Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 30, the 304th day of 2012. There are 62 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 30, 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term of office with President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day. (Sherman was replaced with Nicholas Murray Butler, but Taft, the Republican candidate, ended up losing in an Electoral College landslide to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.)

On this date:

In 1735, the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Mass.

In 1893, the U.S. Senate gave final congressional approval to repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.

In 1921, the silent film classic "The Sheik," starring Rudolph Valentino, premiered in Los Angeles.

In 1938, the radio play "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS.

In 1944, the Martha Graham ballet "Appalachian Spring," with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in a leading role.

In 1945, the U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing, effective at midnight.

In 1953, Gen. George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Albert Schweitzer received the Peace Prize for 1952.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at about 50 megatons. The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

In 1972, 45 people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train was struck from behind by another train in Chicago's South Side.

In 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle," to regain his world heavyweight title.

In 1985, schoolteacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe witnessed the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, the same craft that carried her and six other crew members to their deaths in January 1986.

In 1997, a jury in Cambridge, Mass., convicted British au pair Louise Woodward of second-degree murder in the death of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen. (The judge, Hiller B. Zobel, later reduced the verdict to manslaughter and set Woodward free.)

Ten years ago: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition collapsed when Cabinet ministers from the moderate Labor Party resigned in a dispute over funding for Jewish settlements. Walter Mondale returned to politics as Minnesota Democrats approved the former vice president as a fill-in for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone less than a week before the election. (However, Mondale ended up losing to Republican Norm Coleman.) Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), a rapper with the Run-D.M.C. hip-hop group, was killed in a shooting in New York; was 37.

Five years ago: Democrats Barack Obama and John Edwards sharply challenged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's candor, consistency and judgment in a televised debate in Philadelphia. Singer-actor Robert Goulet died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 73.

One year ago: Britian's Sunday Telegraph published an interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who warned that a western intervention in Syria would lead to an "earthquake" that "would burn the whole region." Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's campaign denied a Politico report that he'd been twice accused of sexual harassment while he was the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Dick Gautier is 75. Movie director Claude Lelouch is 75. Actor Ed Lauter is 74. Rock singer Grace Slick is 73. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 71. Actor Henry Winkler is 67. Rock musician Chris Slade (Asia) is 66. Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 65. Actor Leon Rippy is 63. Actor Harry Hamlin is 61. Actor Charles Martin Smith is 59. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 58. Actor Kevin Pollak is 55. Actor Michael Beach is 49. Rock singer-musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 45. Actor Jack Plotnick is 44. Comedian Ben Bailey is 42. Actress Nia Long is 42. Country singer Kassidy Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 36. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal is 34. Actor Matthew Morrison is 34. Actor Shaun Sipos is 31. Actress Janel Parrish is 24. Actor Tequan Richmond ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 20.

Thought for Today: "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood." -- Marie Curie, Polish Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1867-1934).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.