Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

October 10

2002
Iraq War: "If we think there is a fast solution to changing the governance of Iraq, then we don’t understand history, the nature of the country, the divisions, or the underneath-suppressed passions that could rise up. God help us if we think this transition will occur easily." Quote by Four-star Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni

1991
Anita Hill testifies that Supreme Court nominee Clearance Thomas had sexually harassed her while he was her boss.

1990
Gulf War: A 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl testifies at a hearing on Capitol Hill that she had seen Iraqi soldiers come into a Kuwaiti hospital with guns, take babies out of the incubators, taking the incubators, and leaving the babies on the floor to die.  It later turned out that she was the daughter of Kuwait's Ambassador to the US and that the story was a lie.

1989
Russian UFO's: The Soviet press agency Tass reports that alien creatures had landed a spacecraft in Voronezh, Russia.

E03-13-1997
Phoenix Lights: Thousands of people witness lights over Arizona and Nevada in a space of about 300 miles.  Many believe these were UFOs, while others claim they were flares dropped by the USAF.

1981
Eddie Murphy does Buckwheat: Murphy debuts his interpretation of the Little Rascals star.

1978
First U.S. coin to honor a woman: The Susan B. Anthony dollar is authorized. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1973
Vice-Pres. Spiro T. Agnew resigns: He also pleads no contest to income tax evasion charges and is fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation.

1953
Winky Dink and You debuts on CBS, an interactive TV show in which the audience helps Winky Dink by writing on the screen.

1952
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet debuts on ABC. It became TV's longest running situation comedy (ended 1966).

1934
Buckwheat selected: 3-year-old Billie Thomas appears at an open audition for the Little Rascals and is selected by producer Hal Roach.

1845
U.S. Naval Academy opens at Annapolis, Maryland.

1958
Tanya Tucker, American country singer, Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year (1991). Music: Just Another Love (1986, #1) and Strong Enough to Bend (1988, #1).

1955
David Lee Roth, American singer, with Van Halen. Music: Runnin' With the Devil (1976) and Jump (1984, #1).

1946
Ben Vereen, American Tony-Emmy-winning actor. TV: Roots (Chicken George) and Webster (Uncle Philip).

1929     d. 1992
Ed Blackwell, American jazz drummer.

1924     d. 1994
James Clavell, British-born American author, screenwriter. Film: The Fly (1958), The Great Escape (1963), To Sir With Love (1967), and Shogun (1975).

1913     d. 1994
Johnny Downs, American actor, as one of the Little Rascals, he appeared in 24 Our Gang films (1923-26). Film: Babes in Toyland (1934, Little Boy Blue).

1908     d. 1991
Min Chueh Chang, Chinese-born American biologist, co-inventor of the birth control pill.

1908     d. 1989
Johnny Green, American Oscar-winning songwriter. Music: Coquette (1928) and Body and Soul (1930). West Side Story (1961), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Oliver! (1968).

1901     d. 1988
Frederick Douglass Patterson, American educator, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, President of the Tuskegee Institute (1935-53), and founder of the United Negro College Fund (1944).

1900     d. 1993
Helen Hayes, American Oscar-Tony-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Victoria Regina (1935), Airport (1970, Oscar), and Herbie Rides Again (1974).

1731     d. 1810
Henry Cavendish, English chemist, physicist, discovered nitric acid and was the first to recognize that hydrogen and oxygen combined to make water.

2004     b. 1952
Christopher Reeve, American actor. Film: The Superman movies (1978-, the man of steel).

1985     b. 1915
Yul Brynner (Taidje Khan), Russian-born Oscar and Tony-winning actor. He portrayed the King of Siam in 4,625 Broadway performances of The King and I.

1980     b. 1931
Buckwheat (William Thomas, Jr.), American actor, one of the Little Rascals. He appeared in 93 Our Gang films.

1967     b. 1881
George Frederick Dick, American physician. He and wife determined the cause of scarlet fever (1924) and developed an immunization for it.

1964     b. 1892
Eddie Cantor (Edward Israel Iskowitz), American comedian. He starred in the Ziegfeld Follies from 1917 to 1919.

1959     b. 1890
Carl Ed, American cartoonist, creator of Harold Teen (1919) which was later made into movies.

1927     b. 1874
Gustave Whitehead, Bavarian-born American inventor. According to some documents, he made the first manned heavier-than-air flight in 1901 - two years before the Wright Brothers.

1925     b. 1856
James Buchanan Duke, American tobacco magnate. He founded the American Tobacco Co. (1890) and Duke University (1925).

1914     b. 1839
Carol I, the first King of Rumania (1881-1914).

1885     b. 1810
John McCloskey, American Roman Catholic prelate, archbishop of New York, the first American cardinal (1875). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1872     b. 1801
William Henry Seward, American statesman. He purchased Alaska for the U.S. from Russia for 2¢ and acre, which was derisively called "Seward's Folly." He was also governor of New York (1839-43), U.S. Senator (1849-61), and U.S. Secretary of State (1861-69).

1797     b. 1736
Carter Braxton, American statesman, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1538     b. 1469
Nanak, Hindu religious leader, founded the Sikhism religion.

Please send Corrections and Omissions to epicidiot.com