Today in History

Today in History

Today is Friday, Oct. 2, the 276th day of 2020. There are 90 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 2, 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.

On this date:

In 1869, political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India.

In 1890, comedian Groucho Marx was born Julius Marx in New York.

In 1941, during World War II, German armies launched an all-out drive against Moscow; Soviet forces succeeded in holding onto their capital.

In 1950, the comic strip “Peanuts,” created by Charles M. Schulz, was syndicated to seven newspapers.

In 1958, the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa proclaimed its independence.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as the court opened its new term.

In 1970, one of two chartered twin-engine planes flying the Wichita State University football team to Utah crashed into a mountain near Silver Plume, Colorado, killing 31 of the 40 people on board.

In 1984, Richard W. Miller became the first FBI agent to be arrested and charged with espionage. (Miller was tried three times; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but was released after nine years.)

In 2002, the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks. (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were finally arrested for killing 10 people and wounding three others; Muhammad was executed in 2009; Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.)

In 2005, a tour boat, the Ethan Allen, capsized on New York’s Lake George, killing 20 elderly passengers. Playwright August Wilson died in Seattle at age 60. Actor-comedian Nipsey Russell died in New York at age 87.

In 2017, rock superstar Tom Petty died at a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 66, a day after suffering cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, California.

In 2018, President Donald Trump ignited a crowd at a campaign rally in Mississippi by mocking Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford over her claim that she had been sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh decades ago; Trump also said it’s a “very scary time for young men in America” who could be considered guilty based on an accusation.

Ten years ago: A coalition of progressive and civil rights groups marched by the thousands on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., pledging to support Democrats struggling to keep power on Capitol Hill.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t sign another temporary government funding bill after the current one expired Dec. 11, insisting that congressional Republicans and Democrats work out a long-term budget deal with the White House. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced his resignation, which President Obama reluctantly accepted. Former Panamanian President Eric Arturo Delvalle, 78, who was deposed in 1988 after challenging then-dictator Manuel Noriega, died in Cleveland, Ohio.

One year ago: House Democrats threatened to make White House defiance of a congressional request for testimony and documents potential grounds for an article of impeachment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged for the first time that he had been on the phone call in which President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate Democrat Joe Biden. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders canceled campaign events “until further notice,” a day after being treated for what his campaign later confirmed was a heart attack. A World War II-era plane with 13 people aboard crashed and burned at an airport near Hartford, Connecticut, after encountering mechanical trouble on takeoff; seven people were killed. A Dallas jury sentenced white former police officer Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison, a day after convicting her of murder in the killing of her Black upstairs neighbor; she said she had mistaken his apartment for her own.

Today’s Birthdays: Retired MLB All-Star Maury Wills is 88. Movie critic Rex Reed is 82. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 75. Cajun/country singer Jo-el Sonnier (sahn-YAY’) is 74. Actor Avery Brooks is 72. Fashion designer Donna Karan (KA’-ruhn) is 72. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 71. Rock musician Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics) is 70. Singer-actor Sting is 69. Actor Robin Riker is 68. Actor Lorraine Bracco is 66. Country musician Greg Jennings (Restless Heart) is 66. Rock singer Phil Oakey (The Human League) is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Freddie Jackson is 64. Singer-producer Robbie Nevil is 62. Retro-soul singer James Hunter is 58. Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien (RIP’-ihn) is 58. Rock musician Bud Gaugh (Sublime, Eyes Adrift) is 53. Folk-country singer Gillian Welch is 53. Country singer Kelly Willis is 52. Actor Joey Slotnick is 52. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dion Allen (Az Yet) is 50. Actor-talk show host Kelly Ripa (TV: “Live with Kelly and Ryan”) is 50. Rock musician Jim Root (AKA #4 Slipknot) is 49. Singer Tiffany is 49. Rock singer Lene Nystrom is 47. Actor Efren Ramirez is 47. Rhythm-and-blues singer LaTocha Scott (Xscape) is 47. Gospel singer Mandisa (TV: “American Idol”) is 44. Actor Brianna Brown is 41. Rock musician Mike Rodden (Hinder) is 38. Former tennis player Marion Bartoli is 36. Actor Christopher Larkin is 33. Rock singer Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) is 32. Actor Samantha Barks is 30. Actor Elizabeth McLaughlin is 27.