Today in History Today is Thursday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2017. There are 87 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Oct. 5, 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address
Today in History
Today is Thursday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2017. There are 87 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 5, 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.
On this date:
In 1829, the 21st president of the United States, Chester Alan Arthur, was born in North Fairfield, Vermont.
In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kansas.
In 1931, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon completed the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Washington state some 41 hours after leaving Japan.
In 1941, former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation’s highest court, died in Washington at age 84.
In 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
In 1969, the British TV comedy program “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” made its debut on BBC 1.
In 1974, the Irish Republican Army bombed two pubs in Guildford, Surrey, England, resulting in five deaths and dozens of injuries. (Four men who became known as the Guildford Four were convicted of the bombings, but were ultimately vindicated.)
In 1984, the space shuttle Challenger blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on an 8-day mission; the crew included Kathryn D. Sullivan, who became the first American woman to walk in space, and Marc Garneau, the first Canadian astronaut.
In 1988, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen lambasted Republican Dan Quayle during their vice presidential debate, telling Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
In 1990, a jury in Cincinnati acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe.
In 1999, two packed commuter trains collided near London’s Paddington Station, killing 31 people.
In 2011, Apple founder Steve Jobs, 56, died in Palo Alto, California.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush defended his administration’s methods of detaining and questioning terrorism suspects, saying both were successful and lawful. Topps Meat Co. said it was closing its business, six days after it was forced to issue a massive beef recall. Track star Marion Jones pleaded guilty in White Plains, New York, to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs, and announced her retirement after the hearing.
Five years ago: A month before the presidential election, the Labor Department reported that unemployment fell in September 2012 to its lowest level, 7.8 percent, since President Barack Obama took office; some Republicans questioned whether the numbers had been manipulated.
One year ago: Portugal’s former prime minister Antonio Guterres won the Security Council’s unanimous backing to become the next U.N. secretary-general, succeeding Ban Ki-moon. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Scottish-born Fraser Stoddart and Dutch scientist Bernard “Ben” Feringa won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for making devices the size of molecules.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Glynis Johns is 94. College Football Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer is 80. Rhythm-and-blues singer Arlene Smith (The Chantels) is 76. Singer-musician Steve Miller is 74. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., is 74. Rock singer Brian Johnson (AC/DC) is 70. Actress Karen Allen is 66. Writer-producer-director Clive Barker is 65. Rock musician David Bryson (Counting Crows) is 63. Rock singer and famine-relief organizer Bob Geldof is 63. Astrophysicist-author Neil deGrasse Tyson is 59. Memorial designer Maya Lin is 58. Actor Daniel Baldwin is 57. Rock singer-musician Dave Dederer is 53. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 52. Actor Guy Pearce is 50. Actress Josie Bissett is 47. Singer-actress Heather Headley is 43. Pop-rock singer Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) is 43. Rock musician Brian Mashburn (Save Ferris) is 42. Actress Parminder Nagra (pahr-MIHN’-da NAH’-grah) is 42. Actor Scott Weinger is 42. Actress Kate Winslet is 42. Rock musician James Valentine (Maroon 5) is 39. Rock musician Paul Thomas (Good Charlotte) is 37. Actor Jesse Eisenberg is 34. TV personality Nicky Hilton is 34. Actress Azure Parsons is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Brooke Valentine is 32. Actor Kevin Bigley is 31. Actor Joshua Logan Moore is 23. Actor Jacob Tremblay is 11.
Thought for Today: “America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress. It acted on this belief; it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941).
