What Happened On
Rumble in the Jungle
October 30, 1974
Muhammad Ali wins by a knockout against the overwhelming favorite George Foreman in Zaire for the heavyweight boxing championship. The fight was watched by a record estimated television audience of 1 billion viewers worldwide, becoming the world's most-watched live television broadcast at the time and the fight grossed an estimated $100 million in revenue.
It was during this fight that Ali introduced his "rope-a-dope" tactic, where Ali would back up against the ropes and use his arms to block Foreman's punches. Ali's trainer would later say it was called "rope-a-dope" because he was a dope to use it.
The government of Zaire staged the event and its president personally paid Ali and Foreman $5 million each just for showing up. He wanted to draw attention to Zaire's beauty and natural resources.
Ali had been stripped of his title in 1967 after he was convicted of draft-evasion, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. This victory made Ali only the second dethroned heavyweight champ in history to regain his belt.
First U.S. Warship Sunk in World War II
October 30, 1941
The destroyer USS Reuben James is sunk off of Iceland by a German U-boat, about a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor. While escorting a group of ships sailing to Great Britain, she was positioned between an ammunition ship and a group of German submarines. She was hit by a torpedo and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded, sinking the bow immediately. The aft section sank five minutes later. Out of a crew of seven officers and 136 enlisted men plus one enlisted passenger, 100 were killed, including all officers aboard.
While most of the country ignored the sinking, Woody Guthrie memorialized it in his song, The Sinking of the Reuben James:
"Tell me, what were their names?
Tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?"
Mars Invasion Causes National Panic
October 30, 1938
Orson Welles panics the nation with his 
radio adaption of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells about a Martian alien invasion. Broadcast in the style of an on going news event, many people missed the opening disclaimer and believed it was a live broadcast of an actual alien invasion.
A Chicken for Every Pot
October 30, 1928
The "A Chicken for Every Pot" political ad is placed in the New York Times by a local committee during Republican candidate Herbert Hoover's presidential campaign of 1928. The advertisement was used by Hoover's opponents to claim that he had promised voters a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage (the ad only mentions one car), although Hoover himself never made such a statement.
Hoover won the election, but the Great Depression began in 1929 and Hoover's opponents used this phrase against him in the 1932 presidential campaign. Hoover was decisively defeated by Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Bodnar receiving Calder Memorial Trophy in 1944
Bodnar receiving Calder Memorial Trophy in 1944
Hockey's Fastest First Goal
October 30, 1943
Canadian hockey player Gus Bodnar scores a goal 15 seconds into his first NHL game, setting the record for fastest goal by a player in his first NHL game.
He went on to play 12 seasons in the National Hockey League.
First Welterweight Boxing Championship
October 30, 1888
Won by Paddy Duffy.
First Methodist Church
October 30, 1768
The first Methodist church in America is dedicated, the Wesley Chapel in New York City.
Birthdays
Henry Winkler
Born October 30, 1945
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Happy Days (1974-84, The Fonz) and Better Late Than Never (2016-18). Film: The Lords of Flatbush (1974) and Night Shift (1982, Chuck Lumley). The Fonz and Howard Cunningham were the only two characters to appear in all 255 episodes of Happy Days.
During the first season of Happy Days, ABC censors thought Fonzie's leather jacket made him look like a hoodlum so they wouldn't let him wear it unless he was wearing it as safety gear for his motorcycle. But, the show's producers wanted Fonzie to wear his jacket, so they began incorporating Fonzie's motorcycle into his scenes to get around the censors. This led to the iconic scene of Fonzie riding his motorcycle into Arnold's so that he could wear his leather jacket inside the restaurant. Winkler couldn't ride a motorcycle and crashed several times during shooting.
Winkler's parents were German Jews who immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 to escape Nazi Germany.
Grace Slick (Grace Barnett Wing)
Born October 30, 1939
American Hall of Fame singer/songwriter. With Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship. Music: White Rabbit (1967), Somebody to Love (1967), We Built This City (1985), Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (1986).
In 2017, Grace Slick licensed the song Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now for use in a Chick-fil-A TV commercial. Slick, who disagrees with Chick-fil-A's corporate views on same-sex marriage, gave the proceeds to Lambda Legal, an organization that works to advance the civil rights of the LGBTQ community and people living with HIV.
John Adams
Born October 30, 1735 d. 1826
American politician. First U.S. Vice-President (1789-97) and 2nd U.S. President (1797-1801). Father of the 6th president John Quincy Adams. Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Born October 30, 1966 d. 2006
Jordanian-born leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He was killed when U.S. forces bombed his safehouse.
Harry Hamlin
Born October 30, 1951
American actor. TV: L.A. Law (Michael Kuzak).
Claude Lelouch
Born October 30, 1937
French Oscar-winning screenwriter, film director. Film: A Man and a Woman (1966, Oscar).
Louis Malle
Born October 30, 1932 d. 1995
French Oscar-winning film director. Film: Le Monde du silence (1956, Oscar best documentary), Murmur of the Heart (1971), Atlantic City (1980), and My Dinner With Andre (1981).
Dick Gautier
Born October 30, 1931 d. 2017
American actor. TV: Get Smart (Hymie the robot). He was also known for his caricatures of celebrities, and wrote several instructional books on caricature, drawing, and cartooning.
Herschel Bernardi
Born October 30, 1923 d. 1986
American actor. TV: Peter Gunn (Lt. Jacoby) and voice of Charlie the Tuna in the commercials.
Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude
Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude
Ruth Gordon (Ruth Jones)
Born October 30, 1896 d. 1985
American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Harold and Maude (1971, Maude), Rosemary's Baby (1968, Oscar), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), and Any Which Way You Can (1980).
Gerhard Domagk
Born October 30, 1895 d. 1964
German bacteriologist. He was the first person to refuse a Nobel Prize (1939). He was awarded the prize for his discovery of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first of the sulfonamide drugs. He used the drug to save his own daughter's arm from amputation. He was forced to refuse the award due to pressure from the Nazi government during WWII. He was able to accept the award after the war.
Ezra Loomis Pound
Born October 30, 1885 d. 1972
American poet, winner of the first Bollingen Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress (1948) for Pisan Cantos. He was charged with treason for making pro-fascist broadcasts in Italy during World War II.
Deaths
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Died October 30, 1919 b. 1850
American poet. "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone" is from her poem Solitude.
Quote: "To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men."
Quote: "Who climbs the mountain does not always climb.
The winding road slants downward many a time;
Yet each descent is higher than the last."
James Schoolcraft Sherman
Died October 30, 1912 b. 1855
American politician. 27th U.S. Vice-President (1909-12, under William Howard Taft), U.S. House of Representatives (1887-91, 1893-1909, New York). He was the first U.S. Vice President to fly in a plane (1911) and the first to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. He died of Bright's disease while in office.
Tammy Grimes
Died October 30, 2016 b. 1934
American Tony-winning actress. Stage: The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960, Tony) and Private Lives (1970, Tony).
James Galanos
Died October 30, 2016 b. 1924
American fashion designer. Famous for his chiffons, he is considered one of today's greatest American fashion designers.
Al Molinaro (Umberto Francesco Molinaro)
Died October 30, 2015 b. 1919
American actor. TV: The Odd Couple (1970-75, Murray the cop) and Happy Days (1974-84, Al Delvecchio, owner of Arnold's).
Robert Goulet
Died October 30, 2007 b. 1933
American Emmy-Tony-Grammy-winning singer, actor. Broadway: Camelot (1960, Sir Lancelot). Music: If Ever I Would Leave You (1960).
Elvis Presley was said to have shot his TV when he saw Goulet on it.
Peggy Ryan (Margaret O'Rene Ryan)
Died October 30, 2004 b. 1924
American actress, singer dancer, often teamed with Donald O'Connor. TV: Hawaii Five-O (McGarrett's secretary).
Steve Allen
Died October 30, 2000 b. 1921
American comedian, songwriter. TV: The Tonight Show (1954, creator and its first host).
Gustav Hertz
Died October 30, 1975 b. 1887
German quantum physicist. He and James Franck received the Nobel Prize for Physics (1925) for confirming the quantum theory that energy can be absorbed by an atom only in definite amounts.
Jean Henri Dunant
Died October 30, 1910 b. 1828
Swiss philanthropist. He founded the International Red Cross (1864) and was co-winner of the first Nobel Peace Prize (1901).
Edmund Cartwright
Died October 30, 1823 b. 1743
English inventor. He revolutionized weaving with his invention of the power loom (1785).