October 31

October 31 is the 305th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1837 to 1968 — a span of 131 years. The entry that anchors it: Approximately 400 workers completed the 60-foot (18 m) busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, 1941.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1837, approximately 300 Muscogee die in the steamboat Monmouth disaster on the Trail of Tears in the United States. Then, in 1864, Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state.

In the postwar nineteenth century the date tracks a nation rebuilding. In 1895, the strongest earthquake in the Midwestern United States since 1812 strikes near Charleston, Missouri, causing damage and killing at least two.

In the first half of the twentieth century the date turns technological. In 1913, Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across United States. Then, in 1941, approximately 400 workers completed the 60-foot (18 m) busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The same year, 100 crew members of the USS Reuben James perished when their vessel became the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action during World War II after it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552. Two years on, in 1943, World War II — an F4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful radar-guided interception by a United States Navy or Marine Corps aircraft.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1968, Vietnam War October surprise — Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on October 31: James Lovell (1737), American educator and politician; Adelbert Ames (1835), American general and politician, 27th Governor of Mississippi; Boston Custer (1848), American soldier; Marie Louise Andrews (1849), American story writer and journalist; and Charles Leroux (1856), American balloonist and skydiver.

October 31 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: John Lynch (1820), American city founder and abolitionist; Charles A. Wickliffe (1869), American politician, 14th Governor of Kentucky; Jacob Abbott (1879), American author and academic; and Joseph Hooker (1879), American general.

The date carries formal observance as well — Halloween and related celebrations: — Halloween (Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and other places) and Girl Scouts Founders Day (United States). 8 entries, 131 years, one square on the calendar. October 31 is a reminder that history is experienced as an ordinary day before it is remembered as a date.