Today in History
Today in History
Today is Saturday, Oct. 2, the 275th day of 2021. There are 90 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 2, 1869, political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India.
On this date:
In 1890, comedian Groucho Marx was born Julius Marx in New York.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered 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 onto their capital.
In 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.
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 2002, the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks. (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were finally arrested for killing 10 people and wounding three others; Muhammad was executed in 2009; Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.)
In 2005, a tour boat, the Ethan Allen, capsized on New York’s Lake George, killing 20 elderly passengers. Playwright August Wilson died in Seattle at age 60. Actor-comedian Nipsey Russell died in New York at age 87.
In 2017, rock superstar Tom Petty died at a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 66, a day after suffering cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, California.
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. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged for the first time that he had been on the phone call in which Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate Democrat Joe Biden.
Ten years ago: Syrian dissidents formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad’s regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war.
Five years ago: Colombians rejected a peace deal with leftist rebels by a razor-thin margin in a national referendum, scuttling years of painstaking negotiations and delivering a stunning setback to President Juan Manuel Santos. Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully signed off for the last time, ending 67 years behind the mic for the Dodgers, as he called the team’s 7-1 loss to the Giants in San Francisco.
One year ago: 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. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien also tested positive for the coronavirus. Two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, said they had tested positive for the coronavirus, as the Senate prepared for confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, the dominating St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who won seven consecutive World Series starts, died of cancer in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska; he was 84.
Today’s Birthdays: Retired MLB All-Star Maury Wills is 89. Movie critic Rex Reed is 83. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 76. Cajun/country singer Jo-el Sonnier (sahn-YAY’) is 75. Actor Avery Brooks is 73. Fashion designer Donna Karan (KA’-ruhn) is 73. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 72. Rock musician Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics) is 71. Singer-actor Sting is 70. Actor Robin Riker is 69. Actor Lorraine Bracco is 67. Country musician Greg Jennings (Restless Heart) is 67. Rock singer Phil Oakey (The Human League) is 66. R&B singer Freddie Jackson is 65. Singer-producer Robbie Nevil is 63. Retro-soul singer James Hunter is 59. Rock musician Bud Gaugh (Sublime, Eyes Adrift) is 54. Folk-country singer Gillian Welch is 54. Country singer Kelly Willis is 53. Actor Joey Slotnick is 53. R&B singer Dion Allen (Az Yet) is 51. Actor-talk show host Kelly Ripa (TV: “Live with Kelly and Ryan”) is 51. Rock musician Jim Root (AKA #4 Slipknot) is 50. Singer Tiffany is 50. Rock singer Lene Nystrom is 48. Actor Efren Ramirez is 48. R&B singer LaTocha Scott (Xscape) is 49 Gospel singer Mandisa (TV: “American Idol”) is 45. Actor Brianna Brown is 42. Rock musician Mike Rodden (Hinder) is 39. Former tennis player Marion Bartoli is 37. Actor Christopher Larkin is 34. Rock singer Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) is 33. Actor Samantha Barks is 31. Actor Elizabeth McLaughlin is 28.