Today in History for Oct. 9, 2012

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 9, the 283rd day of 2012. There are 83 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Oct. 9, 1967, Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian army a day after he was captured while attempting to incite revolution.

On this date:

In 1446, the Korean alphabet, created under the aegis of King Sejong, was first published.

In 1776, a group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco.

In 1888, the public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.

In 1910, a coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 miners dead.

In 1930, Laura Ingalls became the first woman to fly across the United States as she completed a nine-stop journey from Roosevelt Field, N.Y., to Glendale.

In 1936, the first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.

In 1940, rock and roll legend John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England.

In 1946, the Eugene O’Neill drama “The Iceman Cometh” opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York.

In 1958, Pope Pius XII died at age 82, ending a 19-year papacy. (He was succeeded by Pope John XXIII.)

In 1962, Uganda won autonomy from British rule.

In 1974, businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, died in Frankfurt, West Germany (at his request, he was buried in Jerusalem).

In 1987, author, politician and diplomat Clare Boothe Luce died in Washington at age 84.

Ten years ago: A man was shot to death at a gas station near Manassas, Va., in the latest sniper shooting in the Washington, D.C., area. Aileen Wuornos, who killed six men along Florida’s highways in 1989 and 1990, was executed by injection. West Coast longshoremen returned to ports crammed with cargo after a lockout that ended only after President George W. Bush intervened. The space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the international space station, bringing with it a 14-ton girder. Daniel Kahneman, a U.S.-Israeli citizen, and Vernon L. Smith, an American, won the Nobel prize for economics; John B. Fenn of the U.S., Koichi Tanaka of Japan and Kurt Wuethrich of Switzerland won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Five years ago: Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani clashed over tax and spending cuts, each claiming greater commitment than the other in a debate in Dearborn, Mich. Two Armenian Christian women were shot dead in Baghdad by security contractors working for Australian-owned Unity Resources Group. France’s Albert Fert and German Peter Gruenberg won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics for a discovery that lets computers, iPods and other digital devices store reams of data on ever-shrinking hard disks. Actress Carol Bruce died in Woodland Hills at age 87.

One year ago: At least 27 people were killed and more than 200 injured during massive clashes in downtown Cairo in the worst sectarian outburst since the February revolution. The NHL returned to Winnipeg after 15 years; Carey Price stopped 30 shots as the Montreal Canadiens put a damper on a massive civic celebration with a 5-1 victory over the Jets. The Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-6 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. Sir Paul McCartney married Nancy Shevell at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Fyvush Finkel is 90. Retired MLB All-Star Joe Pepitone is 72. Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is 71. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nona Hendryx is 68. Singer Jackson Browne is 64. Actor Gary Frank is 62. Actor Richard Chaves is 61. Actor Robert Wuhl is 61. Actress-TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 60. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 59. Actor Scott Bakula is 58. Musician James Fearnley (The Pogues) is 58. Actor John O’Hurley is 58. Writer-producer-director-actor Linwood Boomer is 57. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary is 54. Actor Michael Pare is 54. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 52. Rock singer-musician Kurt Neumann (The BoDeans) is 51. Country singer Gary Bennett is 48. Movie director Guillermo del Toro is 48. British Prime Minister David Cameron is 46. Singer P.J. Harvey is 43. World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is 42. Country singer Tommy Shane Steiner is 39. Actor Steve Burns is 39. Sean Lennon is 37. Actor Randy Spelling is 34. Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae is 33. Actor Brandon Routh is 33. Actor Zachery Ty Bryan is 31. Actress Spencer Grammer is 29. Actor Tyler James Williams (“Everybody Hates Chris”) is 20. Country singer Scotty McCreery (“American Idol” winner) is 19.

Thought for today: “There is nothing harder than the softness of indifference.” — Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987).