Today in history
Today’s Highlight in History: On Oct. 24, 1962, a naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect during the missile crisis.
On this date: In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., over a line built by the Western Union Telegraph Co.
In 1936, the short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benet was published in The Saturday Evening Post.
In 1939, DuPont began publicly selling its nylon stockings in Wilmington, Delaware. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra recorded their signature theme, “Let’s Dance,” for Columbia Records in New York.
In 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.
In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Detroit, “I shall go to Korea” as he promised to end the conflict. (He made the visit over a month later.)
In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who’d broken Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.
In 1991, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry died in Santa Monica, California, at age 70.
In 2002, authorities apprehended Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Maryland, in the Washington-area sniper attacks. (Malvo was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.)
Ten years ago: American officials unveiled a timeline for Iraq’s Shiite-led government to take specific steps to calm Baghdad and said more U.S. troops might be needed to quell the bloodshed. The St. Louis Cardinals gained a 2-1 World Series edge as they defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-0. (Before Game 3 began, baseball players and owners finalized a five-year collective bargaining agreement.)
Five years ago: President Barack Obama offered mortgage relief to hundreds of thousands of Americans during a visit to Las Vegas. The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 for a 3-2 World Series edge.
One year ago: In a video released on Facebook, President Barack Obama called for capping standardized testing at 2 percent of classroom time, saying, “Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble.”
“There are three things which the public will always clamor for, sooner or later: namely, Novelty, novelty, novelty.” — Thomas Hood, British poet (1799-1845).