Today in history: Oct. 15
In 1991, despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, and more events that happened on this day in history.
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1928: Graf Zeppelin
In 1928, the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin landed in Lakehurst, N.J., completing its first commercial flight across the Atlantic.
1945: Pierre Laval
In 1945, the former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.
1946: Hermann Goering
In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering (GEH’-reeng) fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.
1954: Hurricane Hazel
In 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall on the Carolina coast as a Category 4 storm; Hazel was blamed for some 1,000 deaths in the Caribbean, 95 in the U.S. and 81 in Canada.
1966: Black Panther Party
In 1966, the revolutionary Black Panther Party was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California.
1976: Vice Presidential Debate
In 1976, in the first debate of its kind between vice-presidential nominees, Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Republican Bob Dole faced off in Houston.
1991: Clarence Thomas
In 1991, despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48.
2003: The Staten Island Ferry
In 2003, eleven people were killed when a Staten Island ferry slammed into a maintenance pier. (The ferry’s pilot, who’d blacked out at the controls, later pleaded guilty to eleven counts of manslaughter.)
2011: The Texas Rangers
In 2011, the Texas Rangers finished off the Detroit Tigers to become the American League’s first repeat champion in a decade with a 15-5 win in Game 6 of the ALCS.
2015: Barack Obama
In 2015, President Barack Obama abandoned his pledge to end America’s longest war, announcing plans to keep at least 5,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan at the end of his term in 2017 and hand the conflict off to his successor.
2016: Donald Trump
Five years ago: Republican Donald Trump sought to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. presidential election, pressing unsubstantiated claims that the contest was “rigged” against him.
2017: #MeToo
In 2017, actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write “Me too” as a status; within hours, tens of thousands had taken up the #MeToo hashtag (using a phrase that had been introduced 10 years earlier by social activist Tarana Burke.)
2020: "Jagged Little Pill"
In 2020, the sobering musical “Jagged Little Pill,” which plumbed Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album to tell a story of an American family spiraling out of control, earned 15 Tony Award nominations as Broadway took the first steps to celebrate a pandemic-shortened season.
2020: Dueling Town Halls
One year ago: With their debate in Miami canceled following the president’s coronavirus infection, President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden squared off in dueling televised town halls. Biden hedged on whether he would require all Americans to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Responding to a New York Times report citing tax returns showing he had business debts exceeding $400 million, Trump said, “$400 million is a peanut,” and insisted that he didn’t owe money to Russia or to any “sinister people.”
2020: YouTube
One year ago: YouTube said it was taking more steps to limit QAnon and other baseless conspiracy theories that could lead to violence.