Today in History: October 30, Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle”

Today is Friday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2026. There are 62 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 30, 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.

Also on this date:

In 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term with Republican President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day. (Taft was defeated by Democrat Woodrow Wilson in the election).

In 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.

In 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.

In 1972, an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train was struck by another train on Chicago’s South Side, killing 45 people and injuring about 350.

In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. The city ultimately evaded bankruptcy despite weathering a severe fiscal crisis.

In 1995, voters in the province of Quebec narrowly defeated a referendum that called for sovereignty with a new economic and political partnership with Canada.

In 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 in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white passenger in 1955.

In 2018, gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was found beaten to death at a federal prison in West Virginia; the 89-year-old former Boston crime boss and longtime FBI informant had been transferred there just hours earlier.(Three inmates entered plea deals and were convicted in Bulger's killing).

In 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).

Today’s Birthdays: Author Robert Caro is 91. Football Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil is 90. Rock singer Grace Slick is 87. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 87. R&B singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 85. Actor Henry Winkler is 81. Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 79. Actor Harry Hamlin is 75. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 72. Actor Kevin Pollak is 69. Actor Michael Beach is 63. Musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 61. Actor Nia Long is 56. Actor Matthew Morrison is 48. Business executive and former presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 45. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin is 37. NBA guard Devin Booker is 30. NHL defenseman Cale Makar is 28.