Today is Sunday, Oct. 26, the 299th day of 2014. There are 66 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On Oct. 26, 1944, the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf ended in a major Allied victory over Japanese forces, whose naval capabilities were badly crippled.
On this date:
In 1774, the First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.
In 1825, the Erie Canal opened in upstate New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
In 1861, the legendary Pony Express officially ceased operations, giving way to the transcontinental telegraph. (The last run of the Pony Express was completed the following month.)
In 1881, the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” took place in Tombstone, Arizona.
In 1921, the Chicago Theatre, billed as “the Wonder Theatre of the World,” first opened.
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.
In 1958, Pan American Airways flew its first Boeing 707 jetliner from New York to Paris in 8 hours and 41 minutes.
In 1972, national security adviser Henry Kissinger declared, “Peace is at hand” in Vietnam. Aviation innovator Igor Sikorsky died in Easton, Connecticut, at age 83.
In 1974, five bombs exploded at business sites in midtown Manhattan and Wall Street, injuring no one; the Puerto Rican separatist group FALN claimed responsibility.
Today’s birthdays: Former Sen. Edward Brooke III, R-Mass., is 95. Actress Shelley Morrison is 78. Author Pat Conroy is 69. Actress Jaclyn Smith is 69. TV host Pat Sajak is 68. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is 67. Singer Maggie Roche (The Roches) is 63. Musician Bootsy Collins is 63. Actor James Pickens Jr. is 62. Rock musician Keith Strickland (The B-52’s) is 61. Actor D.W. Moffett is 60. Actress-singer Rita Wilson is 58. The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, is 55. Actor Dylan McDermott is 53. Actor Cary Elwes is 52. Singer Natalie Merchant is 51. Country singer Keith Urban is 47. Actor Tom Cavanagh is 46. Actress Rosemarie DeWitt is 43. Actor Anthony Rapp is 43. Writer-producer Seth MacFarlane (TV: “Family Guy”) is 41. Actress Lennon Parham is 39.
Thought for today: “Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly.” — Ivan Turgenev, Russian author (1818-1883).
Associated Press
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