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Today is Sunday, October 20, the 294th day of 2024. There are 72 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte (LAY’-tee) in World War II, fulfilling a promise he made after President Franklin D. took command of the country two years earlier to evacuate. Roosevelt.
Also on this date:
In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings on alleged communist influence and infiltration of the American film industry.
In 1967, a jury in Meridian, Mississippi, convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of murdered civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; the seven received prison sentences ranging from three to ten years.
In 1973, in what would become known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was fired and Attorneys General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.
In 1973, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker SS Frosta rammed the ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River near New Orleans.
In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi.
In 1990, three members of the rap group 2 Live Crew were acquitted by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, of violating obscenity laws at an adult concert in nearby Hollywood the previous June.
In 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, 69 years old, dictator of Libya for 42 years, was killed when revolutionary fighters overran his hometown of Sirte (SURT) and captured the last major bastion of resistance, two months after his regime fell.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Japanese Empress Michiko is 90.
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Wanda Jackson is 87.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Juan Marichal is 87.
- Former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky is 84.
- Retired MLB All-Star Keith Hernandez is 71.
- Composer Thomas Newman is 69.
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is 69.
- Film director Danny Boyle is 68.
- Actor Viggo Mortensen is 66.
- The Democratic candidate for president and current Vice President Kamala Harris is 60.
- Actor William Zabka is 59.
- Journalist Sunny Hostin (TV: “The View”) is 56.
- Actor Kenneth Choi is 53.
- Rapper Snoop Dogg is 53.
- Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is 52.
- Actor John Krasinski is 45.