This day in history

[October 08, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Friday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2010. There are 84 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Oct. 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wis., and in several communities in Michigan.

On this date:

In 1869, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce (puhrs), died in Concord, N.H.

In 1918, American Sgt. Alvin C. York led an attack that killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 others in the Argonne Forest in France.

In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for murder in the death of the son of Charles A. Lindbergh.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

In 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

In 1957, the Brooklyn Baseball Club announced it was accepting an offer to move the Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles.

In 1967, former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee died in London at age 84.

In 1970, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

In 1981, at the White House, President Ronald Reagan greeted former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, who were preparing to travel to Egypt for the funeral of Anwar Sadat.

In 1982, all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, were banned.

Ten years ago: Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski (kvahsh-NYEV'-skee) won a second five-year term.

Five years ago: A major earthquake flattened villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 80,000 people. Delphi Corp., the largest U.S. auto supplier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Delphi emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2009.) An Associated Press Television News crew covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina videotaped three New Orleans police officers beating retired teacher Robert Davis. (Davis was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest, but the charges were later dropped. Two of the officers involved were fired.)

One year ago: An Arizona sweat lodge ceremony turned deadly as some participants became ill and collapsed inside the 415-square-foot structure; three died. (Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray, who'd led the ceremony, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of manslaughter.) A powerful car bomb exploded outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing 17 people. Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller won the Nobel Prize in literature.

Today's birthdays: Entertainment reporter Rona Barrett is 74. Actor Paul Hogan is 71. Rhythm-and-blues singer Fred Cash (The Impressions) is 70. Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson is 69. Comedian Chevy Chase is 67. Author R.L. Stine is 67. Country singer Susan Raye is 66. TV personality Sarah Purcell is 62. Actress Sigourney Weaver is 61. Rhythm-and-blues singer Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool & the Gang) is 60. Producer-director Edward Zwick is 58. Country singer-musician Ricky Lee Phelps is 57. Actor Michael Dudikoff is 56. Comedian Darrell Hammond is 55. Actress Stephanie Zimbalist is 54. Rock musician Mitch Marine is 49. Actress Kim Wayans is 49. Rock singer Steve Perry (Cherry Poppin' Daddies) is 47. Actor Ian Hart is 46. Gospel/rhythm-and-blues singer CeCe Winans is 46. Rock musician C.J. Ramone (The Ramones) is 45. Actress-producer Karyn Parsons is 44. Singer-producer Teddy Riley is 44. Actress Emily Procter is 42. Actor Dylan Neal is 41. Actor-screenwriter Matt Damon is 40. Actress Kristanna Loken is 31. Rhythm-and-blues singer Byron Reeder (Mista) is 31. Actor Nick Cannon is 30. Actor Max Crumm is 25. Actor Angus T. Jones is 17. Actress Molly Quinn is 17.

Thought for today: "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." -- Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (1875-1961)

[Associated Press]

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