1922

Benito Mussolini, the founder of fascism, is appointed Italian prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III. He was dismissed in 1943 after the Allied invasion of Italy and executed by partisans in 1945.

1929

“Black Tuesday” descended on the New York Stock Exchange. Stock prices collapsed amid panicked selling, $14 billion in value was lost, triggering America’s Great Depression.

1998

Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he had blazed in the Friendship 7 Mercury space capsule in 1962.

2012

Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm was blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S.