Welcome to Today In History for Thursday, November 5, 2009.
On this day in history...
- 1228 - Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China
- 1414 - Council of Constance (16th ecumenical council) opens
- 1492 - Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from Indians of Cuba
- 1530 - St Felix Flood ravages Dutch coast
- 1556 - Akbar (14) succeeds his father Humajun on as Sultan of Delhi
- 1556 - Battle at Panipat: Mogollegers beat hindu leader Hemu
- 1605 - Gunpowder Plot; Catholics try to blow up English Parliament. Plot uncovered & leader Guy Fawkes hanged
- 1630 - Spain & England sign peace treaty
- 1639 - 1st post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts
- 1678 - Brandenburgse troops occupy Greifswald in Sweden
- 1725 - Spain & Austria sign secret treaty
- 1757 - Battle at Rossbach (7 year war/French & Indian War)
- 1781 - John Hanson elected 1st "Pres of US in Congress assembled"
- 1789 - Fleeing slaves under Bonni attack military post on Suriname
- 1789 - French National Meeting declares all citizens equal under law
- 1811 - El Salvador's 1st battle against Spain for independence
- 1838 - Honduras declares independence of Central American Federation
- 1846 - Robert Schumann's 2nd Symphony in C, premieres
- 1854 - Crimean War: British & French defeat Russian force of 50,000
- 1862 - Ambrose Burnside replaces McClellen as head of Army of Potomac
- 1862 - Battle at Barbee's Crossroads, Virginia: 51 casualties
- 1871 - Susan B Anthony arrested trying to vote in Rochester NY
- 1872 - Susan B Anthony fined $100 for trying to vote for Ulysses S Grant
- 1872 - Ulysses S Grant re-elected US president
- 1876 - Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Nyangwe
- 1881 - French government-Ferry resigns
- 1882 - Bedrich Smetana's "Ma Vlast," premieres
- 1883 - Battle at El Obeid Sudan: Mahdi's army destroys Egyptian army
- 1883 - Musical "Cordelia's Aspirations" premieres in NYC
- 1887 - Ottawa College (ORFU) defeats Montreal Football Club (QRFU) 10-5 to win the Dominion championship
- 1894 - Frederick Lugards expedition reaches Nikki
- 1894 - Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegels," premieres
- 1895 - 1st US patent granted for auto (George B Selden)
- 1895 - George Selden patents 1st gasoline-driven car
- 1895 - King Edward VII says "We are all Socialists nowadays"
- 1895 - US state Utah accepts female suffrage
- 1898 - Gerhart Hauptmanns "Fuhrmann Henschel," premieres in Berlin
- 1911 - Italy attacks Turkish North-Africa (Libya), takes Tipoli & Cyrenaica
- 1911 - Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena completing 1st transcontinental airplane flight (49 days) (left Sheepshead Bay, NY, Sept 17)
- 1912 - Arizona, Kansas & Wisconsin vote for female suffrage
- 1912 - Bulgarian troops in Constantinople blockade drinking water
- 1912 - Woodrow Wilson (D) defeats Theodore Roosevelt (Prog) & Pres Taft (R)
- 1913 - Ludwig III crowned king of Bavaria
- 1914 - Britain annexes Cyprus
- 1914 - Great Britain & France & Russia declares war on Turkey
- 1916 - Emperor Wilhelm II & French Jozef I establishes kingdom of Poland
- 1916 - Second Chamber accept initial impetus to general males/female suffrage
- 1917 - Gen Pershing & US troops see action on Western Front for 1st time
- 1917 - Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Lousiville Ky ordiance requiring blacks & whites to live in separate areas
- 1919 - Ir … Steringa Idzerda begins hosting "soir‚e-musical" on Dutch radio
- 1922 - Demonstration for a Dutch University in Ghent
- 1925 - Mussolini disbands Italian socialist parties
- 1927 - 10th PGA Championship: Water Hagen at Cedar Crest CC Dallas
- 1927 - Walter Hagen beats Joe Turnesa for 4th consecutive PGA title
- 1930 - Nobel for literature awarded to Sinclair Lewis for "Babbitt"
- 1932 - Mussolini frees 16,000 criminals
- 1933 - Chicago Bears 30 game unbeaten streak ends to Patriots (10-0)
- 1933 - Spanish Basques vote for autonomy
- 1935 - Maryland Court of Appeals orders U of M to admit (black) Donald Murray
- 1935 - Parker Brothers launches game of Monopoly
- 1936 - French writer Andr‚ Gide criticizes Soviet regime
- 1937 - Hitler informs his military leader of his intentions of going to war
- 1938 - Ottawa Roughriders score on 5-man, 4-lateral, 65-yard punt return
- 1938 - Rugers beats Princeton 1st time in 60 yrs as Rutgers Stad dedicated
- 1940 - Dutch submarine departs Dundee
- 1940 - Pres FDR (D) wins unprecedented 3rd term beating Wendell Willkie (R)
- 1940 - Walter Johnson, won 416 games for Wash Senators, loses Maryland congressional race (R)
- 1941 - Japanese marine staff officiers Suzuki/Maejima leave Pearl Harbor
- 1942 - Nazi raid on Greek Jews in Paris
- 1942 - Pro-British Clandestine Radio Diego Suarez's final transmission
- 1943 - -6] Vatican bombed
- 1944 - Allied troops reach Zoutelande Walcheren
- 1944 - Canadian & British troops liberate Dinteloord
- 1944 - German troops blow-up Heusden North Brabant city hall, 134 die
- 1946 - John F Kennedy (D-Mass) elected to House of Representatives
- 1950 - Cleveland Browns' Tommy James intercepts 3 passes, club record
- 1950 - Philippines president Quirino ends emergency crisis
- 1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1953 - Nobel prize for physics awarded/appended on Frederik Zernicke
- 1953 - Paul Searls saws a 32" log in 86.4 seconds
- 1953 - Terence Rattigans' "Sleeping Prince," premieres in London
- 1955 - Mont Canadien Jean Beliveau scores 2nd fastest hat trick (44 seconds)
- 1955 - New Vienna Opera house opens (Austria)
- 1956 - Britain & France land forces in Egypt
- 1956 - Dutch Communist Party office of Felix Meritis seized
- 1956 - Israel liberates Sharm-el-Sheikh, reopening Gulf of Aqaba
- 1956 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Datis nuperrime
- 1957 - F‚lix Gaillard forms govt in France
- 1957 - Mrs Nellie McGrail wins $574,658 on a 2«› soccer pool ticket
- 1958 - "Maria Golovin" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 5 performances
- 1958 - KGLD (now KSNG) TV channel 11 in Garden City, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast
- 1959 - AFL announced with 8 teams
- 1961 - India's premier Nehru arrives in NY
- 1961 - St Louis Cards Bill Stacy, returns 2 interceptions for TDs vs Dallas
- 1963 - US VP Lyndon B Johnson visits Netherlands
- 1964 - US launches Mariner 3 toward Mars; no data returned
- 1966 - Brigham Young QB Virgil Carter sets NCAA record of 599 yards gained
- 1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1967 - ATS-3 launched by US to take 1st pictures of full Earth disk
- 1967 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Corpus Christi Civitan Golf Open
- 1967 - New Orleans Saints 1st NFL victory, beat Phila Eagles 31-24
- 1967 - US troops conquer Loc Ninh South Vietnam
- 1967 - Yemen president Sallal flees
- 1968 - 1st AL pitcher to win MVP, Denny McLain (wins unanimously)
- 1968 - Nixon (R) beats VP Humphrey (D) & George C Wallace for presidency
- 1971 - Bolivia passes death penalty for political kidnapping
- 1971 - NBA's LA Lakers starts a 33 game consecutive victory streak
- 1972 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Lady Errol Golf Classic
- 1973 - BART starts SF-Daly City train shuttle service
- 1974 - Dmitri Sjotakovitch completes Michelangelo-liederen
- 1974 - Ella Grasso (Ct) elected 1st woman US gov not related to previous gov
- 1974 - Walter E Washington, becomes 1st elected mayor of Wash DC
- 1975 - British government sends troops to Belize
- 1975 - Sao Tome & Principe adopts constitution
- 1976 - Balt Jim Palmer wins AL Cy Young Award
- 1976 - New AL franchises in Seattle & Toronto fill up their rosters
- 1976 - Pirates trade Manny Sanguillen & $100,000 to A's for mgr Chuck Tanner
- 1976 - USSR performs nuclear test
- 1977 - NCAA passing record set at 571 yards (Marc Wilson, Brigham Young)
- 1978 - Iranian PM Jaafar Sharif-Emami resigns to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
- 1978 - Khomeini followers attack British embassy/El Al office in Iran
- 1978 - Oakland Raider's John Madden becomes 13th coach to win 100 NFL games
- 1979 - Iran government of Bazargan resigns
- 1979 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declares US "The Great Satan"
- 1981 - Charles Fuller's "Soldier's Play," premieres in NYC
- 1981 - Former Dolphin, Mercury Morris, is sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficing, conspiracy, & possession of cocaine
- 1982 - Cleveland Cavaliers lose 24th consecutive game (NBA record)
- 1982 - George Harrison releases "Gone Troppo" album
- 1983 - NY Rangers & Quebec Nordiques both score in 1st 14 secs of 3rd period
- 1983 - Orbiter Discovery (OV-103) moves overland to Dryden
- 1985 - "News" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 4 performances
- 1987 - "Into the Woods" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 764 performances
- 1987 - France performs nuclear test
- 1987 - Iceberg twice size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
- 1987 - South Africa ANC-leader Govan Mbeki freed
- 1987 - Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine's musical "Into the Stars," premieres
- 1987 - Supreme Court nominee Douglas H Ginsburg admitted using marijuana
- 1988 - 1st NBA game at Bradley Center, Milw Bucks lose to LA Clippers 111-91(?)
- 1988 - 1st NBA game at Miami Arena, Miami Heat loss to LA Clippers, 111-91(?)
- 1988 - 1st NBA game at Palace of Auburn Hills, Pistons beat Hornets 94-85
- 1988 - Cornell confirms grad student source of worst computer sabotage
- 1988 - France performs nuclear test
- 1988 - Gulch wins Breeder's Cup
- 1988 - Japan beats MLB all stars 2-1 in Tokyo (Game 1 of 7)
- 1988 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Alysheba, Gt Communicator, Gulch, Is It True, Miesque, Open Mind, Personal Ensign at Churchill Downs
- 1989 - "Threepenny Opera" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 65 perfs
- 1989 - 19th NYC Women's Marathon won by Ingrid Kristiansen in 2:25:30
- 1989 - 20th NYC Marathon won by Juma Ikangaa in 2:08:01
- 1989 - Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record of 16 cons pass completions
- 1989 - Elaine Crosby wins LPGA Mazda Japan Golf Classic
- 1989 - US plays El Salvador, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
- 1991 - Kiichi Miyazawa elected premier of Japan
- 1991 - Richard J Kerr, ends term as acting director of CIA
- 1992 - "Show Off" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
- 1992 - Bobby Fisher beats Boris Spassky to with Chess title in Belgrade
- 1993 - 1st NBA game in Alamodome, San Antonio Spurs beat Warriors 91-85
- 1994 - George Foreman KOs Michael Moorer in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1994 - Space probe Ulyssus completes 1st passage behind the Sun
- 1994 - Tony Rominger bicycles world record time (55,291 km)
- 1994 - Yak-40 accident in north of Peru, 8 killed
- 1994 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Barathea, Cherokee Run, Concern, Flanders, One Dreamer, Tikkanen, Timber Country
- 1995 - George Foreman beats Michael Moorer to win WBA/IBF boxing title
- 1995 - STS 73 (Columbia 18), lands
- 1995 - Woo-Soon Ko wins LPGA Toray Japan Queens Cup Golf Tournament
- 1995 - 1st NBA game at General Motors Place, Vancouver Grizzlies beat Minn Timberwolves 100-98 in OT
- 1996 - Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is the unanimous choice as AL Rookie of
- 1997 - 2 hours after Davey Johnson resigns, he is named AL Manager of Year
- 1997 - French court orders producer Jacques Charrier, ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot, to pay the former screen star $8,300 in damages