On Oct. 20, 1944, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, two and-a-half years after he'd said, "I shall return."
On this date:
In 1740, Maria Theresa became ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia upon the death of her father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.
In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1818, the United States and Britain agreed to establish the 49th parallel as the official boundary between the United States and Canada.
In 1903, a joint commission ruled in favor of the United States in a boundary dispute between the District of Alaska and Canada.
In 1918, Germany accepted U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's terms to end World War I.
In 1931, Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Okla.
In 1964, the 31st president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, died in New York at age 90.
In 1967, seven men were convicted in Meridian, Miss., of violating the civil rights of three slain civil rights workers.
In 1973, in the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre," special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated in Boston.
In 1982, the world's worst soccer disaster occurred in Moscow when 340 fans were crushed to death in an open staircase during a game between Soviet and Dutch players.
In 1992, in the first World Series game to be played outside the United States, the host Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2.
In 1999, the government laid out new rules to protect children's privacy on the Internet and to shield them from commercial e-mail. Elizabeth Dole abandoned her Republican bid to become America's first woman president.
In 2000, Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, a U.S. citizen who'd served in the Army, pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan the deadly U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
In 2004, a U.S. Army staff sergeant, Ivan "Chip" Frederick, pleaded guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Frederick was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was paroled in 2007.) After being just three outs from getting swept in the AL championship series three nights earlier, the Boston Red Sox finally beat the New York Yankees, winning Game 7 in a 10-3 shocker to become the first major league team to overcome a 3-0 postseason series deficit.
Retired Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's sixth president after winning the country's first direct elections for head of state.
In 2005, former U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was booked in Houston after his indictment on conspiracy and money laundering charges. He was freed on $10,000 bond. Pakistan set the official death toll of the Oct. 8 quake at 47,000 but various aid officials claim it was closer to 80,000. Three million people were reported without shelter as winter approached the Himalayan region.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai asked Iran, Pakistan and Turkey and several, smaller Central Asian states for help in fighting terrorism in the region.
In 2008, a rising wave of optimism lifted Wall Street, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 400 points on more signs of a reviving credit market and hints from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the government would take more steps to help the economy. Arkansas TV anchorwoman Anne Pressly was found severely beaten in her Little Rock home; she died several days later. (A suspect, Curtis Vance, faces trial.) Taliban gunmen in Kabul, Afghanistan killed Christian aid worker Gayle Williams, a British-South African national. Sister Emmanuelle, a Belgium-born nun who'd lived for years in Cairo's slums, died in Callian, France at age 99.
Today's Birthdays: Actor William Christopher is 77. Japan's Empress Michiko is 75. Rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson is 72. Singer Tom Petty is 59. Actor William "Rusty" Russ is 59. Actress Melanie Mayron is 57. Baseball All-Star Keith Hernandez is 56. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D.-R. I.) is 54. Movie director Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire") is 53. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is 52. Actor Viggo Mortensen is 51. Rock musician Jim Sonefeld (Hootie & The Blowfish) is 45. Rock musician David Ryan is 45. Rock musician Doug Eldridge (Oleander) is 42. Political commentator and blogger Michelle Malkin is 39. Rapper Snoop Dogg is 38. Singer Dannii Minogue is 38.
Today In Entertainment History October 20
In 1954, singer LaVern Baker recorded "Tweedlee Dee" in New York. It became her first major hit.
In 1973, "The Six Million Dollar Man," starring Lee Majors, premiered on ABC.
In 1976, Led Zeppelin's concert film "The Song Remains The Same" premiered in London.
In 1977, three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a privately-chartered plane in Mississippi. The crash took the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines.
In 1983, country singer-songwriter Merle Travis died at age 65.
In 1990, the rap group 2 Live Crew was acquitted in Miami of obscenity charges arising from a performance of selections from the album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be."
In 1991, country singer Clint Black and actress Lisa Hartman were married.
In 1992, Madonna's album "Erotica" was released, one day before her book "Sex" hit the bookshelves.
In 1994, actor Burt Lancaster died in Los Angeles at age 80.
In 1998, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell was appointed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. [The concept being that her bizarre appearance, botoxed face & perfectly hemispherical breasts would turn people away from sex, we assume. — Ed.]
In 2004, ABC announced it was dropping the Miss America beauty pageant (it was later picked up by cable country musical network CMT, then cable channel TLC).
Thought for Today: "Everybody's private motto: It's better to be popular than right." — Mark Twain (1835-1910).
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