29 October History
- 1618 - Sir Walter Raleigh is executed. After the death of Queen Elizabeth, Raleigh's enemies spread rumors that he was opposed the accession of King James.
- 1787 - Mozart's opera Don Giovanni opens in Prague.
- 1813 - The Demologos, the first steam-powered warship, launched in New York City.
- 1901 - Leon Czolgosz is electrocuted for the assassination of President McKinley. Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot McKinley on September 6 during a public reception at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, N.Y. Despite early hopes of recovery, McKinley died September 14, in Buffalo.
- 1927 - Russian archaeologist Peter Kozloff apparently uncovers the tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi Desert, a claim still in dispute.
- 1929 - Black Tuesday–the most catastrophic day in stock market history, the herald of the Great Depression. 16 million shares were sold at declining prices. By mid-November $30 billion of the $80 billion worth of stocks listed in September will have been wiped out.
- 1945 - The first ball-point pen goes is sold by Gimbell's department store in New York for a price of $12.
- 1949 - Alonzo G. Moron of the Virgin Islands becomes the first African-American president of Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia.
- 1952 - French forces launch Operation Lorraine against Viet Minh supply bases in Indochina.
- 1964 - Thieves steal a jewel collection–including the world's largest sapphire, the 565-carat "Star of India," and the 100-carat DeLong ruby–from the Museum of Natural History in New York. The thieves were caught and most of the jewels recovered.
- 1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court orders immediate desegregation, superseding the previous "with all deliberate speed" ruling.
- 1972 - Palestinian guerrillas kill an airport employee and hijack a plane, carrying 27 passengers, to Cuba. They force West Germany to release 3 terrorists who were involved in the Munich Massacre.
29 October Birthdays
- 1882 - Jean Giraudoux, French dramatist, novelist and diplomat, famous for his book Tiger at the Gates.
- 1891 - Fanny Brice, comedian, singer and actress.
- 1897 - Joseph G. Göbbels, German Nazi Propaganda Minister who committed suicide in Hitler's bunker.
- 1905 - Henry Green, novelist (Living, Party Going).
- 1910 - A. J. Ayer, English philosopher.
- 1921 - Bill Maudlin, American cartoonist whose GI "Willie" and "Joe" characters appeared in Stars and Stripes newspapers.