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.
164 BC – During Maccabean revolt Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jerusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah
1272 – Following Henry III of England’s death on November 16, his son Prince Edward becomes King of England.
1620 – The Mayflower reached Provincetown, MA. The ship discharged the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, on December 26, 1620.
1654 – Richard Johnson, a free black, granted 550 acres in Virginia
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 5― miles over Paris.
1789 – North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1806 – Decree of Berlin: Emperor Napoleon I bans all trade with Britain
1817 – US soldiers attack Miccosukee Tribe village of Fowltown, Georgia, beginning what becomes known as the First Seminole War
1818 – Russia’s Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine
1824 – First Jewish Reform congregation forms, Charleston, South Carolina
1877 – Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph.
1902 – The Canadian government appoints a commission to consider revising, classifying, and consolidating the many public statutes passed over the years
1917 – Maxim Gorky calls Vladimir Lenin a blind fanatic and unthinking adventurer
1920 – Mussolini’s squad begins terror, 11 die in Bologna, Italy
1922 – Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve as a member of the U.S. Senate.
1938 – Nazi forces occupy western Czechoslovakia and declare inhabitants to be German citizens
1941 – Tweety Bird makes its debut
1942 – The Alaska Highway across Canada was formally opened.
1945 – General Motors workers go on strike
1949 – Bill Veeck sells Cleveland Indians for $22 million, to fund his divorce settlement
1953 – British Natural History Museum authorities announced that “Piltdown Man” was a hoax.
1955 – Argentina asks Panama for return of ex-president Juan Peron
1962 – War between China and India ends, The month long war began over a border dispute between the two countries and ended with a unilateral ceasefire by the Chinese.
1962 – U.S. President Kennedy terminated the quarantine 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.
1964 – Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens in NYC, The suspension bridge connects Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City and at the time of its opening, it was the world’s longest suspension bridge, until the Humber Bridge in the UK opened in 1981.
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: “I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing.”
1973 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18―-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.
1974 – Birmingham pub bombings: 21 civilians killed when bombs explode at two pubs in Birmingham, England (deadliest attack in England during “the Troubles”)
1974 – Freedom of Information Act passed by Congress over President Ford’s veto
1979 – The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attacked by a mob that set the building afire and killed two Americans.
1980 – Fire at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas kills 84
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)
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.
1990 – French President François Mitterrand voices support for a proposed UN resolution that would authorize the use of force in the Persian Gulf
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 – Israel grants jailed US spy Jonathan Pollard citizenship
1999 – Elian Gonzalez, Cuban boy at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, departs from Cuba with his mother
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.
2004 – The Paris Club agrees to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraq’s external debt.
2004 – The second round of the Ukrainian presidential election is held, unleashing massive protests and controversy over the election’s integrity.
2012 – An Israel and Hamas ceasefire is negotiated
2013 – 31 people are killed by a truck bomb in northeaster Iraq
2013 – The Alabama parole board grants posthumous pardons to three members of the Scottsboro boys
2017 – CBS TV host Charlie Rose is fired after allegations of sexual harassment by eight women
2017 – Robert Mugabe’s resignation after 37 years in power is read out in Zimbabwe’s parliaments during impeachment proceedings
2018 – Former Guatemalan soldier Santos López Alonzo sentenced to 5,160 years for killing 171 people in Dos Erres during the civil war
2019 – 44% of Americans work in low-wage jobs with medium annual wage of just $18,000, with most aged 25 – 54 according to analysis by Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program
2020 – Texas National Guard mobilized to help El Paso County, deal with a morgue crisis as COVID-19 cases and deaths surge
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
