Today is Sunday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2019. There are 72 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On Oct. 20, 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libya’s dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.
On this date:
In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1944, during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte (LAY’-tee) in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after saying, “I shall return.”
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.
In 1967, a jury in Meridian, Mississippi, convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of slain civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; the seven received prison terms ranging from 3 to 10 years.
In 1973, in the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.
In 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker Frosta rammed the commuter ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River near New Orleans.
In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi.
In 1986, the government of Nicaragua formally charged captured American mercenary Eugene Hasenfus with several crimes, including terrorism. (Although convicted and sentenced to prison, Hasenfus was pardoned and released by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.)
In 1990, three members of the rap group 2 Live Crew were acquitted by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., of violating obscenity laws with an adults-only concert in nearby Hollywood the previous June.
In 1999, the government laid out new rules to protect children’s privacy on the Internet and to shield them from commercial e-mail. Elizabeth Dole abandoned her Republican bid to be America’s first woman president.
In 2001, officials announced that anthrax had been discovered in a House postal facility on Capitol Hill.
In 2004, A U.S. Army staff sergeant, Ivan “Chip” Frederick, pleaded guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Frederick was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was paroled in 2007.)
Today’s birthdays: Japan’s Empress Michiko is 85. Rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson is 82. Former actress Rev. Mother Dolores Hart is 81. Actor William “Rusty” Russ is 69. Actress Melanie Mayron is 67. Retired MLB All-Star Keith Hernandez is 66. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is 64. Movie director Danny Boyle is 63. Former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is 62. Actor Viggo Mortensen is 61. Rock musician Jim Sonefeld (Hootie & The Blowfish) is 55. Rock musician David Ryan is 55. Rock musician Doug Eldridge (Oleander) is 52. Political commentator and blogger Michelle Malkin is 49. Actor Kenneth Choi is 48. Rapper Snoop Dogg is 48. Singer Dannii Minogue is 48. Singer Jimi Westbrook (country group Little Big Town) is 48. Country musician Jeff Loberg is 43. Actor/comedian Dan Fogler is 43. Actor Sam Witwer is 42. Actor John Krasinski is 40.
Thought for today: “Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (1887-1979).
— Associated Press
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
