DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Wednesday, Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2021. There are 86 days left in the year.
On this date:
1683: Thirteen families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in Philadelphia to begin Germantown, one of America’s oldest settlements.
1889: The Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public.
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.
1928: Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.
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.”
1969: The New York Mets won the first-ever National League Championship Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 7-4, in Game 3; the Baltimore Orioles won the first-ever American League Championship Series, defeating the Minnesota Twins 11-2 in Game 3.
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.)
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.)
1979: Pope John Paul II, on a weeklong U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Jimmy Carter.
1981: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.
2010: Social networking app Instagram was launched by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
2014: The Supreme Court unexpectedly cleared the way for a dramatic expansion of gay marriage in the United States as it rejected appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans, effectively making such marriages legal in 30 states.
2018: In the narrowest Senate confirmation of a Supreme Court justice in nearly a century and a half, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 vote; he was sworn in hours later.
Actor Britt Ekland is 79. Singer-guitarist Thomas Mcclary (The Commodores) is 72. Singer Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon is 70. Guitarist David Hidalgo of Los Lobos is 67. Actor Elisabeth Shue is 58. Singersongwriter Matthew Sweet is 57. Actor Jacqueline Obradors
(“NYPD Blue”) is 55. Country singer Tim Rushlow (Little Texas) is 55. Actor Amy Jo Johnson (“Felicity,” “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”) is 51. Actor Emily Mortimer (“Mary Poppins Returns”) is 50. Actor Lamman Rucker
(“Meet the Browns”) is 50. Actor Ioan Gruffudd (“Fantastic Four”) is 48. Actor Jeremy Sisto (“Law and Order,” “Six Feet Under”) is 47. Actor Brett Gelman
(“Stranger Things”) is 45.