Today in History
Today is Sunday, Oct. 14, the 287th day of 2018. There are 78 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 14, 1960, the idea of a Peace Corps was suggested by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
On this date:
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 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the presidency, was shot in the chest in Milwaukee. Despite the wound, he went ahead with a scheduled speech.
In 1926, “Winnie-the-Pooh” by A.A. Milne was first published by Methuen & Co. of London.
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; 833 of the more than 1,200 men aboard were killed.
In 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.
In 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1968, the first successful live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7.
In 1977, singer Bing Crosby died outside Madrid, Spain, at age 74.
In 1987, a 58-hour drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down a narrow abandoned well at a private day care center; she was rescued on Oct. 16.
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 2007, the reality TV show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” premiered on E! Entertainment Television.
Ten years ago: Big banks started falling in line behind a revised bailout plan that was fast becoming more of a buy-in; the Bush administration announced it would fork over as much as $250 billion in exchange for partial ownership. 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.) Syria formally recognized Lebanon for the first time by establishing diplomatic relations with its neighbor. Canada’s Conservative Party won in national elections but fell short of a parliamentary majority.
Five years ago: Americans Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen of the University of Chicago and Robert Shiller of Yale University were named recipients of the Nobel prize in economics. The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first game of the NL championship series, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in Game 3.
One year ago: A truck bombing in Somalia’s capital killed more than 500 people 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. The board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revoked the membership of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, after published reports about sexual harassment and rape allegations against Weinstein. The death toll from wildfires burning in northern California reached 40; they were the deadliest group of simultaneous blazes in the state’s history.
Today’s Birthdays: Classical pianist Gary Graffman is 90. Movie director Carroll Ballard is 81. Former White House counsel John W. Dean III is 80. Country singer Melba Montgomery is 81. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is 79. Singer Sir Cliff Richard is 78. Singer-musician Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues) is 72. Actor Greg Evigan is 65. TV personality Arleen Sorkin is 63. World Golf Hall of Famer Beth Daniel is 62. Singer-musician Thomas Dolby is 60. Actress Lori Petty is 55. Former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi is 54. Actor Steve Coogan is 53. Singer Karyn White is 53. Actor Edward Kerr is 52. Actor Jon Seda is 48. Country musician Doug Virden is 48. Country singer Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks) is 44. Actress-singer Shaznay Lewis (All Saints) is 43. Singer Usher is 40. TV personality Stacy Keibler is 39. Actor Ben Whishaw is 38. Actor Jordan Brower is 37. Director Benh Zeitlin is 36. Actress Skyler Shaye is 32. Actor-comedian Jay Pharoah is 31. Actor Max Thieriot is 30.
Thought for Today: “Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel.” — E.E. Cummings, American poet (born this date in 1894, died 1962).
