This Day in History – October 19
Today is the 292nd day of 2013. There are 73 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
1960: The US imposes an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.
OTHER EVENTS
1765: The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, draws up a declaration of rights and liberties.
1813: Napoleon’s forces are defeated by a combined Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish army at Leipzig, Germany, marking the end of the French Empire east of the Rhine.
1944: The US Navy announces black women would be allowed into Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).
1977: The supersonic Concorde airplane makes its first landing in New York after 19 months of delays caused by residents concerned about the aircraft’s noise.
1983: The commander of Grenada’s armed force announces that Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, who was under house arrest, has been killed by soldiers after he tried to seize army headquarters.
1987: The stock market crashes as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 508 points, or 22.6 per cent in value — its biggest-ever percentage drop in decades.
1990: The Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts a long-awaited plan to reform the nation’s economy.
1991: A clandestine assembly of ethnic Albanian legislators proclaim Kosovo to be an independent republic. The republic of Serbia annexed Kosovo in 1990.
2010: The technology giant says the Dead Sea Scrolls, among the world’s most important, mysterious and tightly restricted archaeological treasures, are about to get Googled.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Auguste Lumiere, Frenchman credited with making the first movie (1862-1948); John Le Carre, British writer (1931-); Jennifer Holliday, US singer (1960-); Evander Holyfield, US heavyweight boxing champion (1962-); John Lithgow, US actor (1945-).