Associated Press
On Oct. 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.
1774- The First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.
1825- The Erie Canal opened, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River in upstate New York.
1881- Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and “Doc” Holliday confronted Ike Clanton’s gang in a gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. Three members of Clanton’s gang were killed; Earp’s brothers were wounded.
1962- In one of the most dramatic verbal confrontations of the Cold War, American U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson asked his Soviet counterpart during a Security Council debate whether the USSR had placed missiles in Cuba.
1972- National security adviser Henry Kissinger declared “peace is at hand” in Vietnam.
1984- A newborn with a severe heart defect was given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. She lived for 21 more days.
1994- Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty.
2002- A hostage siege by Chechen rebels at a Moscow theater ended with 129 of the 800-plus captives dead, most from a knockout gas used by Russian special forces who stormed the theater.
2005- The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series since 1917 by defeating the Houston Astros 1-0 in Game 4.
Today’s Birthdays:
Former secretary of state and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton turns 68 years old today.
Jaclyn Smith, Actress (“Charlie’s Angels”), 70
Pat Sajak, TV game show host (“Wheel of Fortune”), 69
Bootsy Collins, Musician, 64
Rita Wilson, Actress, 59
Dylan McDermott, Actor (“The Practice”), 54
Natalie Merchant, Rock singer (10,000 Maniacs), 52
Tom Cavanagh, Actor (“Ed”), 47
Rosemarie DeWitt, Actress (“The United States of Tara”), 44
Anthony Rapp, Actor (“Rent”), 44
Seth MacFarlane, Writer, producer (“Family Guy”), 42
Jon Heder, Actor (“Napoleon Dynamite”), 38
Sasha Cohen, Figure skater, 31
Country singer Keith Urban turns 48 years old today.