This day in history

[October 06, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2009. There are 86 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Oct. 6, 1939, during World War II, as remaining military resistance in Poland crumbled, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech to the Reichstag in which he blamed the Poles for the Nazi-Soviet invasion of their country and denied having any intention of war against France and Britain.

On this date:

In 1683, 13 families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in Philadelphia to begin Germantown, one of America's oldest settlements.

In 1884, the Naval War College was established in Newport, R.I.

In 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer," starring Al Jolson.

In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, providing $1.3 billion in military aid to NATO countries. U.S.-born Iva Toguri D'Aquino, convicted of treason for being Japanese wartime broadcaster "Tokyo Rose," was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years in prison. (She ended up serving more than six.) In 1969, the New York Mets won the first-ever National League Championship Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 7-4, in Game 3; the Baltimore Orioles won the first-ever American League Championship Series, defeating the Minnesota Twins 11-2 in Game 3.

In 1973, war erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday.

In 1976, in his second debate with Jimmy Carter, President Gerald R. Ford asserted there was "no Soviet domination of eastern Europe." (Ford later conceded he'd misspoken.)

In 1979, Pope John Paul II, on a weeklong U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Jimmy Carter.

In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.

In 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81.

Ten years ago: In Mexico, torrential rains sent swollen rivers raging through the streets of the Gulf Coast city of Villahermosa and caused mudslides; dozens of deaths were reported in eastern Mexico's coastal mountain ranges. The NFL awarded its newest franchise to Houston instead of Los Angeles, leaving the second-largest TV market in the nation without a football team.

Five years ago: The top U.S. arms inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, reported finding no evidence Saddam Hussein's regime had produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991. The Senate approved an intelligence reorganization bill endorsed by the Sept. 11th Commission. Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

One year ago: As Wall Street reeled and global markets plunged, President George W. Bush said the U.S. economy was going to be "just fine" in the long run, but cautioned that the massive rescue plan would take time to work. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped to 9,955, its first close below 10,000 since 2004. Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout. Germany's Harald zur Hausen and French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine.

Today's birthdays: Broadcaster and writer Melvyn Bragg is 70. Actress Britt Ekland is 67. Singer Millie Small is 63. The president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, is 61. Singer-musician Thomas McClary is 60. CBS chief executive officer Les Moonves is 60. Rock singer Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon) is 58. Rock singer-musician David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) is 55. Former NFL player and coach Tony Dungy is 54. Actress Elisabeth Shue is 46. Singer Matthew Sweet is 45. Actress Jacqueline Obradors is 43. Country singer Tim Rushlow is 43. Rock musician Tommy Stinson is 43. Actress Amy Jo Johnson is 39. Actress Emily Mortimer is 38. Actor Lamman Rucker is 38. Actor Ioan Gruffudd is 36. Actor Jeremy Sisto is 35. R&B singer Melinda Doolittle ("American Idol") is 32. Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour is 30.

Thought for today: "There are plenty of fools in the world; but if they had not been sent for some wise purpose, they wouldn't have been here; and since they are here they have as good a right to have elbow-room in the world as the wisest." -- Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Scottish novelist (1782-1854)

[Associated Press]

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