On this date

In 1927,

Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

In 1942,

the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over Japanese forces.)

In 1970,

the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan; it’s believed half a million people, possibly more, were killed.

In 1984,

space shuttle astronauts Dale Gardner and Joe Allen snared a wandering satellite in history’s first space salvage.

In 1987,

the American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIV-positive.

In 1998,

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley filed a $433 million suit against the firearms industry, declaring that it had created a public nuisance by flooding the streets with weapons marketed to criminals. (The suit was dismissed by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2004.)

In 2001,

American Airlines Flight 587 crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.

Ten years ago:

Same-sex marriages began in Connecticut, a month after the state Supreme Court ruled that gays had the right to wed.

Five years ago:

An international panel of architects announced that, upon completion, the new World Trade Center tower in New York would replace Chicago’s Willis Tower as the nation’s tallest building.

One year ago:

President Donald Trump said he believed U.S. intelligence agencies, which concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but that he also believed that Russia’s Vladimir Putin felt that Russia did not interfere.