Today in history

On Oct. 14, 1066,

Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.

In 1644

William Penn, the Quaker leader who founded the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was born in London.

In 1882

Irish politician and patriot Eamon de Valera, who would go on to become Ireland’s prime minister and later president, was born Edward de Valera in New York.

In 1890

Dwight Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas.

In 1893

actress Lillian Gish was born in Springfield, Ohio.

In 1894

poet e.e. cummings was born in Cambridge, Mass.

In 1912

former President Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the presidency on the Bull Moose ticket, was shot in the chest by a New York saloonkeeper in Milwaukee; Roosevelt gave his scheduled speech anyway.

In 1933

Germany left the League of Nations.

In 1944

German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

In 1947

Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane over Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1960

the idea of a Peace Corps was first suggested by Democratic presidential candidate John Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan. In civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1964 In 1968

the first live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7.

In 1977

singer-actor Bing Crosby died near Madrid; he was 74.

In 1980

Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan promised that, if elected, he would name a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. (He later nominated Judge Sandra Day O’Connor of Arizona.)

In 1986

Elie Wiesel, the Auschwitz concentration camp survivor who devoted his life to promoting human rights and reminding the world about the Nazis’ atrocities, won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1987

18-month-old Jessica McClure of Midland, Texas, captured the nation’s attention when she fell 22 feet down an abandoned well. (Hundreds of volunteers would work 58 hours before pulling her out.)

In 1990

composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein died in New York; he was 72. In 1991 Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1994

the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

In 1995

an armed gunman seized a bus carrying South Korean tourists in Moscow’s Red Square. (Commandos stormed the bus the next day, killing the gunman and freeing four remaining hostages). Also in 1995 the Atlanta Braves won the National League pennant by beating the Cincinnati Reds, 6-0, to complete a four-game sweep.

In 1997

author Harold Robbins died in Palm Springs, Calif.; he was 81.

In 1999

Japan’s Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank announced they would merge. Also in 1999 Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, died in London; he was 77.

In 2000

two hijackers seized a London-bound Saudi Arabian Airlines jetliner carrying more than 100 people, taking it first to Syria and then to Baghdad, where they surrendered peacefully.

In 2003

during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, Cubs fan Steve Bartman inadvertently deflected a foul ball away from the outstretched glove of Chicago outfielder Moises Alou; the Florida Marlins, down 3-0 at the time, rallied to win the game and went on to win Game 7 and advance to the World Series, where they defeated the Yankees.