TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2023. There are 87 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history
On Oct. 5, 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
On this date
In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kan.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.
In 1958, racially desegregated Clinton High School in Clinton, Tenn., was nearly leveled by an early morning bombing.
In 1983, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1989, a jury in Charlotte, N.C., convicted former PTL
evangelist Jim Bakker of using his television show to defraud followers. (Sentenced to 45 years in prison, Bakker was freed in December 1994 after serving 4 1⁄2 years.)
In 1994, 48 people were found dead in an apparent murdersuicide carried out simultaneously in two Swiss villages by members of a secret religious doomsday cult known as the Order of the Solar Temple.
In 2001, tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens died from inhaled anthrax, the first of a series of anthrax cases in
Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington.
In 2005, defying the White House, senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain that would prohibit the use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” against anyone in U.S. government custody.
In 2011, Steve Jobs the Apple founder and former chief executive who had invented and master-marketed ever sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, died in Palo Alto at age 56.
In 2017, Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein announced that he was taking a leave of absence from his company after a New York Times article detailed decades of alleged sexual harassment against women.
In 2020, President Donald Trump made a dramatic return to the White House after leaving the military hospital where he had received care for COVID-19.
Today’s birthdays
College Football Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer is 86. Musician Steve Miller is 80. Singer Brian Johnson (AC/DC) is 76. Actor Karen Allen is 72. Writer-producer-director Clive Barker is 71. Astrophysicistauthor Neil deGrasse Tyson is 65. Actor Daniel Baldwin is 63. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 58. Actor Guy Pearce is 56. Actor Josie Bissett is 53. Actor Kate Winslet is 48. Actor Jesse Eisenberg is 40. TV personality Nicky Hilton is 40. Actor Jacob Tremblay is 17.