Connie Mack's Last Game
Oct 1 Connie Mack's last game as Philadelphia Athletics manager (1901-50); longest serving manager in MLB history; beat Washington Senators, 5-3 at Shribe Park
- Oct 1 New York Giants beat Cleveland Browns, 6-0 at Cleveland Stadium; sets Browns club record for fewest points scored by both teams; Browns go on to win NFL Championship
- Oct 1 Philadelphia Phillies clinch NL pennant on Dick Sisler's 3-run home run in a season ending 4-1 win v Brooklyn Dodgers; Phillies first pennant since 1913
- Oct 1 South Korean troops cross the 38th parallel into North Korea
US Women's Golf Open
Oct 1 US Open Women's Golf, Rolling Hills CC: Babe Zaharias ties Open scoring record, -9 291 to beat amateur Betsy Rawls by 9 strokes
Li'l Folks
Oct 2 1st strip of Charlie Brown, "Li'l Folks", later "Peanuts", by Charles M. Schulz published in seven nationwide papers
- Oct 2 Bob Shaw of Chicago Cardinals sets NFL record with 5 TD receptions in 55-13 win against Baltimore Colts; Cardinals quarterback Jim Hardy tosses 6 touchdown passes
- Oct 3 Ethel Waters becomes 1st Black lead actress on TV sit-com (Beulah)
- Oct 3 Indonesian army opens assault on Ambon, South Moluccas
- Oct 3 Philadelphia Phillies choose not to request MLB rule on eligibility of star left-hander Curt Simmons to play in World Series despite being on furlough from Army; Phillies swept, 4-0 by NY Yankees
- Oct 5 "Pardon Our French" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 100 performances
Knicks Draft Cousy
Oct 5 Boston Celtics owner Walter Brown & coach Red Auerbach draw lots out of hat for 3 members of defunct Chicago Stags franchise; hit jackpot with future 6-time NBA champion, Bob Cousy
- Oct 7 Baseball World Series: New York Yankees beat Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Yankee Stadium to sweep series, 4-0 for 13th WS title in team history; MVP: NY 2B Jerry Coleman
- Oct 7 US forces invade North Korea by crossing 38th parallel
- Oct 7 Walter Bedell Smith replaces Roscoe H Hillenkoetter as 4th CIA head
- Oct 7 William H Jackson becomes deputy director of CIA
- Oct 8 4th NHL All-Star Game, Detroit Olympia, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat All-Stars, 7-1
- Oct 8 Cleveland Browns play Pittsburgh for 1st time, beat Steelers 30-17
- Oct 11 The U.S. Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS
- Oct 12 "Call Me Madam" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 644 performances
- Oct 12 The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show debuts on CBS television, airs until 1958
All About Eve
Oct 13 "All About Eve" directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Bette Davis and Anne Baxter premieres (Academy Awards Best Picture 1951)
- Oct 14 Rev Sun Young Moon liberated from Hung Nam prison
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Oct 16 The first edition of C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is released in London
- Oct 19 Bird Building at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is dedicated (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Oct 19 UN forces enter Pyongyang, capital of North Korea
Gas Chromatography
Oct 20 Chemists Archer John Porter Martin and James Lovelock give the first demonstration of gas chromatography at a meeting of the Biochemical Society. The technique is rapidly adopted by the petrochemical industry.
Executive Order No. 355
Oct 23 Filipino President Elpidio Quirino issues Executive Order No. 355 replacing the National Land Settlement Administration with Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO)
- Oct 25 Dutch NSB leader C van Gelderen sentenced to life
La Répétition
Oct 25 Jean Anouilh's play "La Répétition ou l'Amour puni" premieres in Paris at the Théâtre Marigny
- Oct 26 630 Dutch volunteers depart for Korea
Rickey Resigns
Oct 26 Branch Rickey resigns as Brooklyn Dodgers president
Missionaries of Charity
Oct 26 Mother Teresa founds Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India
- Oct 26 South Korean troops reach Chosan at Chinese boundary
- Oct 27 Paul Creston's 3rd Symphony, "Three Mysteries," 1st performance with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra
- Oct 29 Bill Rexford in an Oldsmobile finishes 26th in the season finale at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina to win the NASCAR Grand National Series Championship
- Oct 29 British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) Stafford Cripps resigns
- Oct 29 Cleveland Browns' Marion Motley sets record for highest avg gain in a game with 17.1 (10 attempts), Cleveland 45, Pittsburgh 7
- Oct 29 Detroit Lions Wally Triplett achieves a kickoff return yardage of 294 yards against the LA Rams, the second highest in a single-game in NFL history
- Oct 30 David Diamond's 3rd Symphony premieres with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch
Lloyd 1st African-American NBA Player
Oct 31 The Big Cat, Earl Lloyd becomes the first African-American to play a game in the NBA, scoring 6 points on debut for the Washington Capitols
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists