Today in History – November 3 in History
What happened on this day in history – November 3 in History around the world
1493 | Christopher Columbus arrives at the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition. | |
1507 | Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini (“Mona Lisa”). | |
1529 | The first parliament for five years opens in England and the Commons put forward bills against abuses amongst the clergy and in the church courts. | |
1794 | Thomas Paine is released from a Parisian jail with help from the American ambassador James Monroe. He was arrested for having offended the Robespierre faction. | |
1813 | American troops destroy the Indian village of Tallushatchee in the Mississippi Valley. | |
1868 | Ulysses S. Grant elected the 18th president of the United States. | |
1883 | A poorly trained Egyptian army, led by British General William Hicks, marches toward El Obeid in the Sudan–straight into a Mahdist ambush and massacre. | |
1883 | The U.S. Supreme Court declares American Indians to be “dependent aliens.” | |
1892 | First automatic telephone exchange goes into operation in La Porte, Indiana. | |
1896 | William McKinley is elected 25th president of the United States. | |
1912 | The first all-metal plane flies near Issy, France, piloted by Ponche and Prinard. | |
1918 | The German fleet at Kiel mutinies. This is the first act leading to Germany’s capitulation in World War I. | |
1921 | Milk drivers on strike dump thousands of gallons of milk onto New York City’s streets. | |
1935 | Left-wing groups in France form the Socialist and Republican Union. | |
1957 | The Soviet Union launches Sputnik II with the dog Laika, the first animal in space, aboard. | |
1964 | For the first time residents of Washington, D.C., are allowed to vote in a presidential election. | |
1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson is elected the 36th president of the United States. | |
1964 | Robert Kennedy, brother of the slain president, is elected as a senator from New York. | |
1967 | The Battle of Dak To begins in Vietnam’s Central Highlands; actually a series of engagements, the battle would continue through Nov. 22. | |
1969 | US President Richard Nixon, speaking on TV and radio, asks the “silent majority” of the American people to support his policies and the continuing war effort in Vietnam. | |
1973 | NASA launches Mariner 10, which will become the first probe to reach Mercury. | |
1979 | Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis kill 5 and wound 7 members of the Communist Workers Party during a “Death to the Klan” rally in Greensboro, NC; the incident becomes known as the Greensboro Massacre. | |
1983 | Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the office of president of the United States. | |
1986 | The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports the US has secretly been selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages being held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. | |
1992 | Arkansas Governor Bill (William Jefferson) Clinton is elected 42nd president of the United States. | |
1997 | US imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to human rights abuses and support of Islamic extremist groups. | |
Born on November 3 | ||
1718 | John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich and inventor of the sandwich. | |
1794 | William Cullen Bryant, poet and journalist. | |
1801 | Karl Baedeker, German publisher, well known for travel guides. | |
1831 | Ignatius Donnelly, American social reformer best known for his book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. | |
1901 | Andre Malraux, French novelist (Man’s Fate). | |
1903 | Walker Evans, photographer. | |
1909 | James “Scotty” Reston, New York Times reporter, editor and columnist. | |
1918 | Russell Long, U.S. senator from Louisiana from 1951 to 1968 and son of Huey P. Long. | |
1920 | Oodgeroo Noonuccal [Kath Walker], Australian Aboriginal poet. | |
1933 | Jeremy Brett, actor; best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the Granada TV productions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about the detective. | |
1933 | Michael Dukakis, politician; the longest-serving governor in the history of the State of Massachusetts (1975-79, 1983-91); unsuccessful Democratic candidate for US presidency (1988). | |
1933 | Amartya Sen, Indian economist, winner of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1998) for his work on economic theories of famines and social justice and indexes for measuring the well-being of citizens in developing countries. | |
1942 | Martin Cruz Smith, novelist (Gorky Park). | |
1949 | Larry Holmes, professional boxer known as The Easton Assassin; his 20 successful defenses of his heavyweight title is second only to Joe Louis’ record 25. | |
1952 | Roseanne Barr, comedian, actress, producer; best known for her starring role in the TV series Roseanne, for which she won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. | |
1952 | David Ho, virologist, AIDS researcher. | |
1956 | Gary Ross, film director, screenwriter (The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit). |