4 October: Sputnik 1: A Yr. Later, Jet Travel, The Next Yr., Luna 3; Pope Discovers New World, Late As Usual; Body Dragged; Anthrax; & No More Butz

Today is Sunday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2009. There are 88 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

On this date:
In 1777, Gen. George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pa., resulting in heavy American casualties.
In 1822, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was born in Delaware, Ohio.

In 1895, the first U.S. Open golf tournament was held, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
In 1887, the International Herald Tribune had its beginnings as the Paris Herald, a European edition of the New York Herald.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps.
In 1957, Jimmy Hoffa was elected president of the Teamsters Union.
In 1958, the first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, or BOAC, with flights between London and New York.
Fifty years ago, in 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, a space probe which transmitted images of the far side of the moon.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
In 1976, agriculture secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he'd made about blacks. ["Loose shoes, tight pussy & a warm place to shit," that's all the colored man wants, per Sec. Butz. — Ed.]
In 1985, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley.
In 1990,  German lawmakers held the first meeting of the reunified country's parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin.
In 1993, dozens of cheering, dancing Somalis dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu.
Ten years ago: An Illinois jury ordered State Farm to pay $456 million to 4.7 million customers in a class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest car insurer of using inferior parts for auto body repairs. (Four days later, the judge ruled State Farm had committed fraud, and awarded $730 million in actual and punitive damages on top of the jury verdict. In 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment, saying the lawsuit never should have been given class-action status.)
In 2001, Barry Bonds hit his 70th home run in a game against the Houston Astros to tie Mark McGwire's single-season record. (Bonds finished the season with 73 homers.) Authorities said a man in Boca Raton, Fla., had contracted the inhaled form of anthrax; he died the following day.
In 2002, John Walker Lindh, the so-called "American Taliban," was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a federal judge in Alexandria, Va. Richard Reid pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Five years ago: The SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. Pioneering astronaut Gordon Cooper died in Ventura, Calif., at age 77. American researchers Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their studies on humans' sense of smell.
One year ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi, where they lauded but did not sign a new agreement opening up U.S. nuclear trade with India. The U.S. military said it had killed an al-Qaida in Iraq leader (Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi) suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, several other recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped killing of a Russian official. A North Korean news agency reported on Kim Jong Il's first public appearance in nearly two months.
Today's Birthdays:Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 80. Actress Felicia Farr is 77. Pro Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff is 75. Actor Eddie Applegate is 74. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 68. Author Anne Rice is 68. Actress Lori Saunders ("Petticoat Junction") is 68. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is 65. Actor Clifton Davis is 64. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is 63. Actress Susan Sarandon is 63. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 61. Playwright Lee Blessing is 60. Actor Armand Assante is 60. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 59. Actor Bill Fagerbakke is 52. Producer Russell Simmons is 52. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 50. Country musician Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 49. Actor David W. Harper is 48. Singer Jon Secada is 48. TV personality John Melendez is 44. Actor Liev Schreiber is 42. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 40. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 39. Rock musician Andy Parle is 39. Actress Alicia Silverstone is 33. Actor Phillip Glasser is 31. Rock singer-musician Marc Roberge (O.A.R.) is 31. Actress Rachael Leigh Cook is 30. Actor Jimmy Workman is 29. R&B singer Jessica Benson (3lw) is 22. Actor Michael Charles Roman is 22. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is 21.
Today In Entertainment History October 4
In 1895, silent film comedian Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kan.
In 1923, actor Charlton Heston was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Ill.
In 1931, the comic strip "Dick Tracy," created by Chester Gould, made its debut.
In 1957, "Leave It To Beaver" made its debut on CBS. After a year, the show switched to ABC and ran until 1963.
In 1961, Bob Dylan made his concert hall debut in New York. About 50 people attended, mostly his friends, and he earned $20.
In 1970, singer Janis Joplin was found dead of a heroin overdose at a hotel in Hollywood. She was 27. She had just finished recording the album "Pearl."

In 1980, singer Carly Simon collapsed due to exhaustion on stage in Pittsburgh. She ended up canceling her tour.
Twenty years ago, in 1989, comedian Graham Chapman of Monty Python's Flying Circus died. He was 48.
In 1990, "Beverly Hills 90210" premiered on Fox.
In 1992, singer Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the pope during an after-midnight appearance on "Saturday Night Live." NBC's switchboard in New York was flooded with calls, most of them criticizing O'Connor's actions. [Not our calls. Off the Pope, & all he stands for! — Ed.
Thought for Today: "Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." — Guinean saying.