October 23rd

Today's Highlight in History:
On October 23rd, 1983, 241 US Marines and sailors in Lebanon were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at the Marine Operations Center; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

On this date:
In 1864, forces led by Union General Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate General Stirling Price's army in Missouri.

In 1910, Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to make a solo, public airplane flight, reaching an altitude of 12 feet at a park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In 1915, 25,000 women marched in New York City, demanding the right to vote.

In 1942, during World War Two, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.

In 1944, the World War Two Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.

In 1956, an anti-Stalinist revolt that was subsequently crushed by Soviet troops began in Hungary.

In 1973, President Nixon agreed to turn White House tape recordings requested by the Watergate special prosecutor over to Judge John J. Sirica.

In 1980, the resignation of Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin was announced.

In 1987, the US Senate rejected, 58-to-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.

Ten years ago: Deficit-reduction negotiations continued between the White House and congressional leaders. President Bush, campaigning in New England, blamed the Democratic-controlled Congress for the budget impasse.

Five years ago: President Clinton met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Hyde Park, New York; the leaders agreed that Russian troops would help enforce peace in Bosnia, but remained deadlocked on the issue of NATO command. A jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena.

One year ago: Sixteen members of the Ku Klux Klan held a silent rally in New York City as thousands of counter-demonstrators jeered them. The New York Yankees won the first game of the World Series, beating the Atlanta Braves, 4-to-1. (The Yankees went on to sweep the series.)

"Life is easier to take than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable and bear the intolerable."

-- Kathleen Norris, American author (1880-1960).