On This Day, Oct. 3: Battle of Mogadishu begins

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1919, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Dolf Luque becomes the first Latino player to appear in a World Series. Luque was born in Havana, Cuba, on Aug. 4, 1890.

In 1922, Rebecca Felton, a Georgia Democrat, was chosen to become the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate following the premature death of Sen. Thomas E. Watson.

In 1932, following 17 years of British rule, Iraq gained its independence from the United Kingdom and was admitted to the League of Nations.

In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, starting the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, a fellow member of the League of Nations, exposed the ineffectiveness of the League, and its inability to exert control over member nations when violating its own statutes.

In 1952, Britain successfully tested its first atomic bomb, becoming the world's third nuclear power.

In 1955, the children's TV show Captain Kangaroo with Bob Keeshan in the title role was broadcast for the first time.

In 1967, folksinger and songwriter Woody Guthrie died at the age of 55.

In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko signed strategic arms limitation agreements, putting the first restrictions on the two countries' nuclear weapons.

File Photo by Frank Cancellare/UPI

In 1990, formerly communist East Germany merged with West Germany, ending 45 years of post-war division.

In 1992, Bill Gates, the college-dropout founder of Microsoft Corp., became the youngest person to top the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans, with a net worth of $6.3 billion.

In 1993, the two-day Battle of Mogadishu began during the Somali Civil War, killing 19 Americans and between 200 and 300 Somalis. The militia shot down two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters and became the inspiration for the movie Black Hawk Down.

In 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of charges that he killed his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. The trial, which had intense media coverage, lasted more than eight months.

File Photo by Myung J. Chun/UPI

In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have increased funding of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to provide health coverage to more than 10 million children. Bush said the proposal was a move toward universal healthcare, which he opposed.

In 2011, American Amanda Knox was acquitted on appeal of murder in Perugia, Italy, two years after being convicted of killing her British roommate.

In 2018, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to scientists making advances in cancer research -- Frances Arnold, George Smith and Gregory Winter.