Today is Tuesday, Oct. 23, the 296th day of 2018. There are 69 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On Oct. 23, 1983, 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.
On this date:
In 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
In 1915, tens of thousands of women paraded up Fifth Avenue in New York City, demanding the right to vote.
In 1942, during World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt, resulting in an Allied victory.
In 1944, the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf began, resulting in a major Allied victory against Japanese forces.
In 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary’s Communist rule began; as the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks.
In 1958, Boris Pasternak was named winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. (However, Soviet authorities pressured Pasternak into relinquishing the award.)
In 1973, President Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor to Judge John J. Sirica.
In 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.
In 1991, Cambodia’s warring factions and representatives of 18 other nations signed a peace treaty in Paris.
In 1995, a jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena. (Saldivar is serving a life prison sentence.)
In 2001, the nation’s anthrax scare hit the White House with the discovery of a small concentration of spores at an offsite mail processing center.
In 2006, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced by a federal judge in Houston to 24 years, four months for his role in the company’s collapse. Eventually 10 years was cut off Skilling’s prison sentence, and he was released to a halfway house in Aug. 2018.
Ten years ago: Badgered by lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan denied the nation’s economic crisis was his fault but conceded the meltdown had revealed a flaw in a lifetime of economic thinking and left him in a “state of shocked disbelief.” The Tampa Bay Rays evened the World Series at one game apiece by beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2.
Five years ago: A defensive Obama administration acknowledged its problem-plagued health insurance website didn’t get enough testing before going live; it said technicians were deep into the job of fixing major computer snags, but provided no timetable. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called President Barack Obama to complain about allegations U.S. intelligence had targeted her cellphone. (The White House said it wasn’t monitoring and wouldn’t monitor Merkel’s communications, but conspicuously didn’t say they had never been monitored.) The Boston Red Sox took the World Series opener, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 8-1.
One year ago: New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a civil rights investigation into the Weinstein Co., amid sexual harassment and assault allegations against its founder, Harvey Weinstein. As Republicans searched for ways to finance tax cuts, President Donald Trump promised that the popular 401(k) retirement savings program would not be touched. Sen. John McCain said he didn’t consider Donald Trump to be a draft-dodger, but told ABC’s “The View” that the system that allowed Trump and other wealthy Americans to use medical deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam War was wrong.
Today’s birthdays: Movie director Philip Kaufman is 82. Soccer great Pele (pay-lay) is 78. Rhythm-and-blues singer Barbara Ann Hawkins (The Dixie Cups) is 75. Former ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross is 70. Actor Michael Rupert is 67. Movie director Ang Lee is 64. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 62. Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 62. Community activist Martin Luther King III is 61. Movie director Sam Raimi is 59. Parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic is 59. Rock musician Robert Trujillo (Metallica) is 54. Christian/jazz singer David Thomas (Take 6) is 52. Rock musician Brian Nevin (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 52. Country singer-musician Junior Bryant is 50. Actor Jon Huertas is 49. Movie director Chris Weitz is 49. CNN medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta is 49. Bluegrass musician Eric Gibson (The Gibson Brothers) is 48. Country singer Jimmy Wayne is 46. Actress Vivian Bang is 45. Rock musician Eric Bass (Shinedown) is 44. TV personality and host Cat Deeley is 42. Actor Ryan Reynolds is 42. Rock singer Matthew Shultz (Cage the Elephant) is 35. TV personality Meghan McCain (“The View”) is 34.Rhythm-and-blues singer Miguel is 33. Actress Masiela Lusha is 33. Actress Emilia Clarke is 32. Actress Briana Evigan is 32. Actress Inbar Lavi is 32. Actress Jessica Stroup is 32. Neo-soul musician Allen Branstetter (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 28. Actress Taylor Spreitler is 25. Actress Amandla Stenberg is 20.
Thought for today: “Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.” — Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (CE 121-CE 180).
— Associated Press
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