Today in history
Today is Friday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2017. There are 72 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On Oct. 20, 1967, a jury in Meridian, Mississippi, convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of slain civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; the seven received prison terms ranging from 3 to 10 years.
On this date
In 1714, the coronation of Britain’s King George I took place in Westminster Abbey.
In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1936, Helen Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, died in Forest Hills, New York, at age 70.
In 1947, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.
In 1964, the 31st president of the United States, Herbert C. Hoover, died in New York at age 90.
In 1968, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
In 1973, in the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.
In 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker Frosta rammed the commuter ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River near New Orleans.