Oct. 30

1735: The second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Mass.

1938: The radio play The War of the Worlds, starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. (The live drama, which employed fake news reports, panicked some listeners who thought its portrayal of a Martian invasion was true.)

1944: The Martha Graham ballet Appalachian Spring, with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, with Graham in a leading role.

1945: The U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing.

1961: The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb with a force estimated at 58 megatons.

1961,: The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

1972: Forty-five people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train collided with another train in Chicago's South Side.

1995: By a vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in Quebec in a secession referendum.

2000: Comedian, television host, author and composer Steve Allen died in Encino, Calif., at age 78.