Today is Saturday, Oct. 15, the 289th day of 2016. There are 77 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1783, the first manned balloon flight took place in Paris as Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier ascended in a basket attached to a tethered Montgolfier hot-air balloon, rising to about 75 feet.

In 1905, Claude Debussy’s “La Mer” (The Sea), a trio of symphonic sketches, premiered in Paris.

In 1917, Dutch dancer Mata Hari, convicted of spying for the Germans, was executed by a French firing squad outside Paris.

In 1940, Charles Chaplin’s first all-talking comedy, “The Great Dictator,” a lampoon of Adolf Hitler, opened in New York.

In 1969, peace demonstrators staged activities across the country as part of a “moratorium” against the Vietnam War.

In 1990, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was named the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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