October 14th

Today's Highlight in History:
On October 14th, 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

On this date:
In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.

In 1890, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas.

In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the presidency, was shot in the chest in Milwaukee. Despite the wound, he went ahead with a scheduled speech.

In 1933, Nazi Germany announced it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.

In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

In 1947, Air Force test pilot Charles E. ("Chuck") Yeager broke the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell X-One rocket plane over Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1960, the idea of a Peace Corps was first suggested by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan.

In 1968, the first live telecast from a manned US spacecraft was transmitted from "Apollo Seven."

In 1977, singer Bing Crosby died outside Madrid, Spain, at age 73.

In 1980, Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan promised that, if elected, he would name a woman to the US Supreme Court. (He later nominated Judge Sandra Day O'Connor of Arizona.)

Ten years ago: Composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein died in New York at age 72.

Five years ago: An armed gunman seized a bus carrying South Korean tourists in Moscow's Red Square (commandos stormed the bus the next day, killing the gunman and freeing four remaining hostages). The Atlanta Braves won the National League pennant by beating the Cincinnati Reds, 6-to-0, to complete a four-game sweep.

One year ago: President Clinton accused Senate Republicans of recklessness and irresponsibility for defeating the nuclear test ban treaty, and pledged the United States would refrain from testing despite the treaty's rejection. Japan's Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank announced they would merge. Julius Nyerere (ny-REHR'-ee), Tanzania's first president, died in a London hospital at age 77.

"Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."

-- George Washington Carver, American botanist (1864-1943).