Today in History: Oct. 10
Today is Monday, Oct. 10, the 284th day of 2016. There are 82 days left in the year. This is Columbus Day in the United States, as well as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 10, 1966, the Beach Boys’ single “Good Vibrations” by Brian Wilson and Mike Love was released by Capitol Records.
On this date:
In A.D. 19, Roman general Germanicus Julius Caesar, 33, died in Antioch under mysterious circumstances, possibly from poisoning.
In 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy was established in Annapolis, Maryland.
In 1913, the Panama Canal was effectively completed as President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph, setting off explosives that destroyed a section of the Gamboa dike.
In 1935, the George Gershwin opera “Porgy and Bess,” featuring an all-black cast, opened on Broadway, where it ran for 124 performances.
In 1938, Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland (soo-DAYS’-uhn-land).
In 1943, Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.
In 1956, the New York Yankees won the World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers, 9-0, in Game 7 at Ebbets Field.
In 1967, the Outer Space Treaty, prohibiting the placing of weapons of mass destruction on the moon or elsewhere in space, entered into force.
In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion and resigned his office.
In 1985, U.S. fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro (ah-KEE’-Leh LOW’-roh) to land in Italy, where the gunmen were taken into custody. Actor-director Orson Welles died in Los Angeles at age 70; actor Yul Brynner died in New York at age 65.
In 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its coordinator, Jody Williams, were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2005, Angela Merkel struck a power-sharing deal that made her the first woman and politician from the ex-communist east to serve as Germany’s chancellor.
Ten years ago: The Bush administration rejected anew direct talks with North Korea in the wake of the communist country’s nuclear test, and suggested it was possible the test was something less than it appeared