TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer,
sighted Watling Island in the Bahamas. He believed that he had
found Asia while attempting to find a Western ocean route to
India. The same day he claimed the land for Isabella and
Ferdinand of Spain.

Explorer Christopher Columbus. 

The USS Cole bombing was an attack against the United States Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole on 12 October 2000, while it was being refueled in Yemen’s Aden harbor. 17 American sailors were
killed and 39 injured in the deadliest attack against a United States
naval vessel since 1987.

Casualties of the USS Cole being Returned To The United States.

On this day in 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was reported
to have pounded a shoe on his desk during a dispute at a U.N.
General Assembly.

TIM MAGUIRE

On October 10, 1973, after months of maintaining his innocence,
Agnew pleaded no contest to a single felony charge of tax evasion
and resigned from office. He was replaced by House Minority
Leader Gerald Ford (below).

Gerald Ford (center) was sworn in as Vice President Ford. 

George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985)

Wells is best remembered for the legendary 1938 radio broadcast of “The
War of the Worlds’’, and in film, Citizen Kane (1941), consistently ranked
as one of the greatest films ever made.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for draft-evaders and deserters during the Vietnam War.

In west Beirut on this day in 1982, the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children began in refugee camps
of the Lebanese Christian militiamen.

MIKE GRACIA

President Clinton with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office.

The first European settlers in Australia, led by Captain Arthur Phillip,
landed in what became known as Sydney on this day in 1788. The
group had first settled at Botany Bay eight days before. This day is
celebrated as Australia Day.

Douglas MacArthur (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964) 

Douglas MacArthur was an Army five-star general and Field
Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the
United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent
role in the Pacific theater during World War II.

Wayne Douglas Gretzky is 57 years old today.

Wayne Gretzky is a Canadian born former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played twenty seasons in the National Hockey League
(NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has
been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players,
and the league itself.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Phantom of the Opera" opened
at Broadway’s Majestic Theater on this day in 1988.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1968, three Apollo 8 astronauts, James A. Lovell,
William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon. They
orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven
months later man first landed on the moon.

From left: astronauts  William A. Anders, James A. Lovell Jr. and
Frank Borman.

Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social
club in Pulaski, TN, called the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) on this day in
1865 and still exists today.

Canadian born Reginald A. Fessenden (above) became the first
person to broadcast a human voice and music program over
radio, from Brant Rock, MA.

On this day in 1871, In Cairo, Egypt, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera "Aida"
had its world premiere at the Khedivial Opera House.

Giuseppe Verdi conducting.