This Week in People’s History, Oct 8–14, 2025
Starting Down Vietnam’s Slippery Slope
OCTOBER 8 IS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY of the U.S. beginning to open the funding spigot for the doomed military effort to maintain brutal colonial control of Vietnam and all Indochina. The tap remained open for more than two decades, providing the wherewithal to kill or maim at least three million of the region’s people.
On this day in1950 the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group opened shop on the French Army’s Base Militaire on the eastern edge of what was then called Saigon and is now Ho Chi Minh City. In short order 40 U.S.-built F-6 fighter planes arrived on permanent loan to the French air force, to be followed by 90 F-8 Bearcats, also on permanent loan.
Before the end of 1950, the die was cast when the U.S. and France signed a Mutual Defense Assistance Treaty for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. https://www.marxists.org/subject/vietnam/texts/american-crimes-in-vietnam-oct-1966.pdf
A History-Changing Hurricane
OCTOBER 9 IS THE 245TH ANNIVERSARY of what is thought to have been the deadliest known Atlantic hurricane, which not only killed some 27,000 people (many of them sailors) in the Caribbean but also sank eleven of the largest, most heavily armed ships in the Royal Navy.
The destruction of so many British warships was almost certainly a contributing factor in the American colonists’ victory in the American Revolution, which took place almost exactly a year after the Great Hurricane of 1780.
The British army might have avoided being forced to surrender at Yorktown if the Royal Navy had been able to come to the Army’s support by sailing into Chesapeake Bay. But the British, having not had time to replace the warships lost in the hurricane, were prevented from coming to the aid of the besieged Redcoats by French warships blocking access to the Bay. https://www.americanheritage.com/did-hurricanes-save-america
Saying ‘No’ to the Real Un-Americans
OCTOBER 10 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY of the first convention of the National Committee to Abolish the Un-American Activities Committee, which was held in New York City in 1960.
The National Committee to Abolish HUAC decided to widen its focus to include opposition to the criminalization of dissent and changed its name to National Committee Against Repressive Legislation in the late 1960s.
On Jan. 14, 1975, the House voted to abolish HUAC. Soon after the House did so Representative Robert Drinan acknowledged the importance of the work of the National Committee and its successor organization, saying: “No account of the demise of the House Un-American Activities Committee would be complete without a notation of the extraordinary work done by the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation.” https://www.rightsanddissent.org/news/resisting-huac-a-grassroots-success-story/
‘Live, From New York!’ Way Back When
OCTOBER 11 IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by George Carlin, and featuring Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, George Coe, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael O'Donoghue and Gilda Radner, with musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston, produced by Lorne Michaels. https://portside.org/2022-05-13/afterlife-george-carlin
The Army Against Civilians. What Else Is New?
OCTOBER 12 IS THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY of the beginning of the 2-week occupation of Panama City, the capital of Panama, by some 600 U.S. Army troops, who had been asked to take over the city in order to suppress an anti-government rent strike. Before the troops arrived, Panama police had already killed four protesters; the U.S. soldiers killed another two. For more information and photographs, please visit the Zinn Education Project’s website here: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/panama-renters-strike/
Deer Island, or Was It Devil’s Island?
OCTOBER 13 IS THE 350TH ANNIVERSARY of a decision by the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony that led to the death by starvation and disease of hundreds of innocent Native Americans living in eastern New England.
At the time, New England settler-colonists and many of the region’s Native Americans were already engaged in armed conflict that began in June, five months earlier. The fighting was precipitated by the colonists’ appropriation of farmland traditionally used by Native Americans and the resulting resistance by the Native Americans.
Even though the Native Americans lacked anything like an army and the fighting was sporadic, the settlers called the ongoing conflict King Philip’s War, which they named after the region’s preeminent Wampanoag chief, Metacom, who was called Philip by some.
After five months of fighting, resulting in scores of fatalities and the destruction of hundreds of buildings and crop-filled fields, on Oct. 13 the Massachusetts Bay Council took the harsh step of ordering the imprisonment of all the region’s Indians who were converts to Christianity. The Council decided to imprison what the colonists referred to as “praying Indians” because the Christian Indians were thought to include individuals who were secretly giving aid, comfort, and information to hostile Native Americans. Lacking any evidence of the “praying Indians’” disloyalty, the Council nevertheless determined to isolate the Christians on Massachusetts Bay’s Deer Island.
Roughly a thousand “praying Indians” were forced to remain on Deer Island for the winter of 1675-6. Entirely lacking shelter except makeshift combinations of excavations and driftwood and also almost foodless, fewer than half the prisoners survived the winter. https://nativenewengland.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/when-deer-island-was-turned-into-devils-island/
Boy, She Did Have Rhythm!
OCTOBER 14 IS THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY of the Broadway premiere of ‘Girl Crazy’ by George and Ira Gershwin, with George Gershwin conducting the orchestra.
Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman made their Broadway debuts on that 1930 night, and both became overnight stars. Two of the show’s many high points were Merman’s show-stopping rendition of ‘I Got Rhythm’ and Rogers’ heartbreaking ‘But Not for Me’. You can listen to each number, performed by Merman: https://youtu.be/Yns6GReENMk?si=axLiH36KQRogFy17 and by Rogers: https://youtu.be/tn7jXjqr2bY?si=KMcTmPt8KWwiIiir, but not unfortunately, recorded during the original production.
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