TODAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, October  26, 2011 AP Highlight in History:  On Oct. 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.   AP Photo/Doug Mills
On this date in: 1774 The First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia. 1825 The Erie Canal opened, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River in upstate New York. 1881 Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and "Doc" Holliday confronted Ike Clanton's gang in a gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. Three members of Clanton's gang were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded. AP Photo 1911 Singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson, was born in New Orleans. 1962 In one of the most dramatic verbal confrontations of the Cold War, American U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson asked his Soviet counterpart during a Security Council debate whether the USSR had placed missiles in Cuba.  Read the original AP story 1972 National security adviser Henry Kissinger declared "peace is at hand" in Vietnam. National security adviser Henry Kissinger 1984 A newborn with a severe heart defect was given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. She lived for 21 more days. 1994 Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty. 2002 A hostage siege by Chechen rebels at a Moscow theater ended with 129 of the 800-plus captives dead, most from a knockout gas used by Russian special forces who stormed the theater. 2004 The final vote count in the Afghan presidential election gave a resounding victory to interim leader Hamid Karzai. 2005 The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series since 1917 by defeating the Houston Astros 1-0 in Game 4. 2010 Mount Merapi in Indonesia began erupting, one day after an earthquake sparked a deadly tsunami in the region.		Video Highlights of This Day in History Today's Birthdays: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turns 64 years old today. AP Photo/Alex Brandon Name Profession Age Bob Hoskins Actor 69 Jaclyn Smith Actress ("Charlie's Angels") 66 Pat Sajak TV game show host ("Wheel of Fortune") 65 Bootsy Collins Musician 60 Rita Wilson Actress 55 Dylan McDermott Actor ("The Practice") 50 Natalie Merchant Rock singer (10,000 Maniacs) 48 Tom Cavanagh Actor ("Ed") 43 Rosemarie DeWitt Actress ("The United States of Tara") 40 Anthony Rapp Actor ("Rent") 40 Seth MacFarlane Writer, producer ("Family Guy") 38 Jon Heder Actor ("Napoleon Dynamite") 34 Sasha Cohen Figure skater 27 Country singer Keith Urban turns 44 years old today. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill