Today in History: Oct. 7

Knox College displays its banner supporting presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln as he speaks before a crowd during his fifth debate with Sen. Stephen A. Douglas in Galesburg, Ill., on Oct. 7, 1858.   Artist Victor Perard drew this sketch of Old Main, the central building on the Knox College campus.  (AP Photo)
In 1858, the fifth debate between Illinois senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Galesburg. Here, Knox College displays its banner supporting presidential candidate Lincoln as he speaks during the debate. Artist Victor Perard drew this sketch of Old Main, the central building on the Knox College campus. (AP Photo)
Singer Marian Anderson holds a Korean doll in her New York apartment, Aug. 5, 1958. The doll and the shawl she is wearing are gifts received on a trip to the Far East. Miss Anderson became a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations, which she sees as an opportunity to contribute to the mutual understandings of people. (AP Photo)
In 1954, Marian Anderson became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York. Here, Anderson holds a Korean doll in her New York apartment, Aug. 5, 1958. (AP Photo)
Television debates were an innovation in the 1960 U.S. Presidential campaign. Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon as they appeared in the fourth and final of these debates in New York City, Dec. 8, 1960. (AP Photo)
In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard Nixon held their second televised debate. (AP Photo)
Pope John Paul II at mass on the Mall in Washington on Oct. 7, 1979. (AP Photo)
In 1979, Pope John Paul II concluded his week-long tour of the United States with a Mass on the Washington Mall.  (AP Photo)
Recent undated  picture of cruise ship Achille Lauro reportedly  jacked on Monday, Oct. 7, 1985 in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast group of Palestinians. (AP Photo)
In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean. The hijackers killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American tourist, before surrendering on Oct. 9. (AP Photo)
FILE - This Oct. 11, 1991 file photo shows University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. HBO says that “Scandal” star Kerry Washington will play Hill in a film about the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas. (AP Photo, File)
In 1991, University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill’s allegations. FILE – This Oct. 11, 1991 file photo shows University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. HBO says that “Scandal” star Kerry Washington will play Hill in a film about the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas. (AP Photo, File)
In 1982, the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical “Cats” opened on Broadway.  (The show ended its original run on Sept. 10, 2000, after a then-record 7,485 performances.) FILE – In this July 7, 2014 file photo, British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, center, director Trevor Nunn, left, and choreographer Gillian Lynne, center right, pose for photographers with performers in cat costumes, during a photo-op to promote the return of the musical Cats, in central London. “Cats,” once Broadway’s longest-running show, will not be a “Memory” for long – the musical is coming back to New York. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical will return this summer to the Neil Simon Theatre under its original director, Nunn. Previews begin July 14, 2016 and opening night is Aug. 2 (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten and left tied to a wooden fencepost outside of Laramie, Wyoming; he died five days later. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences for Shepard’s murder.) This undated photo provided by the Matthew Shepard Foundation shows Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered to death in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. His death became a rallying point in the gay rights movement. The Laramie City Council is scheduled to hold its final vote Wednesday, May 13, 2015, on a measure that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, employment and access to public facilities such as restaurants. (Matthew Shepard Foundation via AP)
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Knox College displays its banner supporting presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln as he speaks before a crowd during his fifth debate with Sen. Stephen A. Douglas in Galesburg, Ill., on Oct. 7, 1858.   Artist Victor Perard drew this sketch of Old Main, the central building on the Knox College campus.  (AP Photo)
Singer Marian Anderson holds a Korean doll in her New York apartment, Aug. 5, 1958. The doll and the shawl she is wearing are gifts received on a trip to the Far East. Miss Anderson became a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations, which she sees as an opportunity to contribute to the mutual understandings of people. (AP Photo)
Television debates were an innovation in the 1960 U.S. Presidential campaign. Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon as they appeared in the fourth and final of these debates in New York City, Dec. 8, 1960. (AP Photo)
Pope John Paul II at mass on the Mall in Washington on Oct. 7, 1979. (AP Photo)
Recent undated  picture of cruise ship Achille Lauro reportedly  jacked on Monday, Oct. 7, 1985 in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast group of Palestinians. (AP Photo)
FILE - This Oct. 11, 1991 file photo shows University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. HBO says that “Scandal” star Kerry Washington will play Hill in a film about the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas. (AP Photo, File)

Today is Monday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2019. There are 85 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 7, 2001, the war in Afghanistan started as the United States and Britain launched air attacks against military targets and Osama bin Laden’s training camps in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

On this date:

In 1777, the second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. (British forces under General John Burgoyne surrendered ten days later.)

In 1849, author Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore, Maryland, at age 40.

In 1954, Marian Anderson became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard Nixon held their second televised debate, this one in Washington, D.C.

In 1979, Pope John Paul II concluded his week-long tour of the United States with a Mass on the Washington Mall.

In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro (ah-KEE’-leh LOW’-roh) in the Mediterranean. (The hijackers shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American tourist in a wheelchair, and pushed him overboard, before surrendering on Oct. 9.)

In 1991, University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill’s allegations.

In 1992, trade representatives of the United States, Canada and Mexico initialed the North American Free Trade Agreement during a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, in the presence of President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (muhl-ROO’-nee) and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

In 1996, Fox News Channel made its debut.

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten and left tied to a wooden fencepost outside of Laramie, Wyoming; he died five days later. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences for Shepard’s murder.)

In 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger their new governor.

In 2004, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney conceded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue, arguing that Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program.

Ten years ago: A top Italian court overturned a law granting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution, allowing trials for corruption and tax fraud to resume in Milan. (Berlusconi was later convicted of tax fraud relating to the purchase of TV rights to U.S. films on his Mediaset network; the corruption trial ended with a court ruling that the statute of limitations had run out.) Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz and Israeli Ada Yonath won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Fashion and celebrity photographer Irving Penn died in New York at 92.

Five years ago: North Korea publicly acknowledged to the international community the existence of its “reform through labor” camps, a mention that appeared to come in response to a highly critical U.N. human rights report. Two Japanese scientists, Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, and a naturalized American, Shuji Nakamura, won the Nobel Prize for physics for inventing a new kind of light-emitting diode (LED) that promised to revolutionize the way the world lighted its offices and homes.

One year ago: Breaking her long-standing refusal to discuss anything political, music superstar Taylor Swift announced that she would be voting for Tennessee’s Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen. Brazilian voters chose a far-right former army captain, Jair Bolsonaro, in the first round of the country’s presidential election, but he fell just short of the margin needed to avoid a late October runoff. (Bolsonaro would win the runoff with 55 percent of the vote.) The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-0 to sweep their National League Division Series.

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