By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 20, the 294th day of 2020. There are 72 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On Oct. 20, 1973, in the so-called ìSaturday Night Massacre,î special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.

On this date:

In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.

In 1936, Helen Kellerís teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, died in Forest Hills, N.Y., at age 70.

In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.

In 1967, a jury in Meridian, Mississippi, convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of slain civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; the seven received prison terms ranging from 3 to 10 years.

In 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker Frosta rammed the commuter ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River near New Orleans.

In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi.

In 1987, 10 people were killed when an Air Force jet crashed into a Ramada Inn hotel near Indianapolis International Airport after the pilot, who was trying to make an emergency landing, ejected safely.

In 1990, three members of the rap group 2 Live Crew were acquitted by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., of violating obscenity laws with an adults-only concert in nearby Hollywood the previous June.

In 2001, officials announced that anthrax had been discovered in a House postal facility on Capitol Hill.

In 2004, A U.S. Army staff sergeant, Ivan ìChipî Frederick, pleaded guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Frederick was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was paroled in 2007.)

In 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libyaís dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte (SURT) and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia announced that journalist Jamal Khashoggi (jah-MAHLí khahr-SHOHKí-jee) had been killed in Saudi Arabiaís consulate in Istanbul; there was immediate international skepticism over the Saudi account that Khashoggi had died during a ìfistfight.î

Ten years ago: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEEí-neh-zhahd) and visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hailed what they called their strong strategic relationship.