On this date
In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
In 1944, U.S. bombers based on Saipan attacked Tokyo.
In 1947, a group of writers and filmmakers who became known as the “Hollywood Ten” were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about communist influence in the movie industry.
In 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.
In 1971, a hijacker calling himself “Dan Cooper” (he became known as “D.B. Cooper”) parachuted from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 over the Pacific Northwest after receiving $200,000 in ransom; his fate remains unknown.
In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider George W. Bush’s appeal against the hand recounting of ballots in Florida.
Ten years ago: A Muslim charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, and five of its former leaders were convicted by a federal jury in Dallas of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.
Five years ago: The Vatican publicly unveiled a handful of bone fragments purportedly belonging to St. Peter, the first pope.
One year ago: South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal increased the prison sentence of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius to 13 years and five months in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, more than doubling the original six-year sentence.