Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Oct. 27, the 301st day of 2020. There are 65 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 27, 1904, the first rapid transit subway, the IRT, was inaugurated in New York City.
On this date:
In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.
In 1858, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was born in New York City.
In 1941, the Chicago Daily Tribune dismissed the possibility of war with Japan, editorializing, “She cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our base at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet.”
In 1954, U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was promoted to brigadier general, the first Black officer to achieve that rank in the USAF. Walt Disney’s first television program, titled “Disneyland” after the yet-to-be completed theme park, premiered on ABC.
In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.
In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (menAH’-kem BAY’-gihn) were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
In 1995, a sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Paratrooper William J. Kreutzer was convicted in the shootings, and condemned to death; the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch cut through the western Caribbean, pummeling coastal Honduras and Belize; the storm caused several thousand deaths in Central America in the days that followed.
In 2001, in Washington, the search for deadly anthrax widened to thousands of businesses and 30 mail distribution centers.
In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4, 3-0.
In 2005, White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court after three weeks of brutal criticism from fellow conservatives.
In 2018, a gunman shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded six others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history; authorities said the suspect, Robert Bowers, raged against Jews during and after the rampage. (Bowers, who is awaiting trial, has pleaded not guilty; prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.) Hundreds of Mexican federal officers carrying plastic shields blocked a Central American caravan from advancing toward the United States after several thousand migrants turned down the chance to apply for refugee status in Mexico and obtain a Mexican offer of benefits.