TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, OCT. 22,
the 295th day of 2019. There are 70 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN 1962,
in a nationally broadcast address, President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Sovietbuilt missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to the communist island nation.
In 1797, French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris.
In 1811, composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt was born in the Hungarian town of Raiding in present-day Austria.
In 1934, bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot to death by federal agents and local police at a farm near east Liverpool, Ohio.
In 1979, the U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment — a decision that precipitated the Iran hostage crisis.
In 1981, the professional air traffic controllers organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.
In 1986, President Reagan signed into law sweeping tax-overhaul legislation.
In 1998, the government advised parents to remove the batteries from their kids’ “power wheels” cars and trucks, made by Fisher-Price, because of faulty wiring that could cause them to erupt into flame.
In 2001, a second Washington, D.C., postal worker, Joseph P. Curseen, died of inhalation anthrax.
In 2002, bus driver Conrad Johnson was shot to death in Aspen Hill, Maryland, in the final attack carried out by the “Beltway snipers.”
In 2004, in a wrenching videotaped statement, aid worker Margaret Hassan, kidnapped in Baghdad, begged the British government to help save her by withdrawing its troops from Iraq, saying these “might be my last hours.” (Hassan was apparently killed by her captors a month later.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale is 83. Actors Christopher Lloyd and Derek Jacobi are 81. Actor Tony Roberts is 80. Movie director Jan de Bont and actress Catherine Deneuve are 76. Rock singer/ musician Eddie Brigati and rock musician Leslie West (Mountain) are 74. Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is 72. Actor Jeff Goldblum and rock musician Greg Hawkes are 67. Movie director Bill Condon is 64. Actor Luis Guzman is 63. Actor-writer-producer Todd Graff is 60. Rock musician Cris Kirkwood is 59. Actor-comedian Bob Odenkirk is 57. Olympic gold medal figure skater Brian Boitano is 56. Christian singer TobyMac is 55. Singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding (Wesley Stace) is 54. Actress Valeria Golino is 53. Comedian Carlos Mencia is 52. Country singer Shelby Lynne and reggae rapper Shaggy are 51. Movie director Spike Jonze is 50. Rapper Tracey Lee is 49. Actress Saffron Burrows is 47. Actress Carmen Ejogo and former MLB player Ichiro Suzuki are 46. Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson is 44. Christian rock singer-musician Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) is 43. Actor Michael Fishman is 38. Talk show host Michael Essany and New York Mets infielder Robinson Cano are 37. Rock musician Rickard Goransson (Carolina Liar) is 36. Rock musician Zac Hanson (Hanson) is 34. Actor Corey Hawkins is 31. Actor Jonathan Lipnicki is 29. Actress Sofia Vassilieva is 27. Actor Elias Harger is 12.