica, New York.
- 1925: Luciano Berio, Italian composer and a leading figure of the musical avant-garde, born in Oneglia.
Sources
- History of the United Nations, United Nations
- The United Nations is born, History.com
- This Day in History: October 24, History.com
- On This Day: October 24, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Concorde makes its final flight, History.com
- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- James S. Sherman, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Luciano Berio, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Great piece, well done Grant. I really enjoyed it and thank you for the mention! 🙂