Saturday, October 8

This Day In History

• 1869   Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, died in Concord, N.H., at age 64.
  
• 1871   The Great Chicago Fire erupted.
  
• 1890   American aviation hero Eddie Rickenbacker was born in Columbus, Ohio.
  
• 1918   Sgt. Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France.
  
• 1934   Bruno Hauptmann was indicted for murder in the death of the infant son of Charles A. Lindbergh.
  
• 1944   ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' made its debut on CBS Radio.
  
• 1945   President Harry S. Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.
  
• 1956   Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0.
  
• 1970   Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.
  
• 1985   The hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro killed American passenger Leon Klinghoffer and dumped his body and wheelchair overboard.
  
• 1996   Pope John Paul II underwent an appendectomy.
  
• 2001   Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn in as director of the new Office of Homeland Security.
  
• 2002   A federal judge approved President George W. Bush's request to reopen West Coast ports, ending a caustic 10-day labor lockout that was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1890   Eddie Rickenbacker (aviator: decorated World War I hero; President and CEO of Eastern Airlines [1938-63]; died July 23, 1973)
  
• 1895   Juan (Domingo) Peron (President of Argentina [1946-1955] [1973-1974]; married Eva Peron [Evita] who died in 1952; married Maria Estela Martinez aka Isabel, who became Vice President of Argentina in 1973 and then took over the presidency upon the death of her husband [1974]; died July 1, 1974)
  
• 1919   Jack McGrath (auto racer: Indy 500 [1955]; died Nov 6, 1955)
  
• 1940   Paul Hogan (actor: Crocodile Dundee series)
  
• 1941   Rev. Jesse Jackson (civil rights leader, founder: Rainbow Coalition)
  
• 1943   Chevy Chase (Cornelius Crane Chase) (Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor: Saturday Night Live [1976]; The Chevy Chase Show, Fletch, Man of the House, Caddyshack I & II, National Lampoon’s Vacation series, Three Amigos, The Groove Tube; Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: The Paul Simon Special [1978], Saturday Night Live [1976]; The Groove Tube)
  
• 1948   Sarah Purcell (TV reporter: Real People)
  
• 1956   Stephanie Zimbalist (actress: Remington Steele)