Today In History
Today is Monday, Oct. 22, the 295th day of 2018. There are 70 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 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.
ON THIS DATE
› 1746: Princeton University was first chartered as the College of New Jersey.
› 1797: French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris.
› 1811: Composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt was born in the Hungarian town of Raiding in present-day Austria.
› 1928: Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the “American system of rugged individualism” in a speech at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
› 1934: Bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot to death by federal agents and local police at a farm near East Liverpool, Ohio.
› 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.
› 1981: The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.
› 1986: President Reagan signed into law sweeping tax-overhaul legislation.
› 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.
› 2001: A second Washington, D.C., postal worker, Joseph P. Curseen, died of inhalation anthrax.
› 2002: Bus driver Conrad Johnson was shot to death in Aspen Hill, Md., in the final attack carried out by the “Beltway Snipers.”
› 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 sergeant-at-arms.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale is 82. Actor Christopher Lloyd is 80. Actor Derek Jacobi is 80. Actor Tony Roberts is 79. Movie director Jan de Bont is
75. Actress Catherine Deneuve is 75. Rock musician Leslie West (Mountain) is 73. Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is 71. Actor Jeff Goldblum is 66. Rock musician Greg Hawkes is 66. Movie director Bill Condon is 63. Actor-writer-producer Todd Graff is 59. Rock musician Cris Kirkwood is 58. Actor-comedian Bob Odenkirk is
56. Olympic gold medal figure skater Brian Boitano is 55. Christian singer TobyMac is 54. Singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding (Wesley Stace) is 53. Actress Valeria Golino is 52. Comedian Carlos Mencia is 51. Country singer Shelby Lynne is 50. Reggae rapper Shaggy is 50. Movie director Spike Jonze is 49. Rapper Tracey Lee is 48. Actress Saffron Burrows is 46. Former MLB player Ichiro Suzuki is 45. Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson is
43. Christian rock singer-musician Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) is 42. Actor Michael Fishman is 37. Talk show host Michael Essany is 36. Rock musician Rickard Goransson (Carolina Liar) is 35. Rock musician Zac Hanson (Hanson) is 33. Actor Corey Hawkins is 30. Actor Jonathan Lipnicki is 28. Actress Sofia Vassilieva is 26. Actor Elias Harger is 11.