TODAY’SHIGHLIGHTS
OnOct. 4, 1957, theSoviet Union launchedSputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. The family sitcom“Leave It toBeaver” premiered onCBS.
ONTHISDATE
Gen. George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavyAmerican casualties.
the 19th president of the UnitedStates, RutherfordB. Hayes, was born inDelaware, Ohio.
the comic strip“Dick Tracy,”createdbyChester Gould, madeitsdebut.
theSovietUnion launched Luna 3, a space probewhich transmitted images of the far side of the moon.
an EasternAir Lines Lockheed L-188AElectra crashed on takeofffrom Boston’s Logan International Airport, killing all but 10of the 72 people on board.
rock singerJanis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room.
Secretaryof Agriculture Earl Butz resigned in thewake ofa controversyoveran obscene joke he’dmade thatwas derogatory to blacks.
casino executive Frank“Lefty”Rosenthal survivedthe bombing of his Cadillac outside a LasVegas restaurant; the casewas never solved.
for the first time in nearly sixdecades, Germanlawmakersmet in theReichstag for the firstmeeting of reunified Germany’sparliament.
26 nations, including the UnitedStates, signed the MadridProtocol, which imposed a 50-yearban on oil exploration and mining in Antarctica.
AmericanTaliban” JohnWalker Lindh received a 20-year sentence aftera sobbing plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. In a federal court inBoston, a laughing RichardReid pleaded guilty to trying to blowup a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives in his shoes (the British citizen was later sentenced to life in prison).
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, defiantly vowedto serve out his term inoffice despite losing a court attempt to rescind his guiltyplea in amen’s roomsex sting. Aformercity maintenanceworkershot five people in a lawoffice in Alexandria, Louisiana, killing two of them; the gunman was killedby police following a standoff. SouthKorean PresidentRohMoo-hyun and NorthKorean leaderKim Jong Il pledged to pursue a peace treatyand end their countries’decades-long standoff.
Adayafter his first debate with Mitt Romney, which had been widely seen as avictory for Romney, President Barack Obamasuggested that hisRepublican rival hadn’t been candid about his policy positionsduring the faceoff.
Virginia Sen. TimKaine repeatedly challenged MikePence during their vicepresidential debate, attempting to tie the Indiana governor tosome ofDonaldTrump’smost controversial statements aboutwomen, immigrants and foreign policywhile Trump’s runningmate maintained a folksy, softspokendemeanoras he defended theNewYork billionaire.
THOUGHTFORTODAY
“Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.”— Guinean saying
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