Today In History...

In 1774 The First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.

In 1825 The Erie Canal opens in upstate New York connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie.

In 1861 Telegraph service is inaugurated in U.S.

In 1881 The "Gunfight at the O-K Corral" takes place in Tombstone, AZ, as Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and "Doc" Holiday shoot it out with Ike Clanton's gang. Three members of Clanton's gang were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded.

In 1919 Bismarck, North Dakota, drops to ten below zero, the town's coldest October temperature to date.

In 1941 U.S. Savings Bonds go on sale.

In 1942 The U.S. ship Hornet is sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands during World War II.

In 1949 President Truman signs a measure increasing the minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents.

In 1956 The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

In 1957 The Soviet Union announces that its defense minister, Marshal Georgi Zhukov, had been relieved of his duties.

In 1958 Pan American flys it's first Boeing 707 from New York to Paris. The trip took eight hours and 41 minutes.

In 1967 The Shah of Iran crowns himself and his queen after 26 years on the Peacock Throne.

In 1968 Soyuz 3 is launched.

In 1970 Gary Trudeau's "Doonesbury" comic strip debuts in 28 newspapers.

In 1972 U.S. National security advisor Henry Kissinger declares "Peace is at hand" in Vietnam.

In 1975 Answar Sadat becomes the first Egyptian president to pay an official visit to the United States.

In 1977 The experimental space shuttle Enterprise glides to a successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California in a test witnessed by England's Prince Charles.

In 1979 South Korean President Park Chung-hee is assassinated by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-kyu.

In 1980 Israeli President Yitzhak Navon becomes the first Israeli head of state to visit Egypt.

In 1981 33 Haitians seeking asylum in the U.S. drown when their rickety wooden boat capsizes off the coast of Florida.

In 1984 "Baby Fae," a newborn with a severe heart defect, is given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, CA. (Baby Fae lives 21 days with the animal heart.)

In 1987 An investor who suffered heavy stock market losses shoots and kills his Miami broker and then commits suicide.

In 1988 Two whales trapped for nearly three weeks in the Arctic ice pack were finally freed by Soviet and American icebreakers.

In 1988 Roussel Uclaf, a French pharmaceutical company, said it would halt worldwide distribution of RU-486, a pill to induce abortions. The French government orders the company to reverse itself 2 days later.

In 1989 Washington, DC, attorney Paul Tagliabue is named by the NFL team owners to be the league's new commissioner, succeeding Pete Rozelle.

In 1990 William S. Paley, the founder of CBS Inc., dies at age 89.

In 1990 Wayne Gretzky becomes the first National Hockey League player to reach 2000 points.

In 1992 General Motors Chairman Robert Stempel resigns.

In 1992 Voters in Canada reject the so-called Charlottetown accord designed to unify the country.

In 1993 Deborah Gore Dean, a central figure in the Reagan-era HUD scandal, is convicted of 12 felony counts of defrauding the government, taking a payoff and lying to Congress.

In 1994 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali of Jordon sign peace treaty ending 46 years of war.

In 1996 The New York Yankees beat the defending champion Atlanta Braves to win their World Series since 1978.

In 1996 Prosecutors clear security guard Richard Jewell as suspect in Olympic Park bombing.

In 1997 The Iraqi Parliament recommends freezing relations with UN arms inspectors after the Security Council threatens further sanctions against Iraq.

In 1997 The Florida Marlins become the youngest franchise to win the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians, 3-2, in the seventh game.

In 1997 Chinese leader Jiang Zemin arrives in Honolulu en route to a White House summit with President Clinton.

In 1998 A Virginia fair housing group wins an $100 million judgment from an insurance company accused of discriminating against blacks.

In 1999 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention releases a study which said the number of Americans considered obese soared from about one in eight in 1991 to nearly one in five in 1998.

In 2000 The New York Yankees defeat New York Mets, winning their third straight World Series.

In 2002 The hostage siege by Chechen rebels at a Moscow theater ends with 129 of the 800-plus captives dead, most from a knockout gas used by Russian special forces who stormed the theater.

In 2003 Thirteen deaths in Southern California are reported as wildfires fed by hot Santa Ana winds flare into gigantic waves of flame that devoured entire neighborhoods.

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