Today is Sunday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2013. There are 72 days left in the year.

Today is Sunday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2013. There are 72 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1740: Maria Theresa becomes ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia upon the death of her father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.

1803: The U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

1903: A joint commission rules in favor of the United States in a boundary dispute between the District of Alaska and Canada.

1944: During World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur steps ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 21/2 years after saying, “I shall return.”

1947: The House Un-American Activities Committee opens hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.

1964: The 31st president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, dies in New York at age 90.

1967: Seven men are convicted in Meridian, Miss., of violating the civil rights of three slain civil rights workers.

1968: Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

1973: In the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox is dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resign.

1977: Three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd are killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.

1979: The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated in Boston.

1990: Three members of the rap group 2 Live Crew are acquitted by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., of violating obscenity laws with an adults-only concert in nearby Hollywood the previous June.

2002: With a U.S. invasion looming, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein issues an amnesty decree releasing everyone from pickpockets to political prisoners from prison.

2011: Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s dictator for 42 years, is killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelm his hometown of Sirte and capture the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.

2008: A rising wave of optimism lifts Wall Street, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 400 points on more signs of a reviving credit market and hints from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the government would take more steps to help the economy.

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: After 22 years, the remains of Air Force Capt. Charles E. Franklin of Youngstown have been identified and are being returned from Vietnam. His F-105 fighter-bomber disappeared over North Vietnam on Aug. 14, 1966.

Youngstown ambulance fees will increase from $75 to $185 for basic service and to $400 when a paramedic is needed under legislation approved by city council.

Joseph Bowser Jr., 34, of Mercer is recovering in St. Elizabeth Hospital after receiving a kidney from his mother, Margaret Bowser, 55, of Farrell.

1973: Federal Street from Champion to Walnut is closed to traffic permanently as major downtown improvements get underway.

A general alarm fire roars through the main wing of the 156-room Holiday Inn in Meadville, Pa., killing two guests and injuring 11 people.

Overtime at the General Motors Corp.’s Fisher Body Fabricating and Stamping Division is reduced as a result of work stoppages at the Assembly Division’s Vega and van plants.

1963: Two area women, Muriel Monzi of East Palestine and Martha Smith of Warren, are among 37 passengers and crew injured when the California-bound Santa Fe Chief, slams into a freight train near Willow Springs, Ill.

Work begins on a new office and union hall for Teamsters Local 377 in the W. Federal Street urban renewal area.

The $6.1 million Paul L. Strait and Michael J. Kirwan homes are dedicated by the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority. Kirwan attended, but Strait, retired YMHA director, was unable to attend due to illness.

1938: Improved business conditions in recent weeks are due to “prospects of Republican victories” in the November election, John D. Hamilton, national chairman of the Republican Party, tells the Warren Women’s Republican Club at the Hotel Warner.

The Ohio Bell Telephone Co. and Youngstown’s new radio station, WFMJ, will occupy a building being erected by The Vindicator Printing Co. at Boardman and Phelps streets.

Hundreds of Youngstown store workers are busy displaying new merchandise and changing price tags for the two-day Oh-Penn sales event downtown.