Today is Wednesday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2011. There are 87 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On Oct. 5, 1921, the World Series was covered on radio for the first time as Newark, N.J., station WJZ relayed reports from the Polo Grounds, where the New York Giants were facing
the New York Yankees. (Although the Yankees won the opener, 3-0, the Giants won the series, 5 games to 3.)
On this date:
In 1829, the 21st president of the United States, Chester Alan Arthur, was born in Fairfield, Vt. (Some sources list 1830.)
In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kan.
In 1910, Portugal was proclaimed a republic following the abdication of King Manuel II in the face of a coup d’etat.
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 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.
In 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
In 1970, British trade commissioner James Richard Cross was kidnapped in Canada by militant Quebec separatists; he was released the following December.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed a resolution granting honorary American citizenship to Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving thousands of Hungarians, most of them Jews, from the Nazis during World War II.
In 1988, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen lambasted Republican Dan Quayle during their vice-presidential debate, telling Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
Ten years ago: Tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens died from inhaled anthrax, the first of a series of anthrax cases in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington. American statesman Mike Mansfield died in Washington at age 98. Barry Bonds set a new mark for home runs in a single season, hitting numbers 71 and 72, but San Francisco was eliminated from the playoffs with an 11-10 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Moses Malone was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Five years ago: The House ethics committee opened an investigation into the unfolding congressional page sex scandal that resulted in the resignation of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. (The panel later issued a report critical of Republican lawmakers and aides, but which also found that no rules had been broken.) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad, where she warned Iraqi leaders they had limited time to settle their differences. NATO took over eastern Afghanistan from U.S.-led forces, assuming control of 12,000 American troops and extending its military role to the entire country.
One year ago: Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani immigrant who’d tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, accepted a life sentence from a federal judge in New York with a smirk and warned that Americans could expect more bloodshed at the hands of Muslims. President Barack Obama convened the first-ever White House summit on community colleges, calling them the “unsung heroes of America’s education system.” Paroled burglar Steven Hayes was convicted of murdering a woman and her two daughters during a home-invasion robbery in Cheshire, Ct. (Hayes was later sentenced to death.)
Associated Press
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