On This Day

November 15, 2013

1777 - The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, precursor to the U.S. Constitution.

1806 - Explorer Zebulon Pike spotted the mountaintop that became known as Pikes Peak.

1867 - the first stock ticker was unveiled in New York City.

1889 - Brazil's monarchy was overthrown.

1901 - Miller Reese patented an electrical hearing aid.

1902 - Anarchist Gennaro Rubin failed in his attempt to murder King Leopold II of Belgium.

1920 - The League of Nations met for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland.

1926 - The National Broadcasting Co. (NBC) debuted with a radio network of 24 stations. The first network radio broadcast was a four-hour "spectacular."

1939 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.

1940 - The first 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under peacetime conscription.

1965 - The Soviet probe, Venera 3, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On March 1, 1966, it became the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet when it crashed on Venus.

1966 - The flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

1969 - In Washington, DC, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War.

1985 - Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing Northern Ireland.

1986 - A government tribunal in Nicaragua convicted American Eugene Hasenfus of charges related to his role in delivering arms to Contra rebels. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and was pardoned a month later.

1986 - Ivan F. Boesky, reputed to be the highest-paid person on Wall Street, faced penalties of $100 million for insider stock trading. It was the highest penalty ever imposed by the SEC.

1988 - The Palestine National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, proclaimed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state at the close of a four-day conference in Algiers.

1992 - Richard Petty drove in the final race of his 35-year career.

1993 - A judge in Mineola, NY, sentenced Joey Buttafuoco to six months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher. Fisher was serving a prison sentence for shooting and wounding Buttafuoco's wife, Mary Jo.

1995 - Texaco agreed to pay $176 million to settle a race-discrimination lawsuit.

1999 - Representatives from China and the United States signed a major trade agreement that involved China's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

2000 - Three police officers from the Rampart division of the Los Angeles police department were convicted on several counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. One other officer was acquitted. The case was the first major case against the anti-gang unit.

2005 - In Amiens, France, Isabelle Dinoire became the first person to undergo a partial face transplant. She had been attacked by a dog earlier in the year.

2006 - Andy Warhol's painting of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong sold for $17.4 million. At the same auction "Orange Marilyn" sold for $16.2 million and "Sixteen Jackies" sold for $15.6 million.

November 16, 2013

1776 - British troops captured Fort Washington during the American Revolution.

1864 - Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the U.S. Civil War.

1885 - Canadian rebel Louis Riel was executed for high treason.

1907 - Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th state.

1915 - Coca-Cola had its prototype for a contoured bottle patented. The bottle made its commercial debut the next year.

1933 - The United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations for the first time.

1952 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy first held a football for Charlie Brown.

1957 - Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns) set an NFL season rushing record of 1163 yards after only eight games.

1966 - Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in his second trial of charges he had murdered his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.

1969 - The U.S. Army announced that several had been charged with massacre and the subsequent cover-up in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.

1973 - Skylab 3 carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on an 84-day mission.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.

1981 - A vaccine for hepatitis B was approved. The vaccine had been developed at Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research.

1982 - An agreement was announced on the 57th day of a strike by National Football League (NFL) players.

1985 - Colonel Oliver North was put in charge of the shipment of HAWK anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

1988 - Estonia's parliament declared that the Baltic republic "sovereign," but stopped short of complete independence.

1994 - Major League Soccer announced that it would start its inaugural season in 1996.

1997 - China released Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident from jail for medical reasons. He had been incarcerated for almost 18 years.

1998 - In Burlington, WIsconsin, five high school students, aged 15 to 16, were arrested in an alleged plot to kill a carefully selected group of teachers and students.

1998 - It was announced that Monica Lewinsky had signed a deal for the North American rights to a book about her affair with U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that union members could file discrimination lawsuits against employers even when labor contracts require arbitration.

1999 - Johnny Depp received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - Chrica Adams, the pregnant girlfriend of Rae Carruth, was shot four times in her car. She died a month later from her wounds. The baby survived. Carruth was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the murder.

2000 - Bill Clinton became the first serving U.S. president to visit Communist Vietnam.

2004 - A NASA unmanned "scramjet" (X-43A) reached a speed of nearly 10 times the speed of sound above the Pacific Ocean.

November 17, 2013

1558 - Elizabeth I ascended the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary Tudor.

1603 - Sir Walter Raleigh went on trial for treason.

1796 - Catherine the Great of Russia died at the age of 67.

1798 - Irish nationalist leader Wolfe Tone committed suicide while in jail awaiting execution.

1800 - The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, DC, in the partially completed Capitol building.

1869 - The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas.

1880 - The first three British female graduates received their Bachelor of Arts degrees from London University.

1903 - Russia's Social Democrats officially split into two groups - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

1904 - The first underwater submarine journey was taken, from Southampton, England, to the Isle of Wight.

1913 - The steamship Louise became the first ship to travel through the Panama Canal.

1913 - In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm banned the armed forces from dancing the tango.

1922 - Siberia voted for union with the U.S.S.R.

1962 - Washington's Dulles International Airport was dedicated by U.S. President Kennedy.

1968 - NBC cut away from the final minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game to begin a TV special, "Heidi," on schedule. The Raiders came from behind to beat the Jets 43-32.

1970 - The Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1. The vehicle was released by Luna 17.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon told an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, FL, "people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

1979 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto became the first woman leader of an Islamic country. She was elected in the first democratic elections in Pakistan in 11 years.

1990 - A mass grave was discovered by the bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand. The bodies were believed to be those of World War II prisoners of war.

1990 - The Soviet government agreed to change the country's constitution.

1997 - 62 people were killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt. The attackers were killed by police.

1997 - Mario Lemieux was voted into the NHL Hall of Fame.

2001 - "Toys "R" Us Times Square - The Centre of the Toy Universe" opened in New York City.

2006 - Sony's PlayStation 3 went on sale in the United States.

2010 - Researcher's trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms. It was the first time humans had trapped antimatter.

November 18, 2013

1477 - William Caxton produced "Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres," which was the first book to be printed in England.

1820 - Captain Nathaniel Palmer became the first American to sight the continent of Antarctica.

1865 - Samuel L. Clemens published "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" under the pen name "Mark Twain" in the New York "Saturday Press."

1883 - The U.S. and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.

1903 - The U.S. and Panama signed a treaty that granted the U.S. rights to build the Panama Canal.

1916 - Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I, called off the Battle of the Somme in France. The offensive began on July 1, 1916.

1928 - The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiered in New York. It was Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," starring Mickey Mouse.
1936 - Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.

1942 - "The Skin of Our Teeth," by Thornton Wilder opened on Broadway.

1951 - Chuck Connors (Los Angeles Angels) became the first player to oppose the major league draft. Connors later became the star of the television show "The Rifleman."

1959 - William Wyler's "Ben-Hur" premiered at Loew's Theater in New York City's Times Square.

1966 - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean landed on the lunar surface during the second manned mission to the moon.

1976 - The parliament of Spain approved a bill that established a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1978 - In Jonestown, Guyana, Reverend Jim Jones persuaded his followers to commit suicide by drinking a death potion. Some people were shot to death. 914 cult members were left dead including over 200 children.

1983 - Argentina announced its ability to produce enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

1985 - Joe Theismann (Washington Redskins) broke his leg after being hit by Lawrence Taylor (New York Giants). The injury ended Theismann's 12 year National Football League (NFL) career.

1987 - The U.S. Congress issued the Iran-Contra Affair report. The report said that President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides.

1987 - 31 people died in a fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station.

1987 - CBS Inc. announced it had agreed to sell its record division to Sony Corp. for about $2 billion.

1988 - U.S. President Reagan signed major legislation provided the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.

1991 - Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate in approving legislation aimed at protecting abortion facilities, staff and patients.

1993 - American Airlines flight attendants went on strike. They ended their strike only 4 days later.

1993 - Representatives from 21 South African political parties approved a new constitution.

1994 - Outside a mosque in the Gaza Strip, 15 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when Palestinian police opened fire on rioting worshipers.

1997 - The FBI officially pulled out of the probe into the TWA Flight 800 disaster. They said the explosion that destroyed the Boeing 747 was not caused by a criminal act. 230 people were killed.

1997 - First Union Corp. announced its purchase of CoreStates Financial Corp. for $16.1 billion. To date it was the largest banking deal in U.S. history.

1999 - 12 people were killed and 28 injured when a huge bonfire under construction collapsed at Texas A&M in College Station, TX.

November 19, 2013

1794 - Britain's King George III signed the Jay Treaty. It resolved the issues left over from the Revolutionary War.

1850 - The first life insurance policy for a woman was issued. Carolyn Ingraham, 36 years old, bought the policy in Madison, NJ.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.

1893 - The first newspaper color supplement was published in the Sunday New York World.

1895 - The "paper pencil" was patented by Frederick E. Blaisdell.

1919 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles with a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against. A two-thirds majority was needed for ratification.

1928 - "Time" magazine presented its cover in color for the first time. The subject was Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

1942 - During World War II, Russian forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front.

1954 - Two automatic toll collectors were placed in service on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.

1959 - Ford Motor Co. announced it was ending the production of the unpopular Edsel.

1966 - Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles Dodgers) announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made man's second landing on the moon.

1970 - Hafiz al-Assad seized power in Syria.

1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to set foot in Israel on an official visit.

1979 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) signed a four-year contract for $4.5 million. At the time, Ryan was the highest paid player in major league baseball.

1981 - U.S. Steel agreed to pay $6.3 million for Marathon Oil.

1984 - Dwight Gooden, 20-year-old, of the New York Mets, became the youngest major-league pitcher to be named Rookie of the Year in the National League. (MLB)

1985 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.

1990 - NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty of nonaggression.

1993 - The U.S. Senate approved a sweeping $22.3 billion anti-crime measure.

1994 - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO to bomb rebel Serb forces striking from neighboring Croatia.

1997 - In Carlisle, IA, septuplets were born to Bobbi McCaughey. It was only the second known case where all seven were born alive.

1998 - The impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Clinton began.

1998 - Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of the Artist Without Beard" sold at auction for more than $71 million.

1998 - Michelle Lee received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Istanbul, Turkey, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded a two-day summit after adopting a new arms accord. During the conference, Russia was criticized for its military campaign against Chechnya's separatist movement.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed the most comprehensive air security bill in U.S. history.

2002 - The oil tanker Prestige broke into two pieces and sank off northwest Spain. The tanker lost about 2 million gallons of fuel oil when it ruptured November 13th and was towed about 150 miles out to sea.

2002 - The U.S. government completed its takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide.

2003 - Eight competing designs for a memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center were unveiled. One design would be built at the site of the World Trade Center.

November 20, 2013

1789 - New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1818 - Simon Bolivar formally declared Venezuela independent of Spain.

1873 - Budapest was formed when the rival cities of Buda and Pest were united to form the capital of Hungary.

1901 - The second Hay-Pauncefoot Treaty provided for construction of the Panama Canal by the U.S.

1910 - Francisco I. Madero led a revolution that broke out in Mexico.

1929 - The radio program "The Rise of the Goldbergs," later known as "The Goldbergs," made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.

1943 - During World War II, U.S. Marines began their landing on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands.

1945 - 24 Nazi leaders went before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.

1947 - Britain's Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in Westminster Abbey.

1959 - Britain, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Sweden met to create the European Free Trade Association.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis ended. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba and the U.S. ended its blockade of the island.

1962 - Mickey Mantle was named the American League Most Valuable Player for the third time.

1967 - The Census Clock at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, went past 200 million.

1969 - The Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase out of the substance.

1970 - The majority in U.N. General Assembly voted to give China a seat, but two-thirds majority required for admission was not met.

1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's parliament.

1983 - An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial ABC-TV movie "The Day After." The movie depicted the outbreak of nuclear war.

1986 - Dr. Halfdan Maher, the director of the World Health Organization, announced the first coordinated global effort to fight the disease AIDS.

1987 - Police investigating the fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station, said that arson was unlikely to be the cause of the event that took 31 lives.

1988 - Egypt and China announced that they would recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestine National Council.

1989 - Over 200,000 people rallied peacefully in Prague, Czechoslovakia, demanding democratic reforms.

1990 - Saddam Hussein ordered another 250,000 Iraqi troops into the country of Kuwait.

1990 - The space shuttle Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, FL, after completing a secret military mission.

1992 - A fire seriously damaged the northwest side of Windsor Castle in England.

1993 - The U.S. Senate passed the Brady Bill and legislation implementing NAFTA.

1994 - The Angolan government and rebels signed a treaty in Zambia to end 19 years of war.

1995 - Princess Diana admitted being unfaithful to Prince Charles in an interview that was broadcast on BBC Television.

1998 - Afghanistan's Taliban militia offered Osama bin Laden safe haven. Osama bin Laden had been accused of orchestrating two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and later terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

1998 - Forty-six states agreed to a $206 billion settlement of health claims against the tobacco industry. The industry also agreed to give up billboard advertising of cigarettes.

2001 - The U.S. Justice Department headquarters building was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy building by President George W. Bush. The event was held on what would have been Kennedy's 76th birthday.

November 21, 2013

1620 - The Mayflower reached Provincetown, MA. The ship discharged the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, on December 26, 1620.

1694 - French author and philosopher Jean Francois Voltaire was born. At age 65 he spent only three days writing "Candide."

1783 - The first successful flight was made in a hot air balloon. The pilots, Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, flew for 25 minutes and 5½ miles over Paris.

1789 - North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1871 - M.F. Galethe patented the cigar lighter.

1877 - Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph.

1922 - Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve as a member of the U.S. Senate.

1929 - Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali had his first art exhibit.

1934 - The New York Yankees purchased the contract of Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League.

1942 - The Alaska highway across Canada was formally opened.

1953 - British Natural History Museum authorities announced that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax.

1962 - U.S. President Kennedy terminated the quaratine measures against Cuba.

1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived in San Antonio, TX. They were beginning an ill-fated, two-day tour of Texas that would end in Dallas.

1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.

1979 - The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attacked by a mob that set the building afire and killed two Americans.

1980 - An estimated 83 million viewers tuned in to find out "who shot J.R." on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character that fired the gun. (Texas)

1980 - 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

1982 - The National Football League (NFL) resumed its season following a 57-day player's strike.

1985 - Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested after being accused of spying for Israel. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

1986 - U.S. Attorney General Meese was asked to conduct an inquiry of the Iran arms sales.

1987 - An eight-day siege began at a detention center in Oakdale, LA, as Cuban detainees seized the facility and took hostages.

1989 - The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

1992 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood, issued an apology but refused to discuss allegations that he'd made unwelcome sexual advances toward 10 women in past years.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted against making the District of Columbia the 51st state.

1994 - NATO warplanes bombed an air base in Serb-held Croatia that was being used by Serb planes to raid the Bosnian "safe area" of Bihac.

1995 - France detonated its fourth underground nuclear blast at a test site in the South Pacific.

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 5,000-mark (5,023.55) for the first time.

1999 - China announced that it had test-launched an unmanned space capsule that was designed for manned spaceflight.

2000 - The Florida Supreme Court granted Al Gore's request to keep the presidential recounts going.

2001 - Microsoft Corp. proposed giving $1 billion in computers, software, training and cash to more than 12,500 of the poorest schools in the U.S. The offer was intended as part of a deal to settle most of the company's private antitrust lawsuits.

2002 - NATO invited Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.

November 22, 2013

1699 - A treaty was signed by Denmark, Russia, Saxony and Poland for the partitioning of the Swedish Empire.

1718 - English pirate Edward Teach (a.k.a. "Blackbeard") was killed during a battle off the coast of North Carolina. British soldiers cornered him aboard his ship and killed him. He was shot and stabbed more than 25 times.

1880 - Lillian Russell made her vaudeville debut in New York City.

1899 - The Marconi Wireless Company of America was incorporated in New Jersey.

1906 - The International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin adopted the SOS distress signal.

1909 - Helen Hayes appeared on stage for the first time. She was a member of the cast of "In Old Dutch."

1910 - Arthur F. Knight patented a steel shaft to replace wood shafts in golf clubs.

1928 - In Paris, "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel was first performed publicly.

1935 - The first trans-Pacific airmail flight began in Alameda, CA, when the flying boat known as the China Clipper left for Manila. The craft was carrying over 110,000 pieces of mail.

1942 - During World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad began.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss the measures for defeating Japan.

1950 - The lowest scoring game in the NBA was played. The Fort Wayne Pistons (later the Detroit Pistons) defeated the Minneapolis Lakers (later the Los Angeles Lakers) 19-18.

1961 - The film, "A Man for All Seasons", opened in New York City.

1963 - U.S. President Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, TX. Texas Governor John B. Connally was also seriously wounded. Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson was inaugurated as the 36th U.S. President.

1967 - The U.N. Security Council approved resolution 242. The resolution called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured in 1967 and called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.

1972 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon lifted a ban on American travel to Cuba. The ban had been put in place on February 8, 1963.

1974 - The U.N. General Assembly gave the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.

1975 - Juan Carlos I was proclaimed King of Spain upon the death of Gen. Francisco Franco.

1975 - "Dr. Zhivago" appeared on TV for the first time. NBC paid $4 million for the broadcast rights.

1977 - Regular passenger service on the Concorde began between New York and Europe.

1983 - The Bundestag approved NATO's plan to deploy new U.S. nuclear missiles in West Germany.

1984 - Fred Rogers of PBS' "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" presented a sweater to the Smithsonian Institution.

1985 - Anne Henderson-Pollard was taken into custody a day after her husband Jonathon Jay Pollard was arrested for spying for Israel.

1985 - 38,648 immigrants became citizens of the United States. It was the largest swearing-in ceremony.

1986 - An Iranian surface-to-surface missile hit a residential area in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, wounding 20 civilians.

1986 - Attorney Generel Meese's office discovered a memo in Colonel Oliver North's office that included an amount of money to be sent to the Contras from the profits of weapons sales to Iran.

1986 - Mike Tyson became the youngest to wear the world heavyweight-boxing crown. He was only 20 years and 4 months old.

1988 - The South African government announced it had joined Cuba and Angola in endorsing a plan to remove Cuban troops from Angola.

1989 - Rene Moawad, the president of Lebanon, was assassinated less than three weeks after taking office by a bomb that exploded next to his motorcade in West Beirut.

1990 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush, his wife, Barbara, and other congressional leaders shared Thanksgiving dinner with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.

1990 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced she would resign.

1993 - Mexico's Senate overwhelmingly approved the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1993 - American Airlines flight attendants ended their strike that only lasted four days.

1994 - Inside the District of Columbia's police headquarters a gunman opened fire. Two FBI agents, a city detective and the gunman were killed in the gun battle.

1994 - In northwest Bosnia, Serb fighters set villages on fire in response to a retaliatory air strikes by NATO.

1998 - CBS's "60 Minutes" aired a tape of jack Kevorkian giving lethal drugs in an assisted suicide of a terminally ill patient. Kevorkian was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder.

2005 - Angela Merkel was elected as Germany's first female chancellor.

2005 - Microsoft's XBOX 360 went on sale.

November 28, 2013

1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait. The strait was named after him. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east.

1582 - William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were married.

1757 - English poet, painter and engraver William Blake was born. Two of his best known works are "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience."

1919 - American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament.

1922 - Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first public exhibition of skywriting. He spelled out, "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square.

1925 - The Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut on station WSM.

1934 - The U.S. bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson was killed by FBI agents near Barrington, IL.

1942 - 491 people died in a fire that destroyed the Coconut Grove in Boston.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to map out strategy concerning World War II.

1953 - New York City began 11 days without newspapers due to a strike of photoengravers.

1958 - The African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community.

1963 - U.S. President Johnson announced that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy in honor of his assassinated predecessor. The name was changed back to Cape Canaveral in 1973 by a vote of residents.

1964 - The U.S. launched the space probe Mariner IV from Cape Kennedy on a course set for Mars.

1977 - Larry Bird was introduced as "College Basketball's Secret Weapon" with a cover story in Sports Illustrated. (NBA)

1978 - The Iranian government banned religious marches.

1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 flying to the South Pole crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 people aboard.

1983 - The space shuttle Columbia took off with the STS-9 Spacelab in its cargo bay.

1985 - The Irish Senate approved the Anglo-Irish accord concerning Northern Ireland.

1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean. All 159 people aboard were killed.

1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland through Hungary.

1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain.

1992 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, 137 tons of food and supplies were to be delivered to the isolated town of Srebrenica.

1992 - In King William's Town, South Africa, black militant gunmen attacked a country club killing four people and injuring 20.

1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" closed after 48 performances.

1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, was clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate.

1994 - Norwegian voters rejected European Union membership.

1995 - U.S. President Clinton signed a $6 billion road bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit.

2010 - WikiLeaks released to the public more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. About 100,000 were marked "secret" or "confidential."

November 29, 2013

1530 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, former adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.

1864 - The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in Colorado when a militia led by Colonel John Chivington, killed at least 400 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who had surrendered and had been given permission to camp.

1890 - Navy defeated Army by a score of 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game. The game was played at West Point, NY.

1929 - The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd.

1939 - The USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Finland prior to a Soviet attack.

1945 - The monarchy was abolished in Yugoslavia and a republic proclaimed.

1947 - The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution that called for the division of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

1961 - The Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft was launched by the U.S. with Enos the chimp on board. The craft orbited the earth twice before landing off Puerto Rico.

1963 - A Trans-Canada Airlines DC-8F with 111 passengers and 7 crew members crashed in woods north of Montreal 4 minutes after takeoff from Dorval Airport. All aboard were killed. The crash was the worst in Canada's history.

1963 - U.S. President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.

1967 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.

1971 - The Professional Golf Championship was held at Walt Disney World for the first time.
1974 - In Britain, a bill that outlawed the Irish Republican Army became effective.

1975 - Bill Gates adopted the name Microsoft for the company he and Paul Allen had formed to write the BASIC computer language for the Altair.

1981 - Actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, CA, at the age 43.

1982 - The U.N. General Assembly voted that the Soviet Union should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

1986- Actor Cary Grant died at the age of 82.

1987 - A Korean jetliner disappeared off Burma, with 115 people aboard.

1987 - Cuban detainees released 26 hostages they'd been holding for more than a week at the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, LA.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rights of criminal defendants are not violated when police unintentionally fail to preserve potentially vital evidence.

1989 - In Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.

1991 - 17 people were killed in a 164-vehicle wreck during a dust storm near Coalinga, CA, on Interstate 5.

1992 - Dennis Byrd (New York Jets) was paralyzed after a neck injury in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

1994 - The U.S. House passed the revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

1994 - Fighter jets attacked the capital of Chechnya and its airport only hours after Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanded the breakaway republic end its civil war.

1996 - A U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims. The sentence was the first international war crimes sentence since World War II.

1998 - Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected legalizing heroin and other narcotics.

2004 - The French government announced plans to build the Louvre II in northern France. The 236,808 square foot museum was the planned home for 500-600 works from the Louvre's reserves.

2004 - Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

November 30, 2013

1016 - English King Edmund II died.

1700 - 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII defeated an army of at least 50,000 Russians at the Battle of Narva. King Charles XII died on this day.

1782 - The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

1803 - Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France.

1804 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial accused of political bias. He was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

1835 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. He wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" under the name Mark Twain.

1838 - Three days after the French occupation of Vera Cruz Mexico declared war on France.

1853 - During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at the battle of Sinope.

1875 - A.J. Ehrichson patented the oat-crushing machine.

1897 - Thomas Edison's own motion picture projector had its first commercial exhibition.

1936 - London's famed Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. The structure had been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851.

1939 - The Russo-Finnish War began when 20 divisions of Soviet troops invaded Finland.

1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married.

1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking.

1954 - In Sylacauga, AL, Elizabeth Hodges was injured when a meteorite crashed through the roof of her house. The rock weighed 8½-pounds.

1956 - CBS replayed the program "Douglas Edward and the News" three hours after it was received on the West Coast. It was the world's first broadcast via videotape.

1962 - U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.

1966 - The former British colony of Barbados became independent.

1967 - Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower announced their engagement.

1971 - ABC-TV aired "Brian's Song." The movie was about Chicago Bears' Brian Picolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers.

1981 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva that were aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.

1982 - The motion picture "Ghandi" had its world premiere in New Delhi.

1986 - "Time" magazine published an interview with U.S. President Reagan. In the article, Reagan described fired national security staffer Oliver North as a "national hero."

1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. took over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion.

1989 - Alfred Herrhausen was killed in a bombing. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility of killing Herrhausen the chairman of West Germany's largest bank.

1989 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa to enter the United States in order to address the U.N. General Assebly in New York City.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.

1993 - Richard Allen Davis was arrested by authorities in California. Davis confessed to abducting and slaying 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.

1995 - President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.

1998 - The Deutsche Bank AG announced that it would acquire Bankers Trust Corp. for $10.1 billion creating the world's largest financial institution.

2000 - David Spade was assaulted with a stun gun by his longtime personal assistant, David Warren Malloy. Malloy attacked Spade during a burglary of Spade's home in Beverly Hills.

2001 - For the first time in its history, McDonald's teamed up with a retail partner on its Happy Meal promotions. Toys R Us provided plush figures from its Animal Alley.

2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway was arrested for four of the Green River serial killings. He was pled innocent on December 18, 2001.

2004 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Carl Larsson painting "Boenskoerd" ("Bean Harvest") was sold at auction for $730,000. The work had been in a private collection for more than a century. The Larsson work "Vid Kattegatt" ("By Kattegatt") sold for $640,000 at the same auction.

December 1, 2013

1835 - Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1909 - The Pennsylvania Trust Company, of Carlisle, PA, became the first bank in the in the U.S. to offer a Christmas Club account.

1913 - Ford Motor Co. began using a new movable assembly line that ushered in the era of mass production.

1913 - The first drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh, PA.

1919 - Lady Astor was sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.

1925 - The Locarno Pact finalized the treaties between World War I protagonists.

1934 - Sergei M. Kirov, a collaborator of Joseph Stalin, was assassinated at the Leningrad party headquarters.

1941 - In the U.S., the Civil Air Patrol was created. In April 1943 the Civil Air Patrol was placed under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces.

1942 - In the U.S., nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect.

1943 - In Teheran, leaders of the United States, the USSR and the United Kingdom met to reaffirm the goal set on October 30, 1943. The previous meeting called for an early establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security.

1952 - In Denmark, it was announced that the first successful sex-change operation had been performed.

1955 - Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery, AL, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the U.S.

1959 - 12 countries, including the U.S. and USSR, signed a treaty that set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, which would be free from military activity.

1965 - An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began.

1969 - The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

1984 - A remote-controlled Boeing 720 jetliner was deliberately crashed into California's Mojave Desert to test an anti-flame fuel additive. The test proved to be disappointing.

1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagansaid he would welcome an investigation of the Iran-Contra affair if it were recommended by the Justice Department.

1987 - NASA announced four companies had been given contracts to help build a space station. The companies were Boeing Aerospace, G. E.'s Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas Aeronautics, and Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.

1989 - Dissidents in the Philippine military launched an unsuccessful coup against Corazon Aquino's government.

1989 - East Germany's Parliament abolished the Communist Party's constitutional guarantee of supremacy.

1990 - Iraq accepted a U.S. offer to talk about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis.

1990 - British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met under the English Channel.

1991 - Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin survived an impeachment attempt by hard-liners at the opening of the Russian Congress.

1994 - The U.S. Senate gave final congressional approval to the 124-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

1998 - Exxon announced that it was buying Mobil for $73.7 billion creating the largest company in the world to date.

December 2, 2013

1804 - Napoleon was crowned emperor of France at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

1816 - The first savings bank in the U.S., the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.

1823 - U.S. President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

1901 - Gillette patented the KC Gillette Razor. It was first razor to feature a permanent handle and disposable double-edge razor blades.

1917 - During World War I, hostilities were suspended on the eastern front.

1927 - The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model A automobile. It was the successor to the Model T.

1939 - New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago landed at 12:01 a.m.

1942 - A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated by Dr. Enrico Fermi and his staff at the University of Chicago.

1943 - "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway.

1954 - The U.S. Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy for what it called "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The censure was related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military and civilian society.

1961 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared in a nationally broadcast speech that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that he was going to lead Cuba to communism.

1969 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people flew from Seattle, WA, to New York City, NY. Most of the passengers were reporters and photographers.

1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency began operating under its first director, William Ruckelshaus.

1980 - The Central Committee of Poland’s Communist Party announced major Politburo changes. The changes were apparently aimed at coping with labor unrest.

1982 - Doctors at the University of Utah implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Barney Clark. He lived 112 days with the device. The operation was the first of its kind.

1985 - A Philippine civilian court acquitted armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver of charges related to the 1983 shooting death of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino. 25 other defendants were also acquitted.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan.

1989 - V.P. Singh was sworn in as prime minister of India.

1990 - Chancellor Hekmut Kohl's coalition won the first free all-German elections since 1932.

1990 - The Midwest section of the U.S. prepared for a massive earthquake predicted by Iben Browning. Nothing happened.

1991 - American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released by his kidnappers. He had been held captive in Lebanon for over five years.

1992 - Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favor of the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.

1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

1993 - The space shuttle Endeavor blasted off on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

1994 - The U.S. government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks. Instead a deal was made with GM under which the company would spend more than $51 million on safety and research.

1995 - NASA launched a U.S.-European observatory on a $1 billion dollar mission intended to study the sun.

1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of telephone fund-raising by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. It was concluded that they had not violated election laws.

1998 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates donated $100 million to help immunize children in developing countries.

1999 - The British government transferred political power over the province of Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

2001 - Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2010 - NASA announced the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form.

December 3, 2013