Today is Monday, October 12, the 285th day of 2009. There are 80 days left in the year.
1492 _ Columbus arrives in the Bahamas; the real Columbus Day
1860 _ British and French troops capture Peking
1933 _ Alcatraz becomes a federal prison (unofficially)
1941 _ Russian government moves from Moscow to Volga as Nazis close in on Moscow
1960 _ Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at U.N. General Assembly session
1973 _ Nixon nominates Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew as V.P.
1976 _ Hua Guo-feng succeeds Mao Tse-tung as chairman of Communist Party
1984 _ IRA bombs hotel where Margaret Thatcher is staying
1985_ International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War receives Nobel Peace Prize
1988 _ Israel and China sign trade deal, plan diplomatic relations