This Day in History
On Oct. 6, 1979, Pope John Paul II, on a week-long U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Jimmy Carter.
On this date:
In 1683, thirteen families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in Philadelphia to begin Germantown, one of America’s oldest settlements.
In 1892, British poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson died in Surrey, England, at age 83.
In 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson, a feature containing both silent and sound-synchronized sequences.
In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.
In 1939, in a speech to the Reichstag, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler spoke of his plans to reorder the ethnic layout of Europe — a plan which would entail settling the “Jewish problem.”
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, providing $1.3 billion in military aid to NATO countries.
In 1958, the nuclear submarine USS Seawolf surfaced after spending 60 days submerged.
In 1973, war erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday. (Israel, initially caught off guard, managed to push back the Arab forces before a cease-fire finally took hold in the nearly three-week conflict.)
In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford, in his second presidential debate with Democrat Jimmy Carter, asserted that there was “no Soviet domination of eastern Europe.” (Ford later conceded such was not the case.)
In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.
In 1983, Cardinal Terence Cooke, the spiritual head of the Archdiocese of New York, died at age 62.
In 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81. Ten years ago: As Wall Street reeled and global markets plunged, President George W. Bush said the U.S. economy was going to be “just fine” in the long run, but cautioned that the massive rescue plan would take time to work.