AP Highlight in History: On Oct. 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Roman Catholic Church's 21st Ecumenical Council, better known as Vatican II.
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On this date in:
1776
The first naval battle of Lake Champlain was fought during the American Revolution.
1811
The first steam-powered ferryboat, the Juliana, was put into operation between New York City and Hoboken, N.J.
1890
The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C.
1958
The lunar probe Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far as planned, fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.
1968
Apollo 7 was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.
1975
The sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" debuted on NBC.
1984
Space shuttle Challenger astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.
1986
President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened two days of talks concerning arms control and human rights in Reykjavik, Iceland.
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1991
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, law professor Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her; Thomas reappeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching."
1998
Pope John Paul II canonized the first Jewish-born saint of the modern era: Edith Stein, a Catholic nun killed at Auschwitz.
2002
The Senate joined the House in approving 77-23 the use of America's military might against Iraq.
2002
A man filling up his car at a gas station near Fredericksburg, Va., was shot to death in the eighth slaying linked by authorities to the Washington-area sniper.
2002
Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize.
