Today in History

An 8.1 earthquake causes a tidal wave that claims 189 lives in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga.

Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 777.68 points in the wake of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual bankruptcies, the largest single-day point loss in Wall Street history.

Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello impeached for corruptions; he was the youngest president in the nation’s history, taking office at age 40 in 1990.

The YF-22, later named F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.

John Paul II becomes the first pope ever to visit Ireland.

Oman joins the Arab League.

Samir Soni, Indian actor, model; in 2012 won Indian Telly Award, Boroplus Gold Award and ITA Award for Best Actor, as well Favorite Drama Actor in India’s People’s Choice Awards.

Chevrolet introduces the Camaro, which will become an iconic car.

The popular Argentinian comic strip Mafalda beings publication, in the weekly Primera Plana; focusing on a six-year-old girl (Mafalda) and her friends, it has been called the Argentinian Peanuts.

General Douglas MacArthur officially returns Seoul, South Korea, to President Syngman Rhee.

Ann Bancroft, explorer, author; first woman to reach North Pole on foot nd by sled and first woman to cross both polar ice caps.

Michelle Bachelet, first woman president of Chile (2006-10).

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev repeatedly disrupts a UN General Assembly meeting with his violent outbursts over intervention in the Belgian Congo, US U2 spy planes, and arms control.

Bryant Gumbel, broadcast journalist; co-host of NBC’s Today (1982-97), for which he won several Emmy Awards.