Today’s Highlight in History: On October 2, 1985, actor Rock Hudson, 59, died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, after battling AIDS.

On this date:

In 1835, the first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers fought Mexican soldiers near the Guadalupe River; the Mexicans ended up withdrawing.

In 1890, comedian Groucho Marx was born Julius Marx in New York.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.

In 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.

In 1955, the suspense anthology “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” premiered on CBS-TV.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as the court opened its new term.

In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally welcomed Japan’s Emperor Hirohito to the United States during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.

In 1990, the Senate voted 90-9 to confirm the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to the Supreme Court.

In 2002, the Washington D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks. (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were finally arrested for 10 killings and three woundings; Muhammad was executed in 2009; Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.)

In 2009, the International Olympic Committee, meeting in Copenhagen, chose Rio de Janeiro to be the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics; Chicago was eliminated in the first round, despite a last-minute in-person appeal by President Barack Obama.

Ten years ago: A tour boat, the Ethan allen, capsized on New York’s Lake George, killing 20 elderly passengers. Playwright August Wilson died in Seattle at age 60. Actor-comedian Nipsey Russell died in New York at age 87.

Five years ago: A coalition of progressive and civil rights groups marched by the thousands on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., pledging to support Democrats struggling to keep power on Capitol Hill.

One year ago: President Barack Obama acknowledged his pivotal role in the midterm political campaign, arguing in a speech at Northwestern University that the November congressional elections were a referendum on his economic policies and blaming Republicans for blocking his efforts to boost wages and create more jobs. Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, refused demands by pro-democracy protesters to step down.

Related Stories