Today In History...

In 1813 The Battle of the Thames is fought in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 as the British are soundly defeated.
In 1892 Four members of the Dalton Gang (notorious for its train robberies) are killed robbing a Coffeyville, Kansas, bank.
In 1917 Sentinel, Arizona, sets the U.S.'s October high temperature of 116 degrees.
In 1921 The World Series is broadcast on radio for the first time with sports writer Grantland Rice describing the action between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants who won the series.
In 1931 Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon complete the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Washington state 41 hours after leaving Japan.
In 1937 Saying "epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading," President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls for a "quarantine" of agressor nations.
In 1941 Former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation's highest court, dies at age 84.
In 1947 In the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays in order to stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.
In 1953 Earl Warren is sworn in as the 14th Supreme Court chief justice succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
In 1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus premieres on BBC-TV.
In 1970 PBS becomes a television network.
In 1970 British trade commissioner James Cross is kidnapped in Canada by militant Quebec separatists; he is released the following December.
In 1974 David Kunst completes a 4-year walk around the world.
In 1978 Author Isaac Singer is named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1981 President Reagan signs a resolution making Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg an honorary American citizen.
In 1983 Poland's Solidarity founder Lech Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1984 Kathryn Sullivan becomes first female astronaut to walk in space.
In 1985 Thirteenth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 6 is launched.
In 1986 American Eugene Hasenfus is captured by Sandinista soldiers after the weapons plane he was flying in was shot down over Southern Nicaragua.
In 1988 Republican Dan Quayle and Democrat Lloyd Bentsen clash in the only vice-presidential debate of the 1988 campaign.
In 1989 A jury in Charlotte, NC, convicts former PTL evangelist Jim Bakker of using his television show to defraud followers of $3.7 million.
In 1989 The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, is named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1990 A jury in Cincinnati acquits an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.
In 1992 For the first time in his presidency, George Bush had one of his vetoes overridden as the House and Senate vote to enact legislation re-regulating the cable TV industry.
In 1993 Army General John Shalikashvili is confirmed by the Senate to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1993 China sets off an underground nuclear blast, ignoring a plea from President Clinton not to do so.
In 1994 48 people are found dead in apparent murder-suicide carried out simultaneously in two Swiss villages by members of a secret religious cult led by Luc Jouret.
In 1995 Israel's parliament ratifies an accord that grants the PLO control over West Bank cities.
In 1995 Hurricane Opel kills 11 people and causes $1.8 billion in damage to the Florida Panhandle.
In 1998 The U.S. pays $60 million for Russia's research time on the international space station to keep cash-strapped Russian space agency afloat.
In 1998 The House Judiciary Committee votes to investigate whether President Clinton should be removed from office.
In 1998 Michael Carneal pleaded guilty but mentally ill to shooting to death three fellow students and wounding five other people at Heath High School in West Paducah, KY. (Carneal was later sentenced to life.)
In 1999 Two packed commuter trains collide near London's Paddington Station, killing 31 people.
In 2000 A large group seeking to topple Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic attack the parliament building and other key Belgrade sites, virtually collapsing his 13-year rule.
In 2001 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks Mark McGwire's single season record for the most home runs hitting home runs #71 and #72. He hit home run #73 two days later.
In 2002 Bosnia's three nationalist parties beat moderates in the country's first self-organized elections since the 1992-1995 war.
In 2004 A state judge throws out Louisiana's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
In 2004 Comedian Rodney Dangerfield ("I can't get no respect") dies at age 82.

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