Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2018. There are 62 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 30, 1735 (New Style calendar), the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts.

On this date:

In 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.)

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 on 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 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.

In 1979, President Carter announced his choice of federal appeals judge Shirley Hufstedler to head the newly created Department of Education.

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

In 1995, by a razor--thin vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in a Quebec secession referendum.

In 2002, Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), a rapper with the hip--hop group Run--DMC, was killed in a shooting in New York. He was 37.

Ten years ago: A federal jury in Miami convicted the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in the first case brought under a 1994 U.S. law allowing prosecution for torture and atrocities committed overseas. (Charles McArthur Emmanuel was later sentenced to 97 years in prison.)

Five years ago: President Barack Obama claimed "full responsibility" for fixing his administration's troubled health insurance website, while on Capitol Hill, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized to frustrated people trying to sign up, declaring that she was accountable for the failures but also defended the historic health care overhaul. The government said the deficit for the 2013 budget year totaled $680.3 billion, down from $1.09 trillion in 2012. The Boston Red Sox romped to their third World Series championship in 10 seasons, thumping the St. Louis Cardinals 6--1 in Game 6 at Fenway.

One year ago: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a former Manafort business associate, Rick Gates, were indicted on felony charges including conspiracy against the United States as Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election revealed its first targets. A former Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, admitted he lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. At his sentencing hearing, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl apologized to the military personnel who were wounded searching for him after he walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009. A federal judge in Washington barred the Trump administration from proceeding with plans to exclude transgender people from military service.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director Claude Lelouch is 81. Rock singer Grace Slick is 79. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 79. Rhythm--and--blues singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 77. Actress Joanna Shimkus is 75. Actor Henry Winkler is 73. Broadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell is 72. Rock musician Chris Slade (Asia) is 72. Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 71. Actor Leon Rippy is 69. Actor Harry Hamlin is 67. Actor Charles Martin Smith is 65. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 64. Actor Kevin Pollak is 61. Rock singer--musician Jerry De Borg (Jesus Jones) is 58. Actor Michael Beach is 55. Rock singer--musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 53. Actor Jack Plotnick is 50. Comedian Ben Bailey is 48. Actor Billy Brown is 48. Actress Nia Long is 48. Country singer Kassidy Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 42. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal is 40. Actor Matthew Morrison is 40. Business executive and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 37. Actress Fiona Dourif is 37. Actor Shaun Sipos is 37. Actress Janel Parrish is 30. Actor Tequan Richmond is 26.

Thought for Today: "All men are almost led to believe not of proof, but by attraction." -- Blaise Pascal, French philosopher (1623--1662).