1984 The action thriller The Terminator was released in the United States; hugely successful, it made actor Arnold Schwarzenegger a star and established director James Cameron as a bankable filmmaker.

1961 The first Saturn rocket was successfully launched, and years later the Saturn V was the launch vehicle used in the Apollo Moon-landing flights.

1726 Anglo-Irish author Jonathan Swift anonymously published Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World (later called Gulliver's Travels), a keystone of English literature that helped give birth to the novel form.

Collapse of U.S. stock market prices
Just five days after nearly 13 million shares of U.S. stock were sold in one day in 1929, an additional 16 million shares were sold this day, called “Black Tuesday,” further fuelling the crisis known as the Great Depression.

1961: World condemns Russia's nuclear test
Russia explodes biggest ever nuclear device provoking widespread anger from around the world.

Although Halloween, celebrated this day, is now observed largely as a secular holiday, it is, as the eve of All Saints' Day, also a religious holiday among some Christians.

Jimmy Carter elected 39th U.S. president
Jimmy Carter, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 and Democratic former governor of Georgia, was elected 39th president of the United States this day in 1976, narrowly defeating Republican Gerald R. Ford.

Another section of Great Wall of China discovered
Announced on this day in 1998 was the discovery in the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningxia of a previously unknown 15.5-mile (25-km) segment of the Great Wall of China, which runs a total of about 4,500 miles (7,300 km).

2008 Democratic politician Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected president of the United States.

Gunpowder Plot
Celebrated with fireworks as Guy Fawkes Day, this English holiday marks the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, when Roman Catholics led by Robert Catesby tried to blow up Parliament, the king, and his family this day in 1605.

Abraham Lincoln elected president of the United States
On this day in 1860, Americans elected as their president Abraham Lincoln, whose victory led to the secession of Southern states and the long and bloody Civil War that lasted until 1865 and ended slavery in the U.S.

Disputed U.S. presidential election
On this day in 2000, the U.S. presidential election ended in a statistical tie between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, only to be settled on December 12 by the U.S. Supreme Court after a bitter legal dispute.

Philippines struck by Super Typhoon Haiyan
On this day in 2013, the Philippines endured what many consider its worst natural disaster when the country was struck by Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful cyclones ever recorded to strike land.

1888 Jack the Ripper's infamous killing spree in the Whitechapel district of London's East End came to an end.

2001 After 15 years of negotiations, China's membership in the World Trade Organization was approved, and the following day Taiwan's membership was approved.