TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: NOV 15
1315 Swiss soldiers ambush and slaughter invading Austrians in the battle of Morgarten.
1492 Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to tobacco
1626 The Pilgrim Fathers, who have settled in New Plymouth, buy out their London investors.
1763 Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania & Maryland
1777 The Articles of Confederation, instituting perpetual union of the United States of America, are adopted by Congress.
1805 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party reach the mouth of the Columbia River, completing their trek to the Pacific.
1806 Explorer Zebulon Pike discovers the Colorado Peak that bears his name, despite the fact that he didn’t climb it
1864 Union Major General William T. Sherman’s troops set fires that destroy much of Atlanta’s industrial district prior to beginning Sherman’s March to the Sea.
1869 Free postal delivery formally inaugurated
1884 European Colonization and trade in Africa is officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing European powers “Scramble for Africa”
1901 Miller Reese patented an electrical hearing aid.
1902 Anarchist Gennaro Rubin failed in his attempt to murder King Leopold II of Belgium.
1920 Forty-one nations open the first League of Nations session in Geneva.
1937 Eighteen lawsuits are brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority, calling for its dissolution.
1939 The cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial was laid by President Roosevelt.
1939 Social Security Administration approves 1st unemployment check
1957 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev asserts Soviet superiority in missiles, challenging the United States to a rocket-range shooting match.
1960 The first submarine with nuclear missiles, USS George Washington, takes to sea from Charleston, South Carolina
1963 Argentina voids all foreign oil contracts.
1969 About 250,000 protesters against the Vietnam War, the largest war protest ever, converged peacefully on Washington, DC.
1984 Baby Fae dies 20 days after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California.
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 PLO proclaims the State of Palestine, recognizes Israeli existence
1990 President Bush signs the Clear Air Act of 1990
1999 Representatives from China and the United States signed a major trade agreement that involved China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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.
2017 Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Salvator Mundi” sold for $450.3 million at auction. The sell set a record for the most expensive painting sold at a public auction.
REFERENCES: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeoplehistory.com, timeandate.com, factmonster.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
