1938

The radio play “The War of the Worlds,” starring Orson Welles, aired on the CBS Radio Network. The broadcast panicked some listeners in its portrayal of an invasion by Martians.

1961

The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the “Tsar Bomba,” with a force estimated at about 50 megatons (over 3,500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima). It remains the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.

1974

Muhammad Ali, 32, knocked out George Foreman, 25, in the eighth round of a scheduled 15-round bout known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” in Kinshasa, Congo (then Zaire), to regain his world heavyweight title.

2005

The late Rosa Parks was the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda; Parks became a civil rights icon by refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger in 1955.

2023

The United Auto Workers said it reached a tentative deal with General Motors, capping a whirlwind few days in which GM, Ford and Stellantis agreed to terms that would end the union’s targeted strikes over six week.(UAW members later ratified the contracts).

Birthdays

Author Robert Caro is 90. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 86. R&B singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 84. Musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 60. Actor Nia Long is 55. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin is 36.