The World Pasta Congress created World Pasta Day in Rome in 1995.  The day celebrates the nutritional value of this global staple.  Celebrate carbs today with with a delicious dish of pasta. 

1944 First Kamikaze Attacks in World War II

During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese deployed suicide bombers to attack American naval ships.  The kamikaze attacks were an act of desparation proposed by Capt. Motoharu Okamura, who saw no other way to stop the American naval offensive.

  1983 U.S. Invasion of Grenada

Dubbed  Operation Urgent Fury, President Reagan ordered the U.S. invasion of the Caribbean island Grenada.  After a week of fighting, Grenada’s revolutionary Marxist government collapsed.

  1994 Susan Smith Fakes Carjacking to Cover Murder

In South Carolina, Susan Smith reported that her two young sons had been kidnapped in a carjacking.  After nine days, Smith broke down and confessed that she pushed the car into a lake with the boys inside to drown them.  Video is from the July 1995 double murder trial, in which Susan Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

  1998 Bob Dole on ‘This Week’

Bob Dole discussed his book “Great Political Wit: Laughing Almost All the Way to the White House” and addressed foreign policy issues on “This Week.”

2000 Russian Military Plane Crash

An Ilyushin-18 carrying 72 Russian soldiers and 11 crew members crashed into the side of Mount Mtirala in Georgia.  The pilots made a navigational error while trying to account for low visibility, descending too low to clear the mountain.  Everyone onboard was killed.

  Famous Birthdays

1881 Pablo Picasso

1940 Bobby Knight

1944 James Carville

1970 Chely Wright

1984 Katy Perry

 Jump back to Oct. 24: Day in History.

View more videos from This Day in History: October.