Today is Thursday, October 18th, the 291st day of the year. There are 74 days until the end of the year.
On this day:
In 1867, the U.S. took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. America bought the state for seven-point-two-million-dollars.
In 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was formally opened.
In 1898, the U.S. took control of Puerto Rico.
In 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, was established.
In 1931, inventor Thomas Edison died at the age of 84. Known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," the great genius held more than 13-hundred patents including those for the phonograph and the incandescent electric lamp..
In 1944, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.
In 1960, "Spartacus," starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, opened in theaters across the United States.
In 1968, the U.S. Olympic Committee suspended Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving the "black power" salute as a protest during a victory ceremony at the Summer Games in Mexico City.
In 1969, Lew Alcindor made his NBA debut, scoring 29 points and pulling down 12 rebounds in a 119-to-110 Milwaukee Bucks victory. Alcindor later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In 1975, Simon and Garfunkel reunited for a performance on "Saturday Night Live."
In 1977, New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson earned the nickname "Mr. October" by hitting three home runs on three successive pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Six of the World Series. The Yankees went on to win the series four-games-to-two.
In 1988, the sitcom "Roseanne" made its debut on ABC.
In 2006, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 12-thousand for the first time ever.
In 2015, the Iran Deal was made official on this day.