Today in History
Today is Thursday, Oct. 1, the 275th day of 2020. There are 91 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire from a room at the Mandalay Bay casino hotel in Las Vegas on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans at a concert below, leaving 58 people dead and more than 800 injured in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history; the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, killed himself before officers arrived.
On this date:
In 1908, Henry Ford introduced his Model T automobile to the market.
In 1910, the offices of the Los Angeles Times were destroyed by a bomb explosion and fire; 21 Times employees were killed.
In 1937, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black delivered a radio address in which he acknowledged being a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, but said he had dropped out of the organization before becoming a U.S. senator.
In 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China during a ceremony in Beijing. A 42-day strike by the United Steelworkers of America began over the issue of retirement benefits.
In 1957, the motto “In God We Trust” began appearing on U.S. paper currency.
In 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run during a 162-game season, compared to Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs during a 154-game season. (Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox gave up the round-tripper; the Yankees won 1-0.)
In 1962, Johnny Carson debuted as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” beginning a nearly 30-year run.
In 1971, Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida.
In 1982, Sony began selling the first commercial compact disc player, the CDP-101, in Japan.
In 1987, eight people were killed when an earthquake measuring magnitude 5.9 struck the Los Angeles area.
In 1994, National Hockey League team owners began a 103-day lockout of their players.
In 1996, a federal grand jury indicted Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in the 1994 mail bomb slaying of advertising executive Thomas Mosser. (Kaczynski was later sentenced to four life terms plus 30 years.) The federal minimum wage rose 50 cents to four dollars, 75 cents an hour.
Ten years ago: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, planning an ultimately successful Chicago mayoral run, relinquished his post to Pete Rouse. Georgy Arbatov, 87, a foreign policy adviser to Soviet presidents and the Kremlin’s top America watcher, died in Moscow.
Five years ago: A gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, killing nine people and then himself. Officials in Michigan declared a public health emergency over the city of Flint’s water in response to tests that showed children with elevated levels of lead. Oregon marijuana shops began selling for the first time to recreational users.