Today is Wednesday, Oct. 30, the 304th day of 2024. There are 62 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Oct. 30, 1972, 45 people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train was struck from behind by another train on Chicago’s South Side.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Disasters!!!!! Crashes, fires, riots and more from Illinois history.
Also on this date:
In 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term of office with President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day.
In 1938, the radio play “The War of the Worlds,” starring Orson Welles, aired on the CBS Radio Network.
In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the “Tsar Bomba,” with a force estimated at about 50 megatons (over 3,500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima).
In 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a scheduled 15-round bout known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” in Kinshasa, Congo (then Zaire), to regain his world heavyweight title.
In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.
In 1995, by a razor-thin vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in a Quebec secession referendum.
In 2005, the late Rosa Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda; President George W. Bush and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by the casket of the civil rights icon.
In 2013, the Boston Red Sox romped to their third World Series championship in 10 seasons, besting the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6 at Fenway Park.
In 2018, notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was found beaten to death at a federal prison in West Virginia; the 89-year-old former Boston crime boss and longtime FBI informant had been transferred there just hours earlier.
Today’s Birthdays: Author Robert Caro is 89. Football Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil is 88. Rock singer Grace Slick is 85. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 85. R&B singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 83. Actor Henry Winkler is 79. Broadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell is 78. Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 77. Actor Harry Hamlin is 73. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 70. Actor Kevin Pollak is 67. Actor Michael Beach is 61. Musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 59. Actor Nia Long is 54. Actor Matthew Morrison is 46. Business executive and former presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 43. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin is 35. NBA guard Devin Booker is 28. NHL defenseman Cale Makar is 25.