"I have returned" - General MacArthur returns to the Philippines with Philippine President Sergio Osmena to his right
On Oct. 20, 1944, during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2½ years after saying, "I shall return." The cities of Belgrade and Dubrovnik were liberated by Russian and Yugoslav troops.
The Guatemala Revolution took place as student and military leaders overthrew the military dictatorship.
A series of gas storage tank explosions and fires in Cleveland killed 130 people.
■ In 1714, the coronation of Britain's King George I took place in Westminster Abbey.
■ In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
■ In 1914, "Stay Down Here Where You Belong," an antiwar song by Irving Berlin, was published by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. in New York.
■ In 1936, Helen Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, died in Forest Hills, New York, at age 70.
Source: ereporter
Today In History - October 20th - eReporter
