TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: NOV 8
0392 Theodosius of Rome passes legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire. declares Christian religion the state religion
1226 Louis IX succeeds Louis VIII as king of France.
1519 1st meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico
1620 The King of Bohemia is defeated at the Battle of Prague.
1685 Fredrick William of Brandenburg issues the Edict of Potsdam, offering Huguenots refuge.
1789 Bourbon Whiskey, 1st distilled from corn (by Elijah Craig, Bourbon KY)
1887 Doc Holliday, who fought on the side of the Earp brothers during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 6 years earlier, dies of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
1892 Former president Grover Cleveland beat incumbent Benjamin Harrison and became the only president to win nonconsecutive terms in the White House.
1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen produces and detects electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays
1889 Montana becomes the 41st state of the Union.
1900 Theodore Dresier’s first novel Sister Carrie is published by Doubleday, but is recalled from stores shortly due to public sentiment.
1923 Adolf Hitler attempts a coup in Munich, the “Beer Hall Putsch,” and proclaims himself chancellor and Ludendorff dictator.
1933 The Civil Works Administration was created by executive order by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The organization was designed to create jobs for more than 4 million unemployed people in the U.S.
1939 Assassination attempt on Hitler/ Johann Georg Elser, a German woodworker, attempted to kill Adolf Hilter and other high ranking members of the Nazi party during the 16th anniversary observances of the Beer Hall Putsch
1944 25,000 Hungarian Jews are loaned to the Nazis for forced labor
1956 After turning down 18,000 names, the Ford Motor Company decided to name their new car the “Edsel,” after Henry Ford’s only son.
1965 “Days of Our Lives” premiers on TV
1966 Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected governor of California
1971 Coup in Thailand/ Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn staged a coup against his own government and dismissed the parliament citing increasing communist influence.
1972 Home Box Office launched The premium TV channel, informally known as HBO, is the oldest paid TV channel in the United States.
1979 ABC broadcasts “Iran Crisis: American Held Hostage” with Frank Reynolds (the forerunner to “Nightline”)
1979 U.S. Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Mac Mathias (R-MD) introduced legislation to provide a site on the National Mall for the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1980 Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California announced that they had discovered a 15th moon orbiting the planet Saturn.
1985 A letter signed by four American hostages in Lebanon was delivered to The Associated Press in Beirut. The letter, contained pleas from Terry Anderson, Rev. Lawrence Jenco, David Jacobsen and Thomas Sutherland to President Reagan to negotiate a release.
1987 A dozen people are killed and over 60 wounded when the IRA detonates a bomb during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, honoring those who had died in wars involving British forces.
2000 Waco special counsel John C. Danforth released his final report that absolved the government of wrongdoing in the 1993 seige of the Branch Davidian compound in Texas.
2000 Dispute begins over US presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore; Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 12 results in a 271-266 electoral victory for Bush.
2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council under Resolution 1441 unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences”
2004 More than 10,000 US troops and a few Iraqi army units besiege an insurgent stronghold at Fallujah.
REFERENCES: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeoplehistory.com, timeandate.com, factmonster.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
