TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, OCT. 30, the 303rd day of 2017. There are 62 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1944, the Martha Graham ballet “Appalachian Spring,” with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in a leading role.

In 1938, the radio play “The War of the Worlds,” starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the “Tsar Bomba,” with a force estimated at about 50 megatons. The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin’s body from Lenin’s tomb.

In 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” to regain his world heavyweight title.

In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.

In 1985, schoolteacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe witnessed the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, the same craft that carried her and six other crew members to their deaths in Jan. 1986.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Rock singer Grace Slick and songwriter Eddie Holland are 78. Rhythm-and-blues singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 76. Actress Joanna Shimkus is 74. Actor Henry Winkler is 72. Country/ rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 70. Actor Harry Hamlin is 66. Actor Charles Martin Smith is 64. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 63. Actor Kevin Pollak is 60. Rock singer-musician Jerry De Borg (Jesus Jones) is 57. Actor Michael Beach is 54. Rock singer-musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 52. Actor Jack Plotnick is 49. Comedian Ben Bailey, actor Billy Brown and actress Nia Long are 47. Actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Matthew Morrison are 39. Business executive and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump, actress Fiona Dourif and actor Shaun Sipos are 36. Actress Janel Parrish is 29. Actor Tequan Richmond is 25.