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Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Oct. 29, the 303rd day of 2020. There are 63 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On Oct. 29, 1929, ìBlack Tuesdayî descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as Americaís ìGreat Depressionî began.

On this date:

In 1901, President William McKinleyís assassin, Leon Czolgosz (CHAWLí-gahsh), was electrocuted.

In 1940, a blindfolded Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number — 158 — from a glass bowl in Americaís first peacetime military draft.

In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Israel invaded Egyptís Sinai Peninsula. ìThe Huntley-Brinkley Reportî premiered as NBCís nightly television newscast.

In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board.

In 1967, Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, closed after six months.

In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburgís previous marijuana use. Jazz great Woody Herman died in Los Angeles at age 74.

In 1994, gunman Francisco Martin Duran fired more than two dozen shots from a semiautomatic rifle at the White House. (Duran was later convicted of trying to assassinate President Bill Clinton and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.)

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail heíd blazed for Americaís astronauts 36 years earlier.

In 2004, four days before Election Day in the U.S., Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement, directly admitted for the first time that heíd ordered the September 11 attacks and told Americans ìthe best way to avoid another Manhattanî was to stop threatening Muslimsí security.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S.

In 2017, all but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that ìwe canít have the inmates running the prison.î

In 2018, a new-generation Boeing jet operated by the Indonesian budget airline Lion Air crashed in the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board; it was the first of two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max.

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