TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: NOV 20
0269 Diocletian is proclaimed emperor of Numerian in Asia Minor by his soldiers. He had been the commander of the emperor’s bodyguard.
0762 Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire
1272 Edward I proclaimed King of England
1695 Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil and ex-slave, is executed and decapitated, his head displayed on a pike to dispel any legends of his immortality
1789 New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1815 Second Treaty of Paris: France and her allies agree France will pay indemnities after Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars
1829 Jews are expelled from Russia’s Nikolayev & Sevastopol
1903 In Cheyenne, Wyoming, 42-year-old hired gunman Tom Horn is hanged for the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell.
1910 Francisco Madero began an armed revolt against the president of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz.
1923 Traffic signal patented
1928 Mrs. Glen Hyde becomes the first woman to dare the Grand Canyon rapids in a scow (a flat-bottomed boat that is pushed along with a pole).
1938 1st documented anti-Semitic remarks over US radio (by Father Coughlin)
1945 The war crimes trials of 24 German World War II leaders began in Nuremberg, Germany.
1947 “Meet the Press” makes network TV debut on NBC
1955 The Maryland National Guard is ordered desegregated.
1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the document that laid out the rights of children around the world. The day is also annually celebrated as Universal Children’s Day.
1962 President John F. Kennedy agreed to lift the American blockade of Cuba, ending the Cuban missile crisis.
1962 President John F. Kennedy bars religious or racial discrimination in federally funded housing.
1967 U.S. census reports the population at 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.
1971 The United States announces it will give Turkey $35 million for farmers who agree to stop growing opium poppies.
1974 The United States files an antitrust suit to break up ATT.
1980 On Jefferson Island, Louisiana, an oil rig in Lake Pigneur pierced the top of the salt dome beneath the island. The freshwater lake completely drained within a few hours. The Delcambre Canal reversed flow and two days later the previous freshwater lake was a 1,300-foot-deep saltwater lake.
1981 Microsoft Windows 1.0 released.
1983 An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial ABC-TV movie “The Day After.” The movie depicted the outbreak of nuclear war.
1986 World Health Organization announces first global effort to combat AIDS
1993 The U.S. Senate passed the Brady Bill and legislation implementing NAFTA.
1998 First module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
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.
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.
2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average sinks to lowest level in 11 years in response to failures in the US financial system.
REFERENCES: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeoplehistory.com, timeandate.com, factmonster.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
