Today in History

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021

Today is Thursday, Oct. 14, the 287th day of 2021. There are 78 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 14, 1947, U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles E. (“Chuck”) Yeager (Yay’-gur) became the first test pilot to break the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell Xs-1(later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California.

On this date:

In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.

In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in England, accused of committing treason against Queen Elizabeth I. (Mary was beheaded in February 1587.)

In 1933, Nazi Germany announced it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.

In 1939, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the HMS Royal Oak, a British battleship anchored at Scapa Flow in Scotland’s Orkney Islands; 833of the more than 1,200men aboard were killed.

In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took his own life rather than face trial and certain execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

In 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev was toppled from power; he was succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and by Alexei Kosygin as Premier. In 1968, the first successful live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7. In 1981, the new president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak (HOHS’-NEE moobah’-rahk), was sworn in to succeed the assassinated Anwar Sadat. Mubarak pledged loyalty to Sadat’s policies.

In 2001, as U.S. jets opened a second week of raids in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush sternly rejected a Taliban offer to discuss handing over Osama bin Laden to a third country.

In 2008, a grand jury in Orlando, Fla. returned charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter against Casey Anthony in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. (She was acquitted in July 2011.)

In 2014, a second nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas came down with Ebola after contracting it from a dying patient. (The nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, was later declared free of the disease.)

In 2017, a truck bombing in Somalia’s capital killed more than 500people in one of the world’s deadliest attacks in years; officials blamed the attack on the extremist group al-shabab and said it was meant to target Mogadishu’s international airport, but the bomb detonated in a crowded street after soldiers opened fire.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama cast himself as a savior of the U.S. auto industry as he stood in a once-shuttered Michigan assembly plant with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to boast of a new trade deal and the auto bailout he’d pushed through Congress. In Tokyo, Japan’s Kohei Uchimura (koo-hay oo-chee-mur-uh) gave the home fans what they wanted, becoming the first man to win three titles at the world gymnastics championships. Five years ago: A judge in Connecticut dismissed a wrongful-death lawsuit by Newtown families against the maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre, citing a federal law that shielded gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products.

One year ago: Facebook and Twitter took steps to limit the spread of an unverified political story about the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden that was published by the conservative-leaning New York Post; the moves led to cries of censorship from the right. The U.S. Postal Service agreed to reverse changes that slowed mail service, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock amid a pandemic that was prompting many more people to vote by mail. The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could end census field operations early, in a blow to efforts to make sure minorities were properly counted. First lady Melania Trump said 14-year-old Barron Trump had tested positive at one point for the coronavirus but subsequently tested negative. Post Malone won nine honors at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.

Today’s Birthdays: Classical pianist Gary Graffman is 93. Movie director Carroll Ballard is 84. Country singer Melba Montgomery is 84. Former White House counsel John W. Dean III is 83. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is 82. Singer Sir Cliff Richard is

81. Singer-musician Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues) is 75. Actor Greg Evigan is 68. TV personality Arleen Sorkin is 66. World Golf Hall of Famer Beth Daniel is 65. Singer-musician Thomas Dolby is 63. Actor Lori Petty is 58. Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi is 57. Actor Steve Coogan is 56. Singer Karyn White is 56. Actor Edward Kerr is 55. Actor Jon Seda is 51. Country singer Natalie Maines (The Chicks) is 47. Actor-singer Shaznay Lewis (All Saints) is 46. Actor Stephen Hill is 45. Singer Usher is 43. TV personality Stacy Keibler is

42. Actor Ben Whishaw is 41. Actor Jordan Brower is 40. Director Benh Zeitlin is 39. Actor Skyler Shaye is

35. Actor-comedian Jay Pharoah is

34. Actor Max Thieriot is 33.

Friday, Oct. 15, 2021

Today is Friday, Oct. 15, the 288th day of 2021. There are 77 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 15, 1991, despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48.

On this date:

In 1783, the first manned balloon flight took place in Paris as Jeanfrancois Pilatre de Rozier ascended in a basket attached to a tethered Montgolfier hot-air balloon, rising to about 75feet.

In 1928, the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin landed in Lakehurst, N.J., completing its first commercial flight across the Atlantic.

In 1945, the former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.

In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering (Geh’-reeng) fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.

In 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall on the Carolina coast as a Category 4storm; Hazel was blamed for some 1,000deaths in the Caribbean, 95in the U.S. and 81in Canada. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill creating the U.S. Department of Transportation. The revolutionary Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. In 1976, in the first debate of its kind between vice-presidential nominees, Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Republican Bob Dole faced off in Houston.

In 2001, Bethlehem Steel Corp. filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy.

In 2003, eleven people were killed when a Staten Island ferry slammed into a maintenance pier. (The ferry’s pilot, who’d blacked out at the controls, later pleaded guilty to eleven counts of manslaughter.)

In 2009, a report of a 6-year-old Colorado boy trapped inside a runaway helium balloon engrossed the nation before the boy, Falcon Heene (Hee’-nee), was found safe at home in what turned out to be a hoax. (Falcon’s parents served up to a month in jail.)

In 2015, President Barack Obama abandoned his pledge to end America’s longest war, announcing plans to keep at least 5,500U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the end of his term in 2017and hand the conflict off to his successor.

In 2017, actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write “Me too” as a status; within hours, tens of thousands had taken up the #Metoo hashtag (using a phrase that had been introduced 10 years earlier by social activist Tarana Burke.)

Ten years ago: Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed U.S. accusations that Tehran was involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, saying the claims had no “legal logic.” The Texas Rangers finished off the Detroit Tigers to become the American League’s first repeat champion in a decade with a 15-5win in Game 6of the ALCS. Five years ago: Republican Donald Trump sought to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. presidential election, pressing unsubstantiated claims that the contest was “rigged” against him. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that Yemen’s Houthi (Hoo’-thee) rebels had released two U.S. citizens as part of a complicated diplomatic arrangement. One year ago: With their debate in Miami canceled following the president’s coronavirus infection, President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden squared off in dueling televised town halls. Biden hedged on whether he would require all Americans to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Responding to a New York Times report citing tax returns showing he had business debts exceeding $400million, Trump said, “$400 million is a peanut,” and insisted that he didn’t owe money to Russia or to any “sinister people.” Youtube said it was taking more steps to limit Qanon and other baseless conspiracy theories that could lead to violence. The sobering musical “Jagged Little Pill,” which plumbed Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album to tell a story of an American family spiraling out of control, earned 15Tony Award nominations as Broadway took the first steps to celebrate a pandemicshortened season.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Barry Mcguire is 86. Actor Linda Lavin is 84. Rock musician Don Stevenson (Moby Grape) is 79. Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Palmer is 76. Singer-musician Richard Carpenter is 75. Actor Victor Banerjee is 75. Former tennis player Roscoe Tanner is 70. Singer Tito Jackson is 68. Actor-comedian Larry Miller is 68. Actor Jere Burns is 67. Movie director Mira Nair is 64. Britain’s Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, is 62. Chef Emeril Lagasse (Em’-ur-ul leh-gah’-see) is 62. Rock musician Mark Reznicek (Rehz’nih-chehk) is 59. Singer Eric Benet (beh-nay’) is 55. Actor Vanessa Marcil is 53. Singer-actor-tv host Paige Davis is 52. Country singer Kimberly Schlapman (Little Big Town) is 52. Actor Dominic West is 52. R&B singer Ginuwine (Jihn’-yoowyn) is 51. Actor Devon Gummersall is 43. Actor Chris Olivero is 42. Christian singer-actor Jaci (JAK’-EE) Velasquez is 42. Actor Brandon Jay Mclaren is 41. R&B singer Keyshia Cole is 40. Actor Vincent Martella is 29. Actor Bailee Madison is 22.

Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021

Today is Saturday, Oct. 16, the 289th day of 2021. There are 76 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 16, 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry in what was then a part of western Virginia. (Ten of Brown’s men were killed and five escaped. Brown and six followers were captured; all were executed.)

On this date:

In 1793, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, was beheaded.

In 1934, Chinese Communists, under siege by the Nationalists, began their “long march” lasting a year from southeastern to northwestern China. In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis began as President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba. In 1964, China set off its first atomic bomb, codenamed “596,” on the Lop Nur Test Ground.

In 1968, American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos sparked controversy at the Mexico City Olympics by giving “Black power” salutes during a victory ceremony after they’d won gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter race.

In 1978, the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (voy-tee’wah) to be the new pope; he took the name John Paul II.

In 1984, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of nonviolent struggle for racial equality in South Africa.

In 1991, a deadly shooting rampage took place in Killeen, Texas, as a gunman opened fire at a Luby’s Cafeteria, killing 23people before taking his own life.

In 1995, a vast throng of Black men gathered in Washington, D.C. for the “Million Man March” led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq. The White House announced that North Korea had disclosed it had a nuclear weapons program.

In 2009, agricultural officials said pigs in Minnesota had tested positive for the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, the first such cases in the U.S.

In 2017, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been captured and held by the Taliban for five years after walking away from his post in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to desertion and endangering his comrades. (A military judge later decided not to send him to prison.)

Ten years ago: The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was formally dedicated in Washington, D.C. British race car driver Dan Wheldon, 33, died in a fiery 15-car wreck in the Las Vegas Indy 300. Danell Leyva became the first American male gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Championships since 2003, taking the parallel bars title in Tokyo. The St. Louis Cardinals captured their 18th National League pennant with a 12-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 6of the NLCS.

Five years ago: Joy, jubilation and dancing erupted when a group of Nigerian parents were reunited with 21schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram 21⁄2 years earlier and freed in the first negotiated release organized by the government and the Islamic extremist group. Singer Randy Travis, fiddler Charlie Daniels and producer Fred Foster were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

One year ago: A French history teacher who had opened a discussion with his high school students about caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was beheaded on a street northwest of Paris; police shot and killed the suspect, an 18-year-old radical Islamist. After initially denying the request, the Trump administration approved California’s application for disaster relief funds to clean up damage from six deadly and destructive wildfires. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said the company had been wrong to block weblinks to an unverified story focusing on the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. A federal judge refused to block New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order limiting worship to as few as 10 congregants in communities seeing spikes in coronavirus infections. Today’s Birthdays: Actor Angela Lansbury is 96. Actor Peter Bowles is 85. Actor-producer Tony Anthony is 84. Actor Barry Corbin is 81. Sportscaster Tim Mccarver is 80. Rock musician C.F. Turner (Bachman-turner Overdrive) is 78. Actor Suzanne Somers is 75. Rock singer-musician Bob Weir is 74. Producer-director David Zucker is 74. Record company executive Jim Ed Norman is 73. Actor Daniel Gerroll is 70. Actor Morgan Stevens is 70. Actor Martha Smith is 69. Comedian-actor Andy Kindler is 65. Actor-director Tim Robbins is 63. Actor-musician Gary Kemp is 62. Singer-musician Bob Mould is 61. Actor Randy Vasquez is 60. Rock musician Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 59. Movie director Kenneth Lonergan is 59. Actor Christian Stolte is 59. Actor Todd Stashwick is 53. Actor Terri J. Vaughn is 52. Singer Wendy Wilson (Wilson Phillips) is 52. Rock singer Chad Gray (Mudvayne) is 50. Actor Paul Sparks is 50. Actor Kellie Martin is 46. Singer John Mayer is 44. Actor Jeremy Jackson is 41. Actor Caterina Scorsone is 41. Actor Brea Grant is 40. U.S. Olympic and WNBA basketball star Sue Bird is 40. Actor Kyler Pettis is 29. Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper is 29. Tennis star Naomi Osaka is 24.