Years Ago

October 14, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Thursday, Oct. 14, the 287th day of 2010. There are 78 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1890: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, is born in Denison, Texas.

1912: Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the presidency, is shot in the chest in Milwaukee. Despite the wound, he goes ahead with a scheduled speech.

1930: Ethel Merman makes her Broadway debut in the musical comedy “Girl Crazy” with songs by George and Ira Gershwin.

1944: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

1947: Air Force test pilot Charles E. (“Chuck”) Yeager breaks the sound barrier as he flies the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California.

1960: The idea of a Peace Corps is suggested by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

1987: A 58-hour drama begins in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slides 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day care center; she is rescued on Oct. 16.

1990: Composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein dies in New York at age 72.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: A 52-page “Economic Development Strategy” for Youngstown is compiled under the guidance of Dr. H. Robert Dodge of the YSU school of business, and suggests cleaning up the Mahoning River for boating and recreation, construction of a retail condominium project near YSU and an athletic hall of fame.

Fire destroys a 98-year-old feed mill in Kensington. Scott Mercer, chief of the Hanover Township Fire Department, estimates the loss at $250,000.

1970: Mahoning County Prosecutor Vincent E. Gilmartin tells Sheriff Ray T. Davis that his office cannot represent the sheriff in his fight with county commissioners over his budget and advises him to hire outside counsel.

David S. Dennison Jr., a former Republican congressman from Warren, is confirmed by the Senate for a 7-year term on the Federal Trade Commission.

1960: Harry D. Rhodehouse of Youngstown participates in the dedication of the new science hall at Theil College, Greenville, Pa., which is named the Rhodehouse Memorial Science Building in honor of his family.

Vindicator reporters who interviewed Youngstown area residents in person and by phone following the debate between presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon find that many did not watch the televised debate and that of those who did, few had their minds changed by what the saw or heard.

1935: Indian summer weather brings out droves of Sunday drivers in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, resulting in accidents in which five people are killed and 28 injured.

A total of 1,268 needy aged people in Mahoning County received old age pensions averaging $16.48 during August, reports Henry J. Berrodin, chief of the Ohio Division of Aid for the Aged.