What Happened on October 29?

October 29 is Black Tuesday, the famous 1929 stock market crash that started the Great Depression. It also marks Turkey's Republic Day, the internet's first message, and Muhammad Ali's first pro fight.

• 1618 — Sir Walter Raleigh is executed in London

  On October 29, 1618, explorer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded after a failed expedition angered King James I. Read the full story →

• 1923 — The Republic of Turkey is proclaimed

  Turkey's Grand National Assembly voted to make the country a republic and elected Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as its first president. Read the full story →

• 1929 — Black Tuesday: the great stock market crash begins an era of hard times

  On Black Tuesday, panicking investors dumped shares and stock prices collapsed — a crash that helped launch the decade-long Great Depression. Read the full story →

• 1960 — Cassius Clay fights his first professional boxing match

  Fresh from Olympic gold in Rome, 18-year-old Cassius Clay won his professional debut in Louisville — the first step on the road to becoming Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest.' Read the full story →

• 1969 — The first message travels between two computers on ARPANET

  A student programmer at UCLA typed "login" toward a computer 350 miles away at Stanford — but the system crashed after just two letters: LO. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Bob Ross (1942–1995) · Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (1938) · Richard Dreyfuss (1947) · Winona Ryder (1971)

Days & observances

Republic Day (Cumhuriyet Bayramı) · National Cat Day · Internet Day (ARPANET anniversary) · National Hermit Day