Today in History

Today in History

Today is Monday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2018. There are 84 days left in the year. Today is Columbus Day in the United States and Thanksgiving in Canada.

On Oct. 8, 1998, the House triggered an open-ended impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton in a momentous 258-176 vote; 31 Democrats joined majority Republicans in opening the way for nationally televised impeachment hearings.

On this date:

In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and in several communities in Michigan.

In 1918, U.S. Army Cpl. Alvin C. York led an attack that killed 25 German soldiers and resulted in the capture of 132 others in the Argonne Forest in France.

In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for murder in the death of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman told a press conference in Tiptonville, Tennessee, that the secret scientific knowledge behind the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

In 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

In 1970, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

In 1981, at the White House, President Reagan greeted former Presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon, who were preparing to travel to Egypt for the funeral of Anwar Sadat.

In 1982, all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, were banned.

In 2001, the United States pounded terrorist targets in Afghanistan from the air for a second night.

In 2002, a federal judge approved President George W. Bush's request to reopen West Coast ports, ending a 10-day labor lockout that was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $1 to $2 billion a day.

In 2004, 34 people, most of them Israelis, were killed when suicide bombers blew up the Taba Hilton Hotel in Egypt.

In 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake flattened villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 86,000 people.

Ten years ago: After a day of bouncing higher and lower, Wall Street plunged again. The Dow Jones industrial average lost another 189 points to close at 9,258 -- the sixth straight day of losses for the Dow. German farmer Karl Merk, who received the world's first complete double arm transplant, told reporters that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again. Japan's Osamu Shimomura and Americans Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Five years ago: The White House said President Barack Obama would nominate Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the nation's central bank. Britain's Peter Higgs and Belgian colleague Francois Englert won the Nobel Prize in physics for helping to explain how matter formed after the Big Bang. Phil Chevron, 56, the guitarist for the boisterous Anglo-Irish band the Pogues, died in Dublin.

One year ago: Harvey Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company amid allegations that he was responsible for decades of sexual harassment against actresses and employees. Vice President Mike Pence left the 49ers-Colts game in Indianapolis after about a dozen San Francisco players took a knee during the national anthem; Pence tweeted that he wouldn't "dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag or our National Anthem." President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. Bob Corker engaged in an intense round of back-and-forth bashing on social media.

Today's Birthdays: Entertainment reporter Rona Barrett is 82. Actor Paul Hogan is 79. Rhythm-and-blues singer Fred Cash (The Impressions) is 78. Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson is 77. Comedian Chevy Chase is 75. Author R.L. Stine is 75. Actor Dale Dye is 74. Country singer Susan Raye is 74. TV personality Sarah Purcell is 70. Rhythm-and-blues singer Airrion Love (The Stylistics) is 69. Actress Sigourney Weaver is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool & the Gang) is 68. Producer-director Edward Zwick is 66. Country singer-musician Ricky Lee Phelps is 65. Actor Michael Dudikoff is 64. Comedian Darrell Hammond is 63. Actress Stephanie Zimbalist is 62. Rock musician Mitch Marine is 57. Actress Kim Wayans is 57. Rock singer Steve Perry (Cherry Poppin' Daddies) is 55. Actor Ian Hart is 54. Gospel/rhythm-and-blues singer CeCe Winans is 54. Rock musician C.J. Ramone (The Ramones) is 53. Actress-producer Karyn Parsons is 52. Singer-producer Teddy Riley is 52. Actress Emily Procter is 50. Actor Dylan Neal is 49. Actor-screenwriter Matt Damon is 48. Actor-comedian Robert Kelly is 48. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is 48. Actor Martin Henderson is 44. Actress Kristanna Loken is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Byron Reeder (Mista) is 39. Rock-soul singer-musician Noelle Scaggs (Fitz and the Tantrums) is 39. Actor Nick Cannon is 38. Actor Max Crumm is 33. Singer-songwriter-producer Bruno Mars is 33. Actor Angus T. Jones is 25. Actress Molly Quinn is 25. Actress/singer Bella Thorne is 21.

Thought for Today: "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." -- Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (1875-1961).