On Oct. 10, 1913, the Panama Canal was effectively completed as President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph, setting off explosives that destroyed a section of the Gamboa dike.
On this date:
In 1813, composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in Le Roncole, Italy.
In 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy was established in Annapolis, Md.
In 1886, the tuxedo dinner jacket made its American debut at the autumn ball in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
In 1911, revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen launched their overthrow of China's Manchu dynasty.
In 1938, Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
In 1943, Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.
In 1963, a dam burst in northern Italy, drowning an estimated 3,000 people.
In 1964, the 18th Summer Olympic Games opened in Tokyo.
In 1967, the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the placing of weapons of mass destruction on the moon or elsewhere in space, entered into force.
In 1970, Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped by the Quebec Liberation Front, a militant separatist group. (Laporte's body was found a week later.) Fiji became independent after nearly a century of British rule.
In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion, and resigned his office.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill authorizing the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky made his National Hockey League debut as the visiting Edmonton Oilers took on the Chicago Blackhawks.
In 1985, U. S. fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, where the gunmen were taken into custody.
In 1993, Greek voters returned to power former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and his Pan-Hellenic socialist movement.
Ten years ago: Portugal's governing Socialist Party was returned to power by a comfortable margin in a general election. Six college students getting out of their cars or walking along a highway on their way to a fraternity party at Texas A&M University were struck and killed by a pickup truck whose driver had fallen asleep.
AP Highlight in [Alternate] History:
On Oct. 10, 2002, the House voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraq. (The Senate followed suit the next day.)
In 2003, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh announced during his syndicated radio show that he was addicted to painkillers and was checking into a rehab center.
Five years ago: Ken Caminiti, the National League's 1996 MVP who later admitted using steroids during his major league baseball career, died in New York at age 41.
In 2005, Angela Merkel struck a power-sharing deal that made her the first woman and the first politician from the ex-communist east to serve as Germany's chancellor. [We did not know that she was from Stasiland. Thank you so much, MSM. — Ed.]
One year ago: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the government had decided to go forward with a plan to buy a part ownership in a broad array of American banks in response to the financial meltdown. Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled that gay couples had the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions. An Alaska legislative committee released a report saying Gov. Sarah Palin had violated state ethics laws and abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper. Finland's ex-president Martti Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Today's Birthdays: Former Illinois Sen. Adlai Stevenson III is 79. Actor Peter Coyote is 68. Entertainer Ben Vereen is 63. Singer John Prine is 63. Actor Charles Dance is 63. Rock singer-musician Cyril Neville (The Neville Brothers) is 61. Actress Jessica Harper is 60. Author Nora Roberts (aka "J.D. Robb") is 59. Singer-musician Midge Ure is 56. Rock singer David Lee Roth (Van Halen) is 55. Country singer Tanya Tucker is 51. Actress Julia Sweeney is 50. Actor Bradley Whitford is 50. Musician Martin Kemp is 48. Rock musician Jim Glennie (James) is 46. Actress Rebecca Pidgeon is 44. Rock musician Mike Malinin (Goo Goo Dolls) is 42. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is 40. Actress Wendi McLendon-Covey is 40. Actor Mario Lopez is 36.
Almost Nothing Happened In Entertainment Today:
In 1935, George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway.
In 1985, actor-director Orson Welles died at age 70.
In 2004, Christopher Reeve, the "Superman" of celluloid who became a quadriplegic after a May 1995 horse riding accident, died in Mount Kisco, N.Y. at age 52.
Thought for Today: "The imperceptible process of age has a point which, once passed, cannot be retraced. I knew I had passed that point and was getting old the day I noticed that all the cops looked so young." — Harry Lewis Golden, American author, editor and publisher (1903-1981).
No comments:
Post a Comment