1968,President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam. Johnson says he hopes the move spurs fruitful peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War. “I have reached this decision on the bases to the development in the Paris talks. And I’ve reached in the belief that this action can lead to progress toward a peaceful settlement of the Vietnamese War.” But the war rages for more than another four years before a cease-fire agreement is finally reached.

1984,In India, two Sikh security guards of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assassinate her. It happens months after Gandhi orders a deadly attack on the Sikhs' holiest shrine to crack down on Sikh militants.

And 1926,In Detroit, magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. Houdini became ill after a student had struck him in the stomach in his dressing room days earlier.

Today in History, October 31th, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.