A look at things that have happened on this date in history.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant, Thomas Watson, heard Bell say over his experimental telephone: “Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you” from the next room of Bell’s Boston laboratory
Pictured here, the first telephone, patented in 1876 by inventor Alexander Graham Bell.
(Anonymous/AP/dapd)
Anonymous/AP/dapd
In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union’s leader for 13 months, died at age 73; he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
In 1988, pop singer Andy Gibb died in Oxford, England, at age 30 of heart inflammation.
Pop singer Andy Gibb poses in a Los Angeles, Calif., studio on May 30, 1977.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
In 2003, shortly before the start of the Iraq war, Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told a London audience: “Just so you know… we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” (Maines later apologized for the phrasing of her remark.)
FILE – In this May 26, 2006, file photo, Dixie Chicks, from left, Emily Robison, Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire, wave to the crowd as they perform on ABC’s “Good Morning America” summer concert series in Bryant Park, in New York. The surprise collaboration of Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards was still rocking the music world on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, but not all were impressed by the electric performance — and some country fans unleashed their anger on social media. Still, the collaboration did have plenty of fan support from others and celebrity admirers.
(AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)
AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File
On March 10, 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee (on his 41st birthday) to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)
FILE – In this May 25, 1995, file photo, James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., is shown at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville during a parole hearing. Ray, who was captured in London two months after the assassination, was one of the hundreds of fugitives who have appeared on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File
In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.
A painting of Christopher Columbus by Sebastiano del Piombo is seen, Sept. 19, 1943 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. No portrait of Columbus from real life is known to exist but there are five standard types of which this is one.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln assigned Ulysses S. Grant, who had just received his commission as lieutenant-general, to the command of the Armies of the United States.
In this Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 photo, Mississippi State University president Mark Keenum, stands next to a life sized statue of then President Ulysses S. Grant, one of the exhibits in the new presidential museum that is part of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library in the Mitchell Memorial Library in Starkville, Miss. Mississippi State University will launch the new library and exhibit space housing Grant’s papers and artifacts on Nov. 30.
(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
On March 10, 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee (on his 41st birthday) to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)
On this date:
In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.
In 1848, the U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War.
In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln assigned Ulysses S. Grant, who had just received his commission as lieutenant-general, to the command of the Armies of the United States.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant, Thomas Watson, heard Bell say over his experimental telephone: “Mr. Watson _ come here _ I want to see you” from the next room of Bell’s Boston laboratory.
In 1913, former slave, abolitionist and Underground Railroad “conductor” Harriet Tubman died in Auburn, New York; she was in her 90s.
In 1933, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake centered off Long Beach, California, resulted in 120 deaths.
In 1965, Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple,” starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney, opened on Broadway.
In 1980, “Scarsdale Diet” author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death at his home in Purchase, New York. (Tarnower’s former lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of his murder; she served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)
In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union’s leader for 13 months, died at age 73; he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 1988, pop singer Andy Gibb died in Oxford, England, at age 30 of heart inflammation.
In 1993, Dr. David Gunn was shot to death outside a Pensacola, Florida, abortion clinic. (Shooter Michael Griffin is serving a life sentence.)
In 2003, shortly before the start of the Iraq war, Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told a London audience: “Just so you know— we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” (Maines later apologized for the phrasing of her remark.)
Ten years ago: In his first major speech on education, President Barack Obama called for tying teachers’ pay to student performance and expanding innovative charter schools. A gunman, 28-year-old Michael McLendon, killed 10 people, including his mother, four other relatives and the wife and child of a local sheriff’s deputy across two rural Alabama counties before committing suicide.
Five years ago: Joe McGuiness, 71, the adventurous and news-making writer and reporter, died in Worcester (WUS’-tur), Massachusetts.
One year ago: Syrian government forces made their deepest push yet into the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus in a major blow to opposition fighters. Campaigning in western Pennsylvania for a Republican House candidate, President Donald Trump told a rally that his new tariffs were saving the steel industry.
