Today in History: October 8, The Great Chicago Fire breaks out

Today in History

Today is Sunday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2023. There are 84 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and in several communities in Michigan.

On this date:

In 1914, the World War I song “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” by Ivor Novello and Lena Guilbert Ford, was first published in London under the title ”‘Till the Boys Come Home.”

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman told a press conference in Tiptonville, Tennessee, that the secret scientific knowledge behind the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

In 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

In 1982, all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, were banned.

In 1985, the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro (ah-KEE’-leh LOW’-roh) killed American passenger Leon Klinghoffer, who was in a wheelchair, and threw his body overboard.

In 1997, scientists reported the Mars Pathfinder had yielded what could be the strongest evidence yet that Mars might once have been hospitable to life.

In 1998, the House triggered an open-ended impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton in a momentous 258-176 vote; 31 Democrats joined majority Republicans in opening the way for nationally televised impeachment hearings.

In 2002, a federal judge approved President George W. Bush’s request to reopen West Coast ports, ending a 10-day labor lockout that was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day.

In 2005, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake flattened villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 86,000 people.

In 2010, British aid worker Linda Norgrove, who’d been taken captive in Afghanistan, was killed during a U.S. special forces rescue attempt, apparently by a U.S. grenade.

In 2013, the White House said President Barack Obama would nominate Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the nation’s central bank.

In 2016, Donald Trump vowed to continue his campaign after many Republicans called on him to abandon his presidential bid in the wake of the release of a 2005 video in which he made lewd remarks about women and appeared to condone sexual assault.

In 2017, Harvey Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company amid allegations that he was responsible for decades of sexual misconduct against female actors and employees.

In 2020, authorities in Michigan said six men had been charged with conspiring to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in reaction to what they viewed as her “uncontrolled power.”

In 2022, an explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, damaging an important supply artery for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine.

Today’s Birthdays: Entertainment reporter Rona Barrett is 87. Actor Paul Hogan is 84. R&B singer Fred Cash (The Impressions) is 83. Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson is 82. Comedian Chevy Chase is 80. Author R.L. Stine is 80. Actor Dale Dye is 79. Country singer Susan Raye is 79. TV personality Sarah Purcell is 75. R&B singer Airrion Love (The Stylistics) is 74. Actor Sigourney Weaver is 74. R&B singer Robert “Kool” Bell (Kool & the Gang) is 73. Producer-director Edward Zwick is 71. Actor Michael Dudikoff is 69. Comedian Darrell Hammond is 68. Actor Stephanie Zimbalist is 67. Actor Kim Wayans is 62. Actor Ian Hart is 59. Gospel/R&B singer CeCe Winans is 59. Rock musician C.J. Ramone (The Ramones) is 58. Actor-producer Karyn Parsons is 57. Singer-producer Teddy Riley is 57. Actor Emily Procter is 55. Actor Dylan Neal is 54. Actor-screenwriter Matt Damon is 53. Actor-comedian Robert Kelly is 53. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is 53. Actor Martin Henderson is 49. Actor Kristanna Loken is 44. Rock-soul singer-musician Noelle Scaggs (Fitz and the Tantrums) is 44. Actor Nick Cannon is 43. Actor J.R. Ramirez is 43. Actor Max Crumm is 38. Singer-songwriter-producer Bruno Mars is 38. Actor Angus T. Jones is 30. Actor Molly Quinn is 30. Actor/singer Bella Thorne is 26.