On Oct. 16, 1793, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, queen of France, was beheaded.

In 1859, John Brown led a group of 21 men in a raid on Harpers Ferry in western Virginia.

In 1901, Booker T. Washington dined at the White House with President Theodore Roosevelt, whose invitation to the black educator sparked controversy.

In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis began as President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.

In 1978, the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to be the new pope; he took the name John Paul II.

In 2002, The White House announced that North Korea had disclosed it had a nuclear weapons program.