Associated Press
On Oct. 20, 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s dictator for 42 years was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell. Gadhafi was 69.
1803- The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
1931- Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Okla.
1944- Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he’d said, “I shall return.”
1947- The House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence in the motion picture industry.
1964- Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, died at age 90 in New York City.
1968- Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
1973- Special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus were fired and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigned in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre.
1977- Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.
1992- The host Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in the first World Series game played outside the United States.
2000- Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, a U.S. citizen who’d served in the Army, pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people.
Today’s Birthdays:
Rapper Snoop Dogg turns 44 years old today.
William Christopher, Actor (“M.A.S.H.”), 83
Juan Marichal, Baseball Hall of Famer, 78
Tom Petty, Rock singer, musician, 65
Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. senator, D-R.I., 60
Danny Boyle, Director (“Slumdog Millionaire”), 59
Hilda Solis, Former secretary of labor, 58
Viggo Mortensen, Actor, 57
Actor John Krasinski (“The Office”) turns 36 years old today.