October 27

October 27 is the 301st day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1795 to 1988 — a span of 193 years. The entry that anchors it: Actor Ronald Reagan delivered a speech on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, 1964.

The revolutionary generation left its own mark on the date. In 1795, the United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.

The antebellum decades brought the date closer to the country’s central argument. In 1810, United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida. Then, in 1863, American Civil War — Union forces led by General William F. Smith defeat Confederate forces in the Battle of Brown's Ferry, opening up a supply line to the besieged city of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

After 1945 the date reflects a country operating at global scale. In 1954, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force. Seven years on, in 1961, NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1. A year later, in 1962, Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down over Cuba by a Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile. Two years on, in 1964, Actor Ronald Reagan delivered a speech on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, launching his own political career, which culminated in him serving two full terms as U.S. president. Then, in 1988, Cold War — Ronald Reagan suspends construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow due to Soviet listening devices in the building structure.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on October 27: Juan Seguín (1806), American colonel, judge, and politician, 101st Mayor of San Antonio; Stevens T. Mason (1811), American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Michigan; Isaac Singer (1811), American actor and businessman, founded the Singer Corporation; Daniel H. Wells (1814), American religious leader and politician, 3rd Mayor of Salt Lake City; and John Davis Long (1838), American lawyer and politician, 34th United States Secretary of the Navy.

October 27 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: John Cook (1789), American farmer and politician, 6th Governor of Delaware; Warren Wood (1926), American golfer and soldier; Ellen Hayes (1930), American mathematician and astronomer; and Rudolf Anderson (1962), American soldier and pilot.

The date carries formal observance as well — International Religious Freedom Day (United States) and Navy Day (United States) (unofficial, official date is October 13). What holds these 8 entries together is nothing more than the calendar, and nothing less. 193 years separate the earliest from the latest, and each was once simply the present day.