TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Saturday, Oct. 23, the 296th day of 2021. There are 69 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY

On Oct. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor to Judge John J. Sirica.

1707 — The first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.

1864 — Forces led by Union Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis repelled Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s army in the Civil War Battle of Westport in Missouri.

1983 — Two hundred forty-one US service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

2009 — President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect non-infected patients.

2014 — Officials announced that an emergency room doctor who had recently returned to New York City after treating Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus, becoming the first case in the city and the fourth in the nation. (Dr. Craig Spencer later recovered.)

Ten years ago — Libya’s interim rulers declared the country liberated, formally marking the end of Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year tyranny.

Five years ago — A tour bus returning home to Los Angeles from a casino trip plowed into the back of a slow-moving semi-truck on a California highway, killing 13 people.

One year ago — Drugmakers AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson announced the resumption of US testing of their COVID-19 vaccine candidates; each had stopped its testing after a study volunteer developed a serious health issue, requiring a review of safety data..

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Movie director Philip Kaufman is 85. Soccer great Pele is 81. R&B singer Barbara Ann Hawkins (The Dixie Cups) is 78. Former ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross is 73. Actor Michael Rupert is 70. Movie director Ang Lee is 67. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 65. Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 65. Community activist Martin Luther King III is 64. Movie director Sam Raimi is 62. Parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic is 62. Rock musician Robert Trujillo (Metallica) is 57. Christian/jazz singer David Thomas (Take 6) is 55. Rock musician Brian Nevin (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 55. Actor Jon Huertas is 52. Movie director Chris Weitz is 52. CNN medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta is 52. Bluegrass musician Eric Gibson (The Gibson Brothers) is 51. Country singer Jimmy Wayne is 49. Actor Vivian Bang is 48. Rock musician Eric Bass (Shinedown) is 47. TV personality and host Cat Deeley is 45. Actor Ryan Reynolds is 45. Actor Saycon Sengbloh is 44. Rock singer Matthew Shultz (Cage the Elephant) is 38. TV personality Meghan McCain is 37. R&B singer Miguel is 36. Actor Masiela Lusha is 36. Actor Emilia Clarke is 35. Actor Briana Evigan is 35. Actor Inbar Lavi is 35. Actor Jessica Stroup is 35. Neo-soul musician Allen Branstetter (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 31. Actor Taylor Spreitler is 28. Actor Margaret Qualley is 27. Actor Amandla Stenberg is 23.