Today in History – November 2 in History
What happened on this day in history – November 2 in History around the world
1570 | A tidal wave in the North Sea destroys the sea walls from Holland to Jutland. More than 1,000 people are killed. | |
1772 | The first Committees of Correspondence are formed in Massachusetts under Samuel Adams. | |
1789 | The property of the church in France is taken away by the state. | |
1841 | The second Afghan War begins. | |
1869 | Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok loses his re-election bid in Ellis County, Kan. | |
1880 | James A. Garfield is elected the 20th president of the United States. | |
1882 | Newly elected John Poe replaces Pat Garrett as sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. | |
1889 | North Dakota is made the 39th state. | |
1889 | South Dakota is made the 40th state. | |
1892 | Lawmen surround outlaws Ned Christie and Arch Wolf near Tahlequah, Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). It will take dynamite and a cannon to dislodge the two from their cabin. | |
1903 | London’s Daily Mirror newspaper is first published. | |
1914 | Russia declares war with Turkey. | |
1920 | The first radio broadcast in the United States is made from Pittsburgh. | |
1920 | Charlotte Woodward, who signed the 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration calling for female voting rights, casts her ballot in a presidential election. | |
1921 | Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett form the American Birth Control League. | |
1923 | U.S. Navy aviator H.J. Brown sets new world speed record of 259 mph in a Curtiss racer. | |
1926 | Air Commerce Act is passed, providing federal aid for airlines and airports. | |
1936 | The first high-definition public television transmissions begin from Alexandra Palace in north London by the BBC. | |
1942 | Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrives in Gibraltar to set up an American command post for the invasion of North Africa. | |
1943 | The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in Bougainville ends in U.S. Navy victory over Japan. | |
1947 | Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose flies for the first and last time. | |
1948 | Harry S Truman is elected the 33rd president of the United States. | |
1959 | Charles Van Doren confesses that the TV quiz show 21 is fixed and that he had been given the answers to the questions asked him. | |
1960 | A British jury determines that Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence is not obscene. | |
1963 | South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated. | |
1976 | Jimmy (James Earl) Carter elected the 39th president of the United States. | |
1983 | President Ronald Reagan signs a bill establishing Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. | |
1984 | Serial killer Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the US since 1962. | |
2000 | First resident crew arrives at the International Space Station. | |
Born on November 2 | ||
1734 | Daniel Boone, American frontiersman and explorer. | |
1755 | Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, executed during the French Revolution. | |
1795 | James Polk, 11th president of the United States (1845-49). | |
1865 | Warren G. Harding, 29th president of the United States (1921-23). | |
1885 | Harlow Shapley, astronomer who discovered the Sun is not at the center of the galaxy. | |
1906 | Luchino Visconti, film director (Obsession, Death in Venice). | |
1913 | Burt Lancaster, American film actor. | |
1929 | Richard Taylor, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who proved the existence of quarks. | |
1932 | Melvin Schwartz, physicist who won the Nobel Prize for work on neutrinos. | |
1936 | Rose Bird, first female Chief Justice of California (1977-87); also the first Chief Justice in California history to be removed from office by voters. | |
1938 | Jay Black, lead singer of the group Jay and the Americans (“Come a Little Bit Closer,” “This Magic Moment”). | |
1938 | Pat Buchanan, American conservative political commentator, syndicated columnist, author; a senior advisor to presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan. | |
1938 | Queen Sofia of Spain (1975– ). | |
1949 | Lois McMaster Bujold, science fiction and fantasy author (The Mountains of Morning; Paladin of Souls); her many awards include four Hugos for best novel, which ties Robert A. Heinlein’s record. | |
1952 | Maxine Nightingale, British R&B and soul singer (“Right Back Where We Started From”). | |
1961 | k.d. lang, Grammy-winning Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter, actress, social activist (“Constant Craving”). | |
1972 | Samantha Womack, English actress, singer, director (TV and stage); best known for her roles as Mandy Wilkins in Game On and Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders. |