Today in History: Tuesday, October 30, 2012
On Oct. 30, 1938, the radio play "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. The live drama, which employed fake news reports, panicked some listeners who thought its portrayal of a Martian invasion was true.
1735 John Adams, the second president of the United States, was born in Braintree, Mass.
1885 Poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho.
1953 George C. Marshall, who, as secretary of state following World War II, engineered a massive economic aid program for Europe, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1961 The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb.
1974 Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, to regain his world heavyweight title.
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.
1997 A jury in Cambridge, Mass., convicted British au pair Louise Woodward of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. The judge later reduced the verdict to manslaughter and set Woodward free.
2003 Lebron James made his NBA debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
2005 Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.