Today is Thursday, Oct. 20, the 294th day of 2016. There are 72 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 20, 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker Frosta rammed the commuter ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River near New Orleans.
On this date:
In 1714, the coronation of Britain's King George I took place in Westminster Abbey.
In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1914, "Stay Down Here Where You Belong," an anti-war song by Irving Berlin, was published by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. in New York.
In 1936, Helen Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, died in Forest Hills, New York, at age 70.
In 1944, during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte (LAY'-tee) in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after saying, "I shall return." A series of gas storage tank explosions and fires in Cleveland killed 130 people.
In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.
In 1964, the 31st president of the United States, Herbert C. Hoover, died in New York at age 90.
In 1965, in one of the more colorful moments of his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson, recovering from gall bladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, pulled up his shirt and jacket to show off his abdominal scar to reporters and photographers.
In 1968, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
In 1973, in the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre," special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.
In 1981, a bungled armored truck robbery carried out by members of radical groups in Nanuet, New York, left a guard and two police officers dead.
In 1994, actor Burt Lancaster died in Los Angeles at age 80.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush conceded in an Associated Press interview that "right now, it's tough" for American forces in Iraq, but the White House said he would not change U.S. strategy in the face of pre-election polls indicating voters were upset. Actress Jane Wyatt, perhaps best remembered as Margaret Anderson on "Father Knows Best," died in Los Angeles at age 96.
Five years ago: Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libya's 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. Greek lawmakers passed a deeply resented new austerity bill, caving in to the demands of international creditors in order to avoid a national bankruptcy as a second day of riots left one protester dead and more than 100 people wounded. The Texas Rangers evened up the World Series at one game apiece, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1.
