By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Saturday, Oct. 3, the 277th day of 2020. There are 89 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On Oct. 3, 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles found the former football star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman (however, Simpson was later found liable for damages in a civil trial).

On this date:

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day.

In 1941, Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been ìbrokenî and would ìnever rise again.î

In 1961, ìThe Dick Van Dyke Show,î also starring Mary Tyler Moore, made its debut on CBS.

In 1967, folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, the Dust Bowl Troubadour best known for ìThis Land Is Your Land,î died in New York of complications from Huntingtonís disease; he was 55.

In 1970, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was established under the Department of Commerce.

In 1974, Frank Robinson was named major league baseballís first Black manager as he was placed in charge of the Cleveland Indians.

In 1981, Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended seven months of hunger strikes that had claimed 10 lives.

In 2001, the Senate approved an agreement normalizing trade between the United States and Vietnam.

In 2003, a tiger attacked magician Roy Horn of duo ìSiegfried & Royî during a performance in Las Vegas, leaving the superstar illusionist in critical condition on his 59th birthday.

In 2008, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison; he was granted parole in July 2017 and released from prison in October of that year.)

In 2017, President Donald Trump, visiting Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, congratulated the U.S. island territory for escaping the higher death toll of what he called ìa real catastrophe like Katrina;î at a church used to distribute supplies, Trump handed out flashlights and tossed rolls of paper towels into the friendly crowd.

In 2018, the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted its first-ever national wireless emergency alert test, causing electronic devices across the country to sound, with a message that carried the subject, ìPresidential Alert.î (Some people got as many as four alerts on their phones, while others didnít get any.)

Ten years ago: Ruling-party candidate Dilma Rousseff, trying to become Brazilís first female leader, fell short of getting a majority of votes in presidential elections. (Rousseff prevailed in a runoff against her centrist rival, Jose Serra.) Angel McCoughtry had 18 points as the U.S. won gold at the womenís basketball world championship with an 89-69 victory over the host Czech Republic.

Five years ago: Vice President Joe Biden, addressing the Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington, threw his unequivocal support behind letting transgender people serve openly in the U.S. military; the Obama administration would lift a longstanding ban in June 2016. (In 2019, the Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration policy under which people who have undergone gender transition are barred from enlisting.)