On This Day in History - October 10th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, Oct. 10, the 283rd day of 2021 with 82 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include English chemist/physicist Henry Cavendish, discoverer of hydrogen, in 1731; Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi in 1813; sculptor Alberto Giacometti in 1901; jazz musician Thelonious Monk in 1917; filmmaker Ed Wood in 1924; actor Peter Coyote in 1941 (age 80); singer John Prine in 1946; entertainer Ben Vereen in 1946 (age 75); actor Jessica Harper in 1949 (age 72); writer Nora Roberts in 1950; rocker David Lee Roth in 1954 (age 67); country singer Tanya Tucker in 1958 (age 63); actor Bradley Whitford in 1959 (age 62); slain journalist Daniel Pearl in 1963; actor Bai Ling in 1966 (age 55); California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 1967 (age 54); football star Brett Favre in 1969 (age 52); actor Wendi McLendon-Covey in 1969 (age 52); actor Mario Lopez in 1973 (age 48); race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1974 (age 47); actor Andrea Navedo in 1977 (age 44); singer Mya Harrison in 1979 (age 42); actor Dan Stevens in 1982 (age 39); actor Rose McIver in 1988 (age 33).

On this date in history:

In 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy was formally opened at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Md., with 50 midshipmen in the first class.

In 1886, Griswold Lorillard of Tuxedo Park, N.Y., fashioned the first tuxedo for men.

In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek became chairman of the Republic of China. Following two civil wars, separated by a World War, Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang party would head into exile in 1949 following defeat at the hands of the Communists.

In 1933, a United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.

In 1956, no sign of compromise seen in Suez Canal dispute. Egypt had been pressing for a negotiated solution, "consistent with Egyptian sovereignty," though there were no signs that the Egyptians or the British and French were ready to compromise.

In 1971, having been sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

In 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns in disgrace after pleading no contest to income tax evasion.

In 1985, movie legend Orson Welles, whose innovative Citizen Kane of 1941 was regarded by many as the best American-made film of all time, died of a heart attack at the age of 70.

In 1995, Israel freed about 900 Palestinian prisoners and pulled its troops out of four towns as the second phase of a peace plan was implemented on the West Bank.

In 1997, major tobacco companies agreed to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit by 60,000 flight attendants who said second-hand smoke made them ill. About a week earlier, tobacco executives admitted that tobacco causes lung cancer and other diseases.

In 2003, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Iranian lawyer Shurin Ebadi for her work in promoting democracy and human rights in Iran and beyond. She was the first Muslim woman to win the award.

In 2005, Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor of Germany after her Christian Democrats won the parliamentary election.

In 2014, the Nobel committee awarded the peace prize to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, children's rights activists. Yousafzai, the youngest Nobelist in history, became a household name after Taliban militants shot her in the head in Pakistan, bringing attention to her cause -- education for girls.

In 2018, Hurricane Michael made landfall on Mexico Beach, Fla., as a Category 5 storm. Michael directly caused 31 deaths and more than $25 billion in damage.

In 2020, Poland's Iga Swiatek won her country's first major singles title, beating American Sofia Kenin in the French Open final.

A thought for the day: "Bureaucracy, the rule of nobody." -- German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt