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Other Notable Events for October 20

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Published in History & Quotes

On this date in history:

In 1818, the United States and Britain agreed to establish the 49th parallel as the official boundary between the U.S. and Canada.

In 1918, Germany accepted U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's terms to end World War I.

In 1944, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur kept his promise to return to the Philippines Islands when he landed with U.S. forces during World War II.

In 1947, the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee opened public hearings into alleged communist influence in Hollywood.

In 1973, during the Watergate scandal, U.S. President Richard Nixon dismissed two officials for refusing to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. (The incident became known as the Saturday Night Massacre.)

In 1977, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, were killed in the Mississippi crash of a plane chartered by the rock band. Twenty people survived the crash.

In 1982, up to 340 soccer fans were crushed to death in a stampede on icy steps in a Moscow stadium passageway during a match between Soviet and Dutch players.

In 1994, Hollywood star Burt Lancaster died at the age of 80.

In 2004, retired Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's sixth president after winning the country's first direct elections for head of state.

In 2010, more than 1 million ballots in the Afghan parliamentary election were disqualified for fraud, electoral officials said two days after the vote.

In 2011, deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was killed as he tried to escape from his hometown hideout in the coastal city of Sirte while troops, including NATO forces, closed in. Gadhafi, 69, ousted from power in a massive revolt two months earlier, had ruled Libya for 42 years.

In 2012, opposition activists in Syria said the bodies of more than 75 people, mostly women, children and elderly people, many showing signs of torture, were found in the city of Deir Ezzor.

In 2013, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby said an international conference aimed at ending the civil war in Syria would be conducted in November. Within hours of his announcement, a sucide bomber killed more than 30 people in the Syrian city of Hama. In 2 1/2 years, the war had claimed more than 100,000 lives and 2 million Syrians had fled to other countries.

 


Copyright 2014 by United Press International

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