This day in history
Today is Monday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2023. There are 62 days left in the year.
Birthdays: Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick is 84. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 84. The Temptations singer Otis Williams is 82. Actor Henry Winkler is 78. Broadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell is 77. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal is 45. Actor Matthew Morrison is 45. Former presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 42. Actor Fiona Dourif is 42. Actor Janel Parrish is 35. Actor Tequan Richmond is 31.
▶ In 1938, the radio play “The War of the Worlds,” starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS.
▶ In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the “Tsar Bomba,” with a force estimated at about 50 megatons.
▶ In 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” to regain his world heavyweight title.
▶ In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.
▶ In 1991, a nor’easter, which would build into a rare late-season hurricane, pummeled the Northeast and Canadian maritimes. Called then the No-name Storm or Halloween Storm, it would become known as the Perfect Storm, with waves approaching 100 feet off Nova Scotia, tidal flooding, and winds raking coastal properties. At least 13 people were killed, including the crew of six on the Gloucester-based fishing boat
Andrea Gail, and about 100 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in Massachusetts
▶ In 1997, a jury in Cambridge convicted British au pair Louise Woodward of second-degree murder in the death of 8month-old Matthew Eappen. (The judge, Hiller B. Zobel, later reduced the verdict to manslaughter and set Woodward free.)
▶ In 2001, Ukraine destroyed its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling a pledge to give up the vast nuclear arsenal it had inherited after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
▶ In 2004, in one of the biggest crowds in Boston history, about 3.2 millions Red Sox fans lined the team’s duck boat parade route to celebrate its first World Series title in 86 years.
▶ In 2005, the body of Rosa Parks arrived at the US Capitol, where the civil rights icon became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda; President George W. Bush and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by her casket.
▶ In 2012, the Walt Disney Co. announced that it would buy Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion, paving the way for a new “Star Wars” trilogy.
▶ In 2013, the Boston Red Sox romped to their third World Series championship in 10 seasons, thumping the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6 at Fenway Park.
▶ In 2018, gangster James ‘’Whitey’’ Bulger was found beaten to death at a federal prison in West Virginia; the ex-Boston crime boss and longtime FBI informant had been transferred there hours earlier.