Today’s highlight in history
On Oct. 20, 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.
On this date
In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1967, a jury in Meridian, Miss., convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of slain civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; the seven received prison terms ranging from three to 10 years.
In 1968, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
In 1973, in the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.
In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.
In 1987, 10 people were killed when an Air Force jet crashed into a Ramada Inn hotel near Indianapolis International Airport after the pilot, who was trying to make an emergency landing, ejected safely.
In 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libya’s dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.
Ten years ago: Former Green Bay Packers receiver Max McGee died in Deephaven, Minn., at age 75.
Five years ago: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of failing to tell Americans what he would do with four more years; the Obama campaign disputed the notion, claiming it was Romney who hadn’t provided specific details to voters. One year ago: President Barack Obama defended his health care program, saying millions of Americans “now know the financial security of health insurance” because of the Affordable Care Act.