Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2021. There are 38 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 23, 1971, the People’s Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.
On this date:
In 1889, the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon. (The coin-operated device consisted of four listening tubes attached to an Edison phonograph.)
In 1903, Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in “Rigoletto.”
In 1914, the seven-month U.S. military occupation of Veracruz, Mexico, ended.
In 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce (loos), was first published.
In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In 1980, some 2,600 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.
In 1992, country music star Roy Acuff died in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 89.
In 1996, a commandeered Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the water off the Comoros Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.
In 2000, in a setback for Al Gore, the Florida Supreme Court refused to order Miami-Dade County officials to resume hand-counting its election-day ballots. Meanwhile, Gore’s lawyers argued in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the high court should stay out of the Florida election controversy.
In 2003, five U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Eduard Shevardnadze (sheh-vahrd-NAHD’-zeh) resigned as president of Georgia in the face of protests.
In 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko (leet-vee-NYEN’-koh) died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 2008, the government unveiled a bold plan to rescue Citigroup, injecting a fresh $20 billion into the troubled firm as well as guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in risky assets.
Ten years ago: Yemen’s authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh (AH’-lee ahb-DUH’-luh sah-LEH’) agreed to step down amid a fierce uprising to oust him after 33 years in power.
Five years ago: President-elect Donald Trump selected two Republican women who’d had unflattering things to say about him during the campaign: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education. Two juveniles set a fire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park; the fire spread into the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, area, merging with others, contributing to 14 deaths and up to $2 billion of damage. Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up Bobby Thomson’s famed “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951, died in Rye Brook, New York, at age 90.
One year ago: The federal government recognized Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election, formally starting the transition of power; President Donald Trump still refused to concede and vowed to continue a court fight after General Services Administrator Emily Murphy gave the green light for Biden to coordinate with federal agencies ahead of his inauguration. Michigan certified Biden’s win in the battleground state. Drugmaker AstraZeneca said late-stage trials showed its COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective. David Dinkins, who in 1990 became the first Black mayor of New York City, died at 93.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Franco Nero is 80. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (ES’-tur-hahs) is 77. Actor-comedy writer Bruce Vilanch is 74. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is 71. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 67. Former Sen. Mary Landrieu (LAN’-droo), D-La., is 66. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 62. Actor John Henton is 61. TV personality Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 61. Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 55. Actor Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 54. Actor Oded Fehr (OH’-dehd fayr) is 51. Rapper-actor Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 49. Actor Page Kennedy is 45. Actor Kelly Brook is 42. Actor Lucas Grabeel (GRAY’-beel) is 37. TV personality Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is 34. Actor-singer Miley Cyrus is 29. Actor Olivia Keville (TV: “Splitting Up Together”) is 19.
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