Today in History

In the Libyan civil war, rebels capture deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte, killing him soon afterward.

Oakland Hills firestorm destroys nearly 3,500 homes and apartments and kills 25 people.

Charter plane crashes in Mississippi, killing three members of popular Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with their assistant road manager, the pilot and co-pilot.

Arab oil-producing nations ban oil exports to the United States, following the outbreak of Arab-Israeli war.

Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus, Jr.), rapper, songwriter, actor; his debut album, Doggy style, came in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot R&B / Hip-Hop charts.

Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis.

Tom Petty, singer, songwriter, musician; lead singer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and a founder of the Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch bands; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2002.

The House Un-American Activities Committee opens public hearings on alleged communist infiltration in Hollywood. Among those denounced as having un-American tendencies are: Katherine Hepburn, Charles Chaplin and Edward G. Robinson. Among those called to testify is Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan, who denies that leftists ever controlled the Guild and refuses to label anyone a communist.

Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian playwright and novelist; awarded Nobel Prize in Literature, 2004.

Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon form the Arab League to present a unified front against the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

U.S. troops land on Leyte in the Philippines, keeping General MacArthur’s pledge “I shall return.”

German troops reach the approaches to Moscow.

Robert Pinsky, former U.S. Poet Laureate.

Czechoslovakia, complying with Nazi policy, outlaws the Communist Party and begins persecuting Jews.