Today is Monday, Oct. 2, the 275th day of 2017. There are 90 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as the court opened its new term.
On this date:
In 1780, British spy John Andre was hanged in Tappan, New York, during the Revolutionary War.
In 1835, the first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers fought Mexican soldiers near the Guadalupe River; the Mexicans ended up withdrawing.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.
In 1939, the Benny Goodman Sextet (which included Lionel Hampton) made its first recording, “Flying Home,” for Columbia.
In 1941, during World War II, German armies launched an all-out drive against Moscow; Soviet forces succeeded in holding onto their capital.
In 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.
In 1950, the comic strip “Peanuts,” created by Charles M. Schulz, was syndicated to seven newspapers.
In 1959, Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” made its debut on CBS-TV with the episode “Where Is Everybody?” starring Earl Holliman.
In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally welcomed Japan’s Emperor Hirohito to the United States during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.
In 1985, actor Rock Hudson, 59, died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, after battling AIDS.
In 1996, an AeroPeru Boeing 757 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 61 passengers and nine crew members on board.
In 2002, the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks. (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were finally arrested for 10 killings and three woundings; Muhammad was executed in 2009; Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.)
Ten years ago: Blackwater chairman Erik Prince, testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, vigorously rejected charges that guards from his private security firm had acted recklessly while protecting State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five workers were found dead 1,000 feet inside an empty underground water tunnel following a chemical fire at a Colorado hydroelectric plant. A federal jury in New York ordered the owners of the New York Knicks to pay $11.6 million to former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders, concluding she’d been sexually harassed and fired out of spite. Tony Award-winning actor George Grizzard died in New York at age 79.
Five years ago: On the eve of the first presidential debate of the 2012 campaign, Vice President Joe Biden said the middle class had been “buried” during the last four years, a statement Republicans immediately seized upon as an unwitting indictment of the Obama administration.
One year ago: Colombians rejected a peace deal with leftist rebels by a razor-thin margin in a national referendum, scuttling years of painstaking negotiations and delivering a stunning setback to President Juan Manuel Santos. The Americans won a 17-11 victory over Europe in the Ryder Cup, their biggest rout in 35 years. Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully signed off for the last time, ending 67 years behind the mic for the Dodgers, as he called the team’s 7-1 loss to the Giants in San Francisco.
Today’s Birthdays: Country singer-musician Leon Rausch (Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys) is 90. Retired MLB All-Star Maury Wills is 85. Movie critic Rex Reed is 79. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 72. Cajun/country singer Jo-el Sonnier (sahn-YAY’) is 71. Actor Avery Brooks is 69. Fashion designer Donna Karan is 69. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 68. Rock musician Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics) is 67. Singer-actor Sting is 66. Actress Robin Riker is 65. Actress Lorraine Bracco is 63. Country musician Greg Jennings (Restless Heart) is 63. Rock singer Phil Oakey (The Human League) is 62. Rhythm-and-blues singer Freddie Jackson is 61. Singer-producer Robbie Nevil is 59. Retro-soul singer James Hunter is 55. Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien is 55. Rock musician Bud Gaugh (Sublime, Eyes Adrift) is 50. Folk-country singer Gillian Welch is 50. Country singer Kelly Willis is 49. Actor Joey Slotnick is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dion Allen (Az Yet) is 47. Actress-talk show host Kelly Ripa (TV: “Live with Kelly and Ryan”) is 47. Singer Tiffany is 46. Rock singer Lene Nystrom is 44. Actor Efren Ramirez is 44. Rhythm-and-blues singer LaTocha Scott (Xscape) is 44. Gospel singer Mandisa (TV: “American Idol”) is 41. Actress Brianna Brown is 38. Rock musician Mike Rodden (Hinder) is 35. Tennis player Marion Bartoli is 33. Actor Christopher Larkin is 30. Rock singer Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) is 29. Actress Samantha Barks is 27. Actress Elizabeth McLaughlin is 24.
Thought for Today: “There’s one way to find out if a man is honest — ask him. If he says ‘yes,’ you know he is crooked.” — Groucho Marx, American comedian (born this date in 1890, died in 1977).
