October 16 in history — What Happened Today in History

Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.

The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.

Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute.

Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.

Yasunari Kawabata becomes the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

China detonates its first nuclear weapon.

Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.

Cuban Missile Crisis begins: U.S. President John F. Kennedy is informed of photos taken on October 14 by a U-2 showing nuclear missiles (the crisis will last for 13 days starting from this point).

Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro delivers his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, and is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Fulgencio Batista government for leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks.

The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.

The Greek Communist Party announces a "temporary cease-fire", thus ending the Greek Civil War.

The Philippines takes over the administration of the Turtle Islands and the Mangsee Islands from the United Kingdom.

Nuremberg trials: Ten defendants found guilty by the International Military Tribunal are executed by hanging.

Holocaust in Italy: Raid on the Roman Ghetto.

Holocaust in Poland: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.

World War II: No. 603 Squadron RAF intercepts the first Luftwaffe raid on Britain.

Chinese Communists begin the Long March to escape Nationalist encirclement.

Háry János, a Hungarian folk opera by Zoltán Kodály is premiered at the Royal Hungarian Opera House in Budapest.

Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, today known as The Walt Disney Company.

Adolf Hitler delivers his first public address at a meeting of the German Workers' Party.

Margaret Sanger opens the first family planning clinic in the United States.

William Howard Taft and Porfirio Díaz hold the first summit between a U.S. and a Mexican president. They narrowly escape assassination.

The Partition of Bengal in India takes place.

A diplomatic incident between the United States and Chile occurred after U.S. sailors were attacked in Valparaíso, nearly leading to war.

The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.

Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.

Jovit Baldivino, Filipino singer and actor (died 2022)

Caroline Garcia, French tennis player

Kostas Fortounis, Greek footballer

Viktorija Golubic, Swiss tennis player

Bryce Harper, American baseball player

Jonathan Schoop, Curaçaoan baseball player

Shardul Thakur, Indian cricketer

Dan Biggar, Welsh rugby player

Zoltán Stieber, Hungarian footballer

Nicky Adams, English-Welsh footballer

Franco Armani, Argentine footballer

Derk Boerrigter, Dutch footballer

Inna, Romanian singer

Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (born 1927)

Memduh Ün, Turkish film producer, director, actor and screenwriter (born 1920)

Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (born 1919)

Allen Forte, American musicologist and theorist (born 1926)

Seppo Kuusela, Finnish basketball player and coach (born 1934)

John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English businessman (born 1926)

Govind Purushottam Deshpande, Indian playwright and academic (born 1938)

George Hourmouziadis, Greek archaeologist and academic (born 1932)

Ed Lauter, American actor (born 1938)

Laurel Martyn, Australian ballerina and choreographer (born 1916)

Robert B. Rheault, American colonel (born 1925)

Saggy Tahir, Pakistani-American lawyer and politician (born 1944)

Frank Moore Cross, American scholar and academic (born 1921)