TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, OCT. 8, the 281st day of 2019. There are 84 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1998, the House triggered an open-ended impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton in a momentous 258-176 vote; 31 Democrats joined majority Republicans in opening the way for nationally televised impeachment hearings.
In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and in several communities in Michigan.
In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for murder in the death of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
In 1944, “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, made its debut on CBS Radio.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman told a press conference in Tiptonville, Tennessee, that the secret scientific knowledge behind the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.
In 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.
In 1982, all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, were banned.
In 1985, the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro killed American passenger Leon Klinghoffer, who was in a wheelchair, and threw his body overboard.
In 1997, Scientists reported the Mars Pathfinder had yielded what could be the strongest evidence yet that Mars might once have been hospitable to life.
In 2002, a federal judge approved President George W. Bush’s request to reopen West Coast ports, ending a 10-day labor lockout that was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day.
In 2004, 34 people, most of them Israelis, were killed when suicide bombers blew up the Taba Hilton Hotel in Egypt.
In 2005, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake flattened villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 86,000 people.
In 2017, Harvey Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company amid allegations that he was responsible for decades of sexual harassment against actresses and employees. Vice President Mike Pence left the 49ers-Colts game in Indianapolis after about a dozen San Francisco players took a knee during the national anthem.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Entertainment reporter Rona Barrett is 83. Actor Paul Hogan is 80. Rhythm-and-blues singer Fred Cash (The Impressions) is 79. Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson is 78. Comedian Chevy Chase and author R.L. Stine are 76. Actor Dale Dye and country singer Susan Raye are 75. TV personality Sarah Purcell is 71. Rhythm-and-blues singer Airrion Love (The Stylistics) and actress Sigourney Weaver are 70. Rhythm-and-blues singer Robert “Kool” Bell (Kool & the Gang) is 69. Producer-director Edward Zwick is 67. Country singer-musician Ricky Lee Phelps is 66. Actor Michael Dudikoff is 65. Comedian Darrell Hammond is 64. Actress Stephanie Zimbalist is 63. Rock musician Mitch Marine and actress Kim Wayans are 58. Rock singer Steve Perry (Cherry Poppin’ Daddies) is 56. Actor Ian Hart and gospel/rhythm-and-blues singer CeCe Winans are 55. Rock musician C.J. Ramone (The Ramones) is 54. Actress-producer Karyn Parsons and singer-producer Teddy Riley are 53. Actress Emily Procter is 51. Actor Dylan Neal is 50. Actor-screenwriter Matt Damon, actor-comedian Robert Kelly and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, are 49. Actor Martin Henderson is 45. Actress Kristanna Loken, rhythm-andblues singer Byron Reeder (Mista) and rock-soul singer-musician Noelle Scaggs (Fitz and the Tantrums) are 40. Actors Nick Cannon and J.R. Ramirez are 39. Actor Max Crumm and singer-song-writerproducer Bruno Mars are 34. Actor Angus T. Jones and actress Molly Quinn are 26. Actress/singer Bella Thorne is 22.