Today In History

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 19, the 292nd day of 2021. There are 73 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 2001: U.S. special forces began operations on the ground in Afghanistan, opening a significant new phase of the assault against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

ON THIS DATE

› 1789: John Jay was sworn in as the first chief justice of the United States.

› 1944: The U.S. Navy began accepting Black women into WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

› 1960: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during a sit-down protest at a lunch counter in Atlanta. (Sent to prison for a parole violation over a traffic offense, King was released after three days following an appeal by Robert F. Kennedy.)

› 1977: The supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City.

› 1987: The stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6% in value (its biggest daily percentage loss), to close at 1,738.74 in what came to be known as “Black Monday.”

› 2003: Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.

› 2010: The Pentagon directed the military to accept openly gay recruits for the first time in the nation’s history.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Tony Lo Bianco is 85. Artist Peter Max is 84. Author and critic Renata Adler is 84. Actor Michael Gambon is 81. Actor John Lithgow is 76. Feminist activist Patricia Ireland is 76. Actor Annie Golden is 70. Talk show host Charlie Chase is 69. Rock singer-musician Karl Wallinger (World Party) is 64. Singer Jennifer Holliday is 61. Retired boxer Evander Holyfield is 59. Host Ty Pennington (TV: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) is 57. Rock singer-musician Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 56. Actor Jon Favreau is 55. Rock singer Pras Michel (The Fugees) is 49. Country singer Cyndi Thomson is

45. Writer-director Jason Reitman is 44. Actor Benjamin Salisbury is 41. Actor Gillian Jacobs is

39. Actor Rebecca Ferguson is 38. Rock singer Zac Barnett (American Authors) is 35. Singer-actor Ciara Renee (TV: “Legends of Tomorrow”) is 31. Actor Hunter King is 28.