Today is Monday, Oct. 22, the 296th day of 2012. There are 70 days left in the year.
2136 B.C. ― Chinese make first record of a solar eclipse
1797 ― Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes first parachute jump from balloon (Paris)
1883 ― Original Metropolitan Opera House (NYC) grand opening (Faust)
1928 ― President Hoover speaks of "American system of rugged individualism"
1938 ― First Xerox copy made
1954 ― West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1962 ― JFK imposes naval blockade on Cuba, beginning missile crisis
1979 ― Deposed Shah of Iran arrives in NYC for medical treatment
1980 ― New South Korean constitution comes into effect
1981 ― U.S. national debt tops $1 trillion