Today in History
Today is Sunday, Nov. 5, the 309th day of 2023. There are 56 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 5, 2009, a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 people dead; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He has not yet been executed.
On this date:
In 1605, the “Gunpowder Plot” failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament.
In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony defied the law by attempting to cast a vote for President Ulysses S. Grant.
In 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and Socialist Eugene V. Debs.
In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.
In 1964, NASA launched Mariner 3, which was supposed to fly by Mars, but the spacecraft failed to reach its destination.
In 1968, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and American Independent candidate George C. Wallace.
In 1974, Democrat Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.
In 1992, Malice Green, a Black motorist, died after he was struck in the head 14 times with a flashlight by a Detroit police officer, Larry Nevers, outside what police said was a crack house. (Nevers and his partner, Walter Budzyn, were found guilty of second-degree murder, but the convictions were overturned; they were later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.)
In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced by the Iraqi High Tribunal to hang for crimes against humanity.
In 2007, Hollywood writers began a three-month strike, forcing late-night talk shows to immediately start airing reruns.
In 2011, former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, accused of molesting eight boys, was arrested and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts. (Sandusky was later convicted and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for the sexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period.)
In 2017, a gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire in a small South Texas church, killing more than two dozen people; the shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In 2018, the U.S., under President Donald Trump, re-imposed all sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
In 2021, a crush of fans during a performance by rapper Travis Scott at a Houston music festival left ten people dead, as people were squeezed so tightly they couldn’t breathe.
In 2022, Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California at age 34.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Harris Yulin is 86. Actor Chris Robinson is 85. Actor Elke Sommer is 83. Singer Art Garfunkel is 82. Singer Peter Noone is 76. TV personality Kris Jenner is 68 Actor Nestor Serrano is 68. Actor-comedian Mo Gaffney is 65. Actor Robert Patrick is 65. Singer Bryan Adams is 64. Actor Tilda Swinton is 63. Actor Michael Gaston is 61. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid is 60. Actor Tatum O’Neal is 60. Actor Andrea McArdle is 60. Rock singer Angelo Moore (Fishbone) is 58. Actor Judy Reyes is 56. Actor Seth Gilliam is 55. Actor Sam Rockwell is 55. Actor Corin Nemec is 52. Rock musician Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is 52. Country singer-musician Ryan Adams is 49. Actor Sam Page is 48. Actor Sebastian Arcelus is 47. Actor Luke Hemsworth is 43. Actor Annet Mahendru (MAH’-hehn-droo) is 38. Rock musician Kevin Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is 36. Actor Landon Gimenez is 20.
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