Today in History

Today is Friday, Oct. 27, the 300th day of 2023. There are 65 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded six others at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history; authorities said the suspect, Robert Bowers, raged against Jews during and after the rampage. (Bowers was convicted and sentenced to death in 2023.)

On this date:

In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.

In 1904, the first rapid transit subway, the IRT, was inaugurated in New York City.

In 1914, author-poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales.

In 1941, the Chicago Daily Tribune dismissed the possibility of war with Japan, editorializing, "She cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our base at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet."

In 1954, U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was promoted to brigadier general, the first Black officer to achieve that rank in the USAF.

In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.

In 1971, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was renamed the Republic of Zaire (but it went back to its previous name in 1997).

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.

In 1995, a sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Paratrooper William J. Kreutzer was convicted in the shootings, and condemned to death; the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch cut through the western Caribbean, pummeling coastal Honduras and Belize; the storm caused several thousand deaths in Central America in the days that followed.

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.

In 2017, golfer Tiger Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving, resolving charges from an arrest in which he was found passed out in his car with prescription drugs and marijuana in his system.

In 2013, Lou Reed, who radically challenged rock's founding promise of good times and public celebration as leader of the Velvet Underground and a solo artist, died at age 71.

In 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was formally sworn as the Supreme Court's ninth justice, her oath administered in private by Chief Justice John Roberts.

In 2021, investigators in New Mexico said there was "some complacency" in how weapons were handled on a movie set where Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer and wounded another person.

Today's Birthdays: Actor-comedian John Cleese is 84. Author Maxine Hong Kingston is 83. Country singer Lee Greenwood is 81. Rock musician Garry Tallent (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band) is 74. Author Fran Lebowitz is 73. Rock musician K.K. Downing is 72. TV personality Jayne Kennedy is 72. Actor-director Roberto Benigni is 71. Actor Peter Firth is 70. Actor Robert Picardo is 70. World Golf Hall of Famer Patty Sheehan is 67. "Duran Duran" singer Simon Le Bon is 65. Country musician Jerry Dale McFadden (The Mavericks) is 59. Internet news editor Matt Drudge is 57. Rock musician Jason Finn (Presidents of the United States of America) is 56. Actor Sean Holland is 55. Actor Channon Roe is 54. Author Anthony Doerr is 50. Actor Sheeri Rappaport is 46. Actor David Walton is 45. Violinist Vanessa-Mae is 45. Actor-singer Kelly Osbourne is 39. Actor Christine Evangelista is 37. Actor Bryan Craig is 32. Actor Troy Gentile is 30.