Today is Tuesday, Oct. 24, the 297th day of 2017. There are 68 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 24, 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Detroit, "I shall go to Korea" as he promised to end the conflict. (He made the visit over a month later.)
On this date:
In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England's King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia (west-FAY'-lee-uh) ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., over a line built by the Western Union Telegraph Co.
In 1931, the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York and New Jersey, was officially dedicated (it opened to traffic the next day).
In 1936, the short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet was published in The Saturday Evening Post.
In 1939, DuPont began publicly selling its nylon stockings in Wilmington, Delaware. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra recorded their signature theme, "Let's Dance," for Columbia Records in New York.
In 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.
In 1962, a naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect during the missile crisis.
In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who'd broken Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.
In 1980, the merchant freighter SS Poet departed Philadelphia, bound for Port Said (sah-EED'), Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it disappeared en route and has not been heard from since.
In 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays became the first baseball team based outside the U.S. to win the World Series as they defeated the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in Game 6.
In 2002, authorities apprehended Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Maryland, in the Washington-area sniper attacks. (Malvo was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.)
