Today in History — October 6

updated 12:04 a.m. ET Oct. 6, 2007

BC-History-Oct 6,0614

Today in History

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2007. There are 86 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 6, 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of “The Jazz Singer,” a movie starring Al Jolson which featured both silent and sound-synchronized scenes.

On this date:

In 1536, English theologian and scholar William Tyndale, who was the first to translate the Bible into Early Modern English, was executed for heresy.

In 1683, 13 families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in Philadelphia to begin Germantown, one of America’s oldest settlements.

In 1884, the Naval War College was established in Newport, R.I.

In 1889, the Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public.

In 1949, President Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, totaling $1.3 billion in military aid to NATO countries.

In 1949, American-born Iva Toguri D’Aquino, convicted of treason for being Japanese wartime broadcaster “Tokyo Rose,” was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000. (She ended up serving more than six years.)

In 1973, war erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday.

In 1976, in his second debate with Jimmy Carter, President Ford asserted there was “no Soviet domination of eastern Europe.” (Ford later conceded he’d misspoken.)

In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.

In 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81.

Ten years ago: In a blow to both Democrats and Republicans, President Clinton used his line-item veto to kill 38 military construction projects. The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth, bringing home American astronaut Michael Foale after a tumultuous 4½ months aboard Mir. American biology professor Stanley B. Prusiner won the Nobel Prize for medicine for discovering “prions,” described as “an entirely new genre of disease-causing agents.”

Five years ago: Pope John Paul II elevated to sainthood Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the Spanish priest who’d founded the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. The French oil tanker Limburg was attacked by a small explosives-laden boat off Yemen’s coast, killing one Bulgarian crew member. Prince Claus, the German-born husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, died in Amsterdam at age 76.

One year ago: The U.N. Security Council adopted a statement warning North Korea of unspecified consequences if it carried out a nuclear test. Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, a Navy medic, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy, telling his court-martial at Camp Pendleton, Calif., that he stood and watched as seven members of a Marine squadron murdered an innocent Iraqi civilian.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Britt Ekland is 65. Impressionist Fred Travalena is 65. Singer Millie Small is 61. Singer-musician Thomas McClary is 57. Rock singer Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon) is

56. Rock singer-musician David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) is 53. Actress Elisabeth Shue is 44. Singer Matthew Sweet is 43. Actress Jacqueline Obradors is 41. Country singer Tim Rushlow is 41. Rock musician Tommy Stinson is 41. Actress Emily Mortimer is 36. Actor Ioan Gruffudd is 34. Actor Jeremy Sisto is 33.

Thought for Today: “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941).

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