4th Oct: Today In History

Today is Sunday, October 4, the 277th day of 2015. There are 88 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On October 4, 1965, Pope Paul VI, making the first-ever papal visit to the Western Hemisphere, addressed the U.N. General Assembly, where he urged delegates to adopt as their solemn oath: "No more war, war never again."

On this date:

In 1777, Gen. George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties.

In 1822, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was born in Delaware, Ohio.

In 1931, the comic strip "Dick Tracy," created by Chester Gould, made its debut.

In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps. The Warner Bros. movie "Knute Rockne All American," starring Pat O'Brien as the legendary Notre Dame football coach and featuring Ronald Reagan as George Gipp, premiered in South Bend, Indiana.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. The television series "Leave It to Beaver" premiered on CBS.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, a space probe which transmitted images of the far side of the moon.

In 1960, an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-188A Electra crashed on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing all but 10 of the 72 people on board.

In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room.

In 1976, Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he'd made about blacks.

In 1985, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley. (Fellow hostage David Jacobsen later said he believed Buckley had died of torture injuries four months earlier.)

In 1990, for the first time in nearly six decades, German lawmakers met in the Reichstag for the first meeting of reunified Germany's parliament.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II arrived in the United States for a five-day visit. Hurricane Opal battered the Florida panhandle.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush defended his Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers, from suggestions by some skeptical Republicans that she was not conservative enough, and insisted Miers shared his strict-constructionist views. (Miers ended up withdrawing.) Hurricane Stan slammed into Mexico's Gulf coast. Americans John L. Hall and Roy J. Glauber and German Theodor W. Haensch won the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics for optics research that improved the accuracy of such precision instruments as GPS locators, atomic clocks and navigation systems.

Five years ago: The Supreme Court began a new era with three women serving together for the first time as Elena Kagan took her place at the end of the bench. The Nobel Prize in medicine went to Robert Edwards of Britain, whose work led to the first test tube baby. The Europeans reclaimed the Ryder Cup, winning 14 1/2-13 1/2.

One year ago: North Korea's presumptive No. 2 leader, Hwang Pyong So, and other members of Pyongyang's inner circle met with South Korean officials in the rivals' highest level face-to-face talks in five years. Former Haitian "president for life" Jean-Claude Duvalier, 63, died in Port-au-Prince. Paul Revere, 76, the organist and leader of the Raiders rock band, died in Garden Vallley, Idaho.

Today's Birthdays: Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 86. Actress Felicia Farr is 83. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff is 81. Actor Eddie Applegate is 80. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 74. Author Anne Rice is 74. Actress Lori Saunders (TV: "Petticoat Junction") is 74. Baseball Hall of Famer Tony La Russa is 71. Actor Clifton Davis is 70. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is 69. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is 69. Actress Susan Sarandon is 69. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 67. Playwright Lee Blessing is 66. Actor Armand Assante is 66. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 65. Actor Christoph Waltz is 59. Actor Bill Fagerbakke (FAY'-guhr-bah-kee) is 58. Music producer Russell Simmonsis 58. Actress Kyra Schon (Film: "Night of the Living Dead") is 58. Actress-singer Wendy Makkena is 57. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 56. Country musician Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 55. Actor David W. Harper is 54. Singer Jon Secada is 54. TV personality John Melendez is 50. Actor Liev Schreiber is 48. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 46. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 45. Singer-guitarist M. Ward (She & Him) is 42. Actress Alicia (ah-LEE'-see-ah) Silverstone is 39. Actress Dana Davis is 37. Actor Phillip Glasser is 37. Rock singer-musician Marc Roberge (O.A.R.) is 37. Actor Brandon Barash is 36. Actress Rachael Leigh Cook is 36. Actor Tim Peper is 35. Actor Jimmy Workman is 35. Bassist Cubbie Fink (Foster the People) is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jessica Benson (3lw) is 28. Actor Michael Charles Roman is 28. Actress Melissa Benoist is 27. NBA All-Star Derrick Rose is 27. Actress Dakota Johnson is 26. Figure skater Kimmie Meisner is 26. Actress Leigh-Anne Pinnock (Little Mix) is 24. Actor Ryan Scott Lee is 19.

Thought for Today: "Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock." — Ben Hecht, American screenwriter (1894-1964).