Oct. 2
Today in history
Today is Oct. 2. On this date in:
1789: George Washington sent the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification. It comprised the first 12 amendments proposed to the U.S. Constitution, which protect individual civil liberties – such as freedom of speech, religion and the press – from government control. Ten were ratified.
1835: The first military engagement of the Texas War of Independence, the Battle of Gonzales, began when Texas rebels fired a shot at Mexican troops who had been sent to collect a cannon loaned to the town of Gonzales for protection against Indigenous tribes. Also known as the Texas Revolution, the war eventually resulted in the founding of the Republic of Texas in 1836.
1869: Mohandas K. Gandhi, known as Mahatma
Gandhi, was born. The lawyer and activist became a major spiritual and political leader of India when his nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule helped led to the country’s independence. A United Nations resolution in 2007 declared it the International Day of Non-Violence.
1919: President Woodrow Wilson suffered a near-fatal stroke that left him incapacitated until the end of his presidency in 1921. His personal physician, Adm. Cary Grayson, kept the severity of the stroke hidden from Congress and the American people, while Wilson’s wife, first lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, screened access to the president.
1950: Charles Schulz published his first “Peanuts” comic strip in seven U.S. newspapers – a reworked version of an earlier strip called “Li’l Folks.” Schulz died one day before his final Sunday strip was published on Feb. 13, 2000. At that time, “Peanuts” was running in more than 2,500 newspapers in 75 countries with a readership that topped 350 million.
1965: Gatorade, the nation’s first commercial sports drink, was first successfully tested by a team of researchers from the University of Florida College of Medicine during a University of Florida football game against Louisiana State University. It was created after studying the effects of heat on UF football players.
1967: Thurgood Marshall, a longtime champion of civil rights, was sworn in as the first Black Supreme Court justice. He was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson and served on the court until 1991.
1985: Hollywood icon Rock Hudson became the first major U.S. celebrity to die of AIDS-related illness. His death boosted public awareness of the disease and raised millions of dollars for AIDS research.
2002: The so-called “Beltway sniper” attacks began with the first shot fired into a Michaels craft store in Aspen Hill, Maryland. The random shooting spree killed 10 people and terrorized the entire Washington, DC, area for three weeks. Snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested on Oct. 24.
– USA TODAY Network
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Today in history, October 2
