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Today is Saturday, Oct. 22, the 296th day of 2016. There are 70 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 22, 1926, Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, “The Sun Also Rises,” was published by Scribner’s of New York.
On this date:
In 1746, Princeton University was first chartered as the College of New Jersey.
In 1797, French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin (gahr-nayr-AN’) made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris.
In 1836, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas.
In 1928, Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the “American system of rugged individualism” in a speech at New York’s Madison Square Garden. In 1934, bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot to death by federal agents and local police at a farm near East Liverpool, Ohio. In 1953, the Franco-Lao Treaty of Amity and Association effectively made Laos an independent member of the French Union. In 1962, in a nationally broadcast address, President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Soviet-built missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to the Communist island nation.
In 1979, the U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment — a decision that precipitated the Iran hostage crisis. French conductor and music teacher Nadia Boulanger died in Paris.
In 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping tax-overhaul legislation. Jane Dornacker, 39, a traffic reporter for New York radio station WNBC-AM, was killed when the helicopter she was riding in plunged into the Hudson River during a live report (pilot William Pate was badly injured, but survived).
In 1991, the European Community and the European Free Trade Association concluded a landmark accord to create a free trade zone of 19 nations by 1993.
In 2014, a gunman shot and killed a soldier standing guard at a war memorial in Ottawa, then stormed the Canadian Parliament before he was shot and killed by the usually ceremonial sergeantat-arms.
Ten years ago: Senior U.S. diplomat Alberto Fernandez apologized for saying in an al-Jazeera TV interview that U.S. policy in Iraq had displayed “arrogance” and “stupidity.” The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 to tie up the World Series 1-1. Actor Arthur Hill died in Los Angeles at age 84.
Five years ago: The Obama administration pulled U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford from Syria amid what were termed “credible threats against his personal safety.” The heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, died in New York. (He was succeeded as crown prince by his half-brother, Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, who died in June 2012; Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz was then named the new heir to the throne.) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal easily coasted to a second term in a landslide election. In the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals romped past the Texas Rangers 16-7 for a 2-1 edge. Veteran CBS News correspondent Robert C. Pierpoint died in Santa Barbara, California, at age 86.