Today in History
Today is Monday, Oct. 2, the 275th day of 2023. There are 90 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 2, 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.
On this date:
In 1869, political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson had a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.
In 1941, during World War II, German armies launched an all-out drive against Moscow; Soviet forces succeeded in holding on to their capital.
In 1959, Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” made its debut on CBS with the episode “Where Is Everybody?” starring Earl Holliman.
In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as the court opened its new term.
In 1970, one of two chartered twin-engine planes flying the Wichita State University football team to Utah crashed into a mountain near Silver Plume, Colorado, killing 31 of the 40 people on board.
In 1984, Richard W. Miller became the first FBI agent to be arrested and charged with espionage. (Miller was tried three times; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but was released after nine years.)
In 1986, the Senate joined the House in voting to override President Reagan’s veto of stiff economic sanctions against South Africa.
In 2006, an armed milk truck driver took a group of girls hostage in an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, killing five of them and wounding five others before taking his own life.
In 2013, a jury in Los Angeles cleared a concert promoter of negligence, rejecting a lawsuit brought by Michael Jackson’s mother claiming AEG Live had been negligent in hiring the doctor who killed the pop star with an overdose of a hospital anesthetic in 2009.
In 2016, Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster Vin Scully signed off for the last time, ending 67 years behind the mic for the Los Angeles Dodgers, as he called the team’s 7-1 loss to the Giants in San Francisco.
In 2019, House Democrats threatened to make White House defiance of a congressional request for testimony and documents potential grounds for an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
In 2017, rock superstar Tom Petty died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 66, a day after going into cardiac arrest at his home.
In 2020, stricken by COVID-19, President Donald Trump was injected with an experimental drug combination at the White House before being flown to a military hospital, where he was given Remdesivir, an antiviral drug.
In 2022, police firing tear gas after an Indonesian soccer match in an attempt to stop violence triggered a disastrous crush of fans that left at least 125 people dead.
Today’s Birthdays: Movie critic Rex Reed is 85. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 78. Cajun/country singer Jo-el Sonnier (sahn-YAY’) is 77. Actor Avery Brooks is 75. Fashion designer Donna Karan (KA’-ruhn) is 75. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 74. Rock musician Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics) is 73. Singer-actor Sting is 72. Actor Robin Riker is 71. Actor Lorraine Bracco is 69. Rock singer Phil Oakey (The Human League) is 68. R&B singer Freddie Jackson is 67. Singer-producer Robbie Nevil is 65. Retro-soul singer James Hunter is 61. Rock musician Bud Gaugh (Sublime, Eyes Adrift) is 56. Folk-country singer Gillian Welch is 56. Country singer Kelly Willis is 55. Actor Joey Slotnick is 55. R&B singer Dion Allen (Az Yet) is 53. Actor-talk show host Kelly Ripa (TV: “Live with Kelly and Ryan”) is 53. Rock musician Jim Root (AKA #4 Slipknot) is 52. Singer Tiffany is 52. Rock singer Lene Nystrom is 50. Actor Efren Ramirez is 50. R&B singer LaTocha Scott (Xscape) is 51. Gospel singer Mandisa (TV: “American Idol”) is 47. Actor Brianna Brown is 44e. Former tennis player Marion Bartoli is 39. Actor Christopher Larkin is 36. Rock singer Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) is 35. Actor Samantha Barks is 33. Actor Elizabeth McLaughlin is 30.