Today in History

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 12, the 286th day of 2016. There are 80 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 12, 1492 (according to the Old Style calendar), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.

On this date:

In 1810, the German festival Oktoberfest was first held in Munich to celebrate the wedding of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

In 1870, General Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Virginia, at age 63.

In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium during World War I. Former President Theodore Roosevelt, speaking to the Knights of Columbus in New York, criticized native-born Americans who identified themselves by dual nationalities, saying that "a hyphenated American is not an American at all."

In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.

In 1942, during World War II, American naval forces defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Cape Esperance. Attorney General Francis Biddle announced during a Columbus Day celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

In 1964, the Soviet Union launched a Voskhod space capsule with a three-man crew on the first mission involving more than one crew member (the flight lasted just over 24 hours).

In 1976, it was announced in China that Hua Guofeng had been named to succeed the late Mao Zedong as chairman of the Communist Party; it was also announced that Mao's widow and three others, known as the "Gang of Four," had been arrested.

In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escaped an attempt on her life when an Irish Republican Army bomb exploded at a hotel in Brighton, England, killing five people.

In 1986, the superpower meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, ended in stalemate, with President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev unable to agree on arms control or a date for a full-fledged summit in the United States.

In 1997, singer John Denver was killed in the crash of his privately built aircraft in Monterey Bay, California; he was 53.

In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.

In 2002, bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

Ten years ago: The United States introduced a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council to punish North Korea for its nuclear test. Suspected Shiite militiamen broke into an Iraqi television station and gunned down 11 executives, producers and other staffers. Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel prize in literature. Madonna and Guy Ritchie took custody of David Banda, a 1-year-old boy from Malawi, and received preliminary approval from a judge to adopt him. Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo ("The Battle of Algiers") died in Rome at age 86.

Five years ago: A Nigerian al-Qaida operative pleaded guilty to trying to bring down a jetliner with a bomb in his underwear; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab defiantly told a federal judge in Detroit that he had acted in retaliation for the killing of Muslims worldwide. Eight people were killed in a shooting at a hair salon in Seal Beach, California. (Scott Dekraai, whose ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, was among the victims, pleaded guilty to murder in 2014, but has yet to be sentenced.) The Texas Rangers won Game 4 of the AL championship series, defeating the Detroit Tigers 7-3 for a 3-1 lead. The St. Louis Cardinals gained a 2-1 edge in the NL series as they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3. Actress Patricia Breslin, 80, died in Baltimore.

One year ago: Princeton University's Angus Deaton won the Nobel prize in economics for work that helped redefine the way poverty was measured around the world, notably in India. Actress Joan Leslie, 90, died in Los Angeles. Jamie Zimmerman, a doctor and reporter with ABC News' medical unit, drowned while on vacation in Hawaii; she was 31.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Antonia Rey is 89. Comedian-activist Dick Gregory is 84. Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is 84. Singer Sam Moore (formerly of Sam and Dave) is 81. Broadcast journalist Chris Wallace is 69. Actress-singer Susan Anton is 66. Rock singer-musician Pat DiNizio is 61. Pop/rock singer/songwriter Jane Siberry is 61. Actor Hiroyuki Sanada is 56. Actor Carlos Bernard is 54. Jazz musician Chris Botti (BOH'-tee) is 54. Rhythm-and-blues singer Claude McKnight (Take 6) is 54. Rock singer Bob Schneider is 51. Actor Hugh Jackman is 48. Actor Adam Rich is 48. Rhythm-and-blues singer Garfield Bright (Shai) is 47. Country musician Martie Maguire (Courtyard Hounds, The Dixie Chicks) is 47. Actor Kirk Cameron is 46. Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller is 39. Rock singer Jordan Pundik (New Found Glory) is 37. Actor Brian J. Smith is 35. Actor Tyler Blackburn is 30. Actor Marcus T. Paulk is 30. Actor Josh Hutcherson is 24.

Thought for Today: "To know one's self is wisdom, but not to know one's neighbors is genius." â?? Minna Antrim, American writer (1861-1950).