October 30th

Today's Highlight in History:
On October 30th, 1938, the radio play "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. (The live drama, which employed fake news reports, panicked some listeners who thought its portrayal of a Martian invasion was true.)

On this date:
In 1735, the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts.

In 1885, poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho.

In 1944, the Martha Graham ballet "Appalachian Spring," with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress, with Graham in a leading role.

In 1945, the US government announced the end of shoe rationing.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb with a force estimated at 58 megatons.

In 1961, the Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

In 1972, 45 people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train collided with another train in Chicago's South Side.

In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" a day after President Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.

In 1979, President Carter announced his choice of federal appeals judge Shirley Hufstedler to head the newly created Department of Education.

In 1985, the launch of the space shuttle "Challenger" was witnessed by schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who was fated to die when the spacecraft exploded after liftoff the following January.

Ten years ago: The Iraqi News Agency quoted Saddam Hussein as saying Iraq was making final preparations for war, and that he expected an attack by the United States and its allies within days. In the Persian Gulf, ten American sailors died when a steam pipe ruptured aboard the USS "Iwo Jima"; in Saudi Arabia, a Marine was killed in an accident while driving in the desert.

Five years ago: By a vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4, Federalists prevailed over separatists in Quebec in a secession referendum.

One year ago: Fifty-five people were killed in a fire at an illegal bar in Inchon, South Korea.

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."

-- Marie Curie, Polish Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1867-1934).