World War II Nov 23, 1940: Romania becomes an Axis "power"

On this day in 1940, Romania signs the Tripartite Pact, officially allying itself with Germany, Italy, and Japan. As early as 1937, Romania had come under control of a fascist government that bore great resemblance to that of Germany's, including similar anti-Jewish laws. Romania's king, Carol II, dissolved the government a year later because of a failing economy and installed Romania's Orthodox Patriarch as prime minister. But the Patriarch's death and peasant uprising provoked renewed agitation by the fascist Iron Guard paramilitary organization, which sought to impose order. In June 1940, the Soviet Union co-opted two Romanian provinces, and the king searched for an ally to help protect it and appease the far right within its own borders. So on July 5, 1940, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany—only to be invaded by its "ally" as part of Hitler's strategy to create one huge eastern front against the Soviet Union. King Carol abdicated on September 6, 1940, leaving the country in the control of fascist Prime Minister Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. Signing the Tripartite Pact was now inevitable. Originally formulated in Berlin on September 27, the pact formally recognized an alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, termed the "Axis." As more European nations became subject to fascist domination and invasion, they too were drawn into the pact, albeit as unequal partners (Hungary was made an Axis "power" on November 20). Now it was Romania's turn. While Romania would recapture the territory lost to the Soviet Union when the Germans invaded Russia, it would also have to endure the Germans' raping its resources as part of the Nazi war effort. Besides taking control of Romania's oil wells and installations, Hitler would help himself to Romania's food crops, causing a food shortage for native Romanians. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/romania-becomes-an-axis-power)

World War I Nov 23, 1915: Battle of Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia

On this day in 1915, fighting between Allied and Turkish forces continues into a second day during the Battle of Ctesiphon (or Selman Pak), on the Tigris River in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Under the command of Sir John Nixon, British troops in World War I enjoyed a string of early successes in their invasion of Mesopotamia. By late September 1915, forces led by Nixon's forward divisional commander, Sir Charles Townshend, had occupied the Mesopotamian province of Basra, including the town of Kut-al-Amara. That November, Nixon ordered Townshend to continue the offensive up the Tigris and Euphrates rivers towards Baghdad, the regional commander's real objective. Anxious about the fragile nature of British supply lines in the region and doubtful of the capabilities of his mostly Indian troops--who had already lost one-third of their number to battle or sickness--Townshend argued for delaying the attacks in order to wait for reinforcements. The ambitious Nixon instructed him to proceed as ordered. Meanwhile, following their defeat at Kut, Turkish forces had withdrawn to carefully prepared and fortified defensive positions among the ruins of the ancient city of Ctesiphon. When Townshend's troops began their attacks on the night of November 22, they were confronted by companies of largely inexperienced Turkish soldiers entrenched firmly in two lines on either side of the Tigris. While the Anglo-Indian troops were able to capture the first-line of Turkish positions that first night, the Turks mounted a spirited defense and casualties on both sides began to mount. On November 23, the Turks launched a counter-attack aimed at recapturing the ground lost the day before. Though their effort was unsuccessful, Townshend's casualty rate had reached 40 percent, or some 4,500 men. Knowing he could not expect reinforcements, Townshend authorized a British retreat to Kut in order to regroup and treat his wounded men. Twelve days later, the Turks began a siege against Kut that would last for the next five months and exhaust Townshend's depleted forces. After attempting four times without success to confront their opponents, suffering heavy casualties in the process, Townshend was forced to give up the fight, along with his remaining 10,000 men, on April 29, 1916. It was the largest single surrender of troops in British history up until that time. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-ctesiphon-in-mesopotamia)

Vietnam War Nov 23, 1972: Paris peace talks deadlocked

Secret peace talks resume in Paris between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese representative, but almost immediately reach an impasse. The sticking points were the implementation of the international supervisory force and Saigon's insistence on the withdrawal of all North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam. When the talks became hopelessly deadlocked, President Nixon ordered what became known as the "Christmas bombing" to force the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table. Nixon halted the bombing when the communists agreed to return to Paris; a peace agreement was signed in January 1973. Because the United States was in such a hurry to end American participation in the war, the insistence on the withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from South Vietnam ceased to be an issue. More than 100,000 communist troops were left in the south when the cease-fire went into effect. This played a major role in the fall of South Vietnam to the communists in April 1975. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-peace-talks-deadlocked)

Vietnam War Nov 23, 1970: Laird discloses the details of the Son Tay Raid

Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird discloses the November 21 U.S. raid on the North Vietnamese prison camp at Son Tay. On November 21, a combined Air Force and Army team of 40 Americans--led by Army Colonel "Bull" Simons--conducted a raid on the Son Tay prison camp, 23 miles west of Hanoi, in an attempt to free between 70 and 100 American suspected of being held there. The raid was conducted almost flawlessly, but no prisoners of war were found in the camp. They had been moved earlier to other locations. Laird revealed that approximately one hour after the raid took place, U.S. aircraft (200 fighter bombers and 100 support aircraft) inflicted the most severe bombing raids in two years on North Vietnam as retaliation for the shooting down of U.S. reconnaissance aircraft. Hanoi Radio reported that "wave after wave" of U.S. bombers attacked North Vietnam and said that the planes struck at targets ranging from Haiphong to Hoa Binh province, southeast of Hanoi. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/laird-discloses-the-details-of-the-son-tay-raid)

Nov 23, 1984: Boston College wins on Hail Mary

On November 23, 1984, Boston College’s diminutive quarterback Doug Flutie throws a last-second 64-yard pass to beat the University of Miami 47-45. The 30,235 fans in the Orange Bowl had already begun to celebrate the victory they were sure their Hurricanes had won, and they were stunned when Flutie’s pass found his teammate (and roommate) Gerard Phelan in the end zone. The receiver, for his part, was just as stunned: "He threw it a long, long way," Phelan said after the game. "I didn’t think he could throw the ball that far." It was a spectacular ending to a spectacular game. In all, Miami moved the ball 655 yards and had 32 first downs.; BC countered with 627 yards and 30 first downs. Together, the Hurricanes and the Eagles ran 150 plays; on average, each play gained almost nine yards. And in the last 20 minutes of the game, the teams traded the lead back and forth six times. With 28 seconds to go in the game, Miami’s Melvin Bratton plowed one yard through BC’s defensive line to score a crucial touchdown that gave the Hurricanes a four-point lead. The Eagles set up on their own 20-yard line and made it to the Miami 48 in 22 seconds. There was time for one more play. In the huddle, Flutie called for the "55 Flood Tip"--a play the Eagles practiced every Thursday but had rarely used. It went like this: Phelan would head for the end zone, flanked by two wide receivers; Flutie would hurl the ball in their direction; and Phelan, having drawn all the defense away from his teammates, would jump up and tip the ball to one receiver or the other. Of course, that’s not quite how it went. Phelan bolted down the field, while Flutie drew back to the 37. The clock ran out. Flutie threw the ball as hard as he could. After the game, he said: "I just let it fly toward the pile--not necessarily toward Gerard Phelan, but where I thought everybody was going to be. I saw the ball go down over two defenders’ heads and I thought it fell incomplete into the end zone." Phelan, meanwhile, was alone in the end zone. Miami’s defensive backs were so sure that Flutie couldn’t throw the ball all the way down the field that they didn’t pay any attention to the receiver behind them. They should have: Flutie’s pass sailed over their heads and hit Phelan squarely in the chest. His feet didn’t even leave the ground. The pass won the game for the Eagles, who went on to finish 10-2 and be ranked fourth in the country. It also made Flutie the first player in college football history to pass for more than 10,000 yards in his career. He won the Heisman Trophy eight days after his so-called "Miracle in Miami." Since NFL scouts thought he was too short (he was 5’9") to play in their league, Flutie headed north and became one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the Canadian Football League. Eventually he came back to the NFL, playing for the Buffalo Bills and the San Diego Chargers before he returned to Boston to finish his career with the Patriots. He retired in 2005. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bc-wins-on-hail-mary)

Nov 23, 1804: Franklin Pierce is born

On this day in 1804, Franklin Pierce, America's 14th president, is born in a log cabin in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Pierce, described by biographers and contemporaries as a personable and sincere young man, worked as a lawyer before winning a seat in the New Hampshire state legislature in 1828, while his father served as New Hampshire's governor. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1832 and fought in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), for which he received military honors. As president, Pierce facilitated the acquisition of the territories that now make up the states of Arizona and New Mexico through the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. He also improved trade relations with Canada in exchange for greater U.S. fishing rights along the continent's North Atlantic coast. However, he is best remembered for his endorsement of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether they would allow slavery or outlaw the practice. Foreshadowing the brutal Civil War that was soon to come, the territories erupted in sectarian violence after the act's passing. Pierce's failure to stem the fighting and his role in the Ostend Manifesto fiasco of 1854 (a secret plan to start a war with Spain in order to annex Cuba) proved to be his political undoing. Members of his own Democratic Party refused to re-nominate him for president in the election of 1856, popularizing the slogan "anybody but Pierce." In 1834, Pierce had married Jane Means Appleton and the couple had three sons. The first, Franklin, died in infancy; a second, Frank Robert, died at age four from typhus; and their third son, Benny, was killed in a train wreck from which Pierce and his wife narrowly escaped. The string of tragedies led Pierce to drinking. He also suffered from chronic nervous exhaustion. By the end of his term, a Philadelphia Enquirer reporter described Pierce as "a wreck of his former self...his face wears a hue so ghastly and cadaverous that one could almost fancy he was gazing on a corpse." Upon leaving office in 1857, Pierce was asked what he would do next; he allegedly replied "there's nothing left [to do] but get drunk." The effects of alcoholism led to his death in 1869 at the age of 65. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-pierce-is-born)

Old West Nov 23, 1903: Colorado governor sends militia to Cripple Creek

Determined to crush the union of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), Colorado Governor James Peabody sends the state militia into the mining town of Cripple Creek. The strike in the gold mines of Cripple Creek began that summer. William "Big Bill" Haywood's Western Federation of Miners called for a sympathy strike among the underground miners to support a smelter workers' strike for an eight-hour day. The WFM, which was founded in 1893 in Montana, had already been involved in several violent strikes in Colorado and Idaho. By the end of October, the call for action at Cripple Creek had worked, and a majority of mine and smelter workers were idle; Cripple Creek operations ground to a halt. Eager to resume mining and break the union, the mine owners turned to Governor Peabody, who agreed to provide state militia protection for replacement workers. Outraged, the miners barricaded roads and railways, but by the end of September more than a thousand armed men were in Cripple Creek to undermine the strike. Soldiers began to round up union members and their sympathizers-including the entire staff of a pro-union newspaper-and imprison them without any charges or evidence of wrongdoing. When miners complained that the imprisonment was a violation of their constitutional rights, one anti-union judge replied, "To hell with the Constitution; we're not following the Constitution!" Such tyrannical tactics swung control of the strike to the more radical elements in the WFM, and in June 1904, Harry Orchard, a professional terrorist employed by the union, blew up a railroad station, which killed 13 strikebreakers. This recourse to terrorism proved a serious tactical mistake. The bombing turned public opinion against the union, and the mine owners were able to freely arrest and deport the majority of the WFM leaders. By midsummer, the strike was over and the WFM never again regained the power it had previously enjoyed in the Colorado mining districts. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/colorado-governor-sends-militia-to-cripple-creek)

Nov 23, 1936: Blues legend Robert Johnson makes first-ever recording

Bluesman Robert Johnson is recorded for the very first time in a San Antonio recording studio on November 23, 1936. The legend of Robert Johnson, arguably the most influential blues performer of all time, began growing in earnest only in the early 1960s, more than 20 years after his death. It was the 1959 publication of Samuel Charters's The Country Blues that introduced his name to many, but as Charters himself observed of Johnson at the time, "Almost nothing is known about his life....He is only a name on a few recordings." What is well known about those recordings is that they helped inspire a blues-rock revolution in the decade that followed—a revolution led by young British musicians like Eric Clapton and Keith Richard. What is less well known, perhaps, is just how small that body of work actually is. In his short but hugely influential life, Robert Johnson spent only five days in the recording studio, recording only 41 total takes of 29 different songs. Thirteen of those takes and eight of those songs—including "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Terraplane Blues"—were captured during his first-ever session, on this day in 1936, in a makeshift studio set up in adjoining rooms of the Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio. Johnson returned to the Gunter Hotel twice more later in that same week, and then recorded once more over the course of two days in 1937 in Dallas. The results of those sessions were 12 78-rpm records issued on the Vocalion label in 1937 and 1938, the last of them after Johnson's death by poisoning at the hands of a jealous husband on August 16, 1938. Almost immediately, Johnson's recordings gained a cult following among blues collectors like John Hammond, who would later gain fame as the "discoverer" of artists ranging from Billie Holliday and Big Joe Turner to Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Bruce Springsteen. Yet from 1938 to 1961, when Hammond convinced Columbia Records to release an album of Robert Johnson recordings called King of the Delta Blues, Johnson was more of a rumor than a reality. King of the Delta Blues, however, would spark a strong resurgence of interest in his life and work—a resurgence that would nevertheless fail to turn up many verifiable details of his life beyond the dates of his birth and death and of his few recording sessions. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blues-legend-robert-johnson-makes-first-ever-recording)

Nov 23, 1874: Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, is published

On this day, Thomas Hardy's novel Far from the Madding Crowd is published. In the novel, farm owner Bathsheba Everdene is courted by three suitors, each showing a different face of love and human nature. Although the book ends happily, it contains many of the tragic elements, grim view of human nature, and pessimistic outlook that characterize Hardy's later masterworks, including Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). Hardy was born in Dorchester and was apprenticed to an architect when he was 15. After six years, he went to London to continue his training and began restoring churches. He also started writing poetry and fiction. In 1868, two publishers rejected his first novel. In 1870, he left London and went to restore a church in Cornwall, where he met his wife. The following year, his novel Desperate Remedies was published, followed by Under the Greenwood Tree in 1872, which was a success. Hardy devoted himself to novels for the next 20 years or so, publishing Return of the Native in 1878 and The Mayor of Casterbridge in 1886. However, Jude the Obscure was received with so much hostility that Hardy gave up the novel form altogether and turned to poetry. He wrote some 900 poems in a wide variety of styles, including a dramatic epic poem, The Dynasts (1910). He published Wessex Poems in 1898, taking the title from the fictional region of England where he set his novels, and Poems of the Past and Present in 1901. Hardy died in Dorchester in 1928. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/far-from-the-madding-crowd-by-thomas-hardy-is-published)

Nov 23, 2012: Larry Hagman, star of "Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie," dies

On this day in 2012, Larry Hagman, who starred in such television shows as “Dallas” and “I Dream of Jeannie,” dies at age 81 of complications from cancer at a hospital in Dallas. Hagman was best known for his role as the villainous Texas oil baron J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” which aired from 1978 to 1991 and was revived in 2012. Hagman was born on September 21, 1931, in Fort Worth, Texas, to actress Mary Martin, who would become known for her roles in Broadway musicals including “Peter Pan,” “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music,” and Benjamin Hagman, a lawyer. After graduating from high school in Weatherford, Texas, the younger Hagman briefly attended Bard College before dropping out to pursue acting. During the Korean War, he served in the U.S. Air Force, producing and directing shows for American troops. Following his military service, Hagman worked as a New York stage actor in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also appeared on various TV series, including a two-year stint on the daytime soap opera “The Edge of Night.” Hagman made his movie debut in 1964’s “Ensign Pulver,” whose cast also included Jack Nicholson. Hagman’s breakout role was on the hit sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” which aired from 1965 to 1970. He played astronaut Tony Nelson, who becomes “master” to a genie (played by Barbara Eden) whom he releases from a bottle he finds on a desert island. Following “I Dream of Jeannie,” Hagman appeared in several short-lived TV shows before the 1978 debut of “Dallas,” the prime-time soap opera about a wealthy, feuding Texas family, the Ewings. J.R. Ewing was originally intended to be a supporting character, but as portrayed by Hagman, the gleefully conniving, cowboy-hatted oil tycoon became the star of the show and someone audiences loved to hate. In the cliffhanger finale of the show’s second full season, broadcast on March 21, 1980, J.R. was gunned down by an unknown assailant, and the question of who shot him soon became a pop culture phenomenon. Hagman landed on multiple magazine covers, there were “I Shot J.R.” T-shirts and bookmakers even took bets on the identity of the person who pulled the trigger. The answer, finally revealed eight months later in an episode that aired November 21, 1980, turned out to be J.R.’s scorned ex-mistress, Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby). The episode was seen by an estimated 350 million viewers around the globe, and remains the second-highest-rated television program in U.S. history, after the final episode of “M*A*S*H” in 1983. J.R. survived the shooting, and Hagman went on to appear in all 357 episodes of the original “Dallas.” After “Dallas” ended in 1991, Hagman had roles in movies including “Nixon” (1995) and “Primary Colors” (1998) and made appearances on “Nip/Tuck,” “Desperate Housewives” and other television shows. In October 2011 the actor, who developed cirrhosis after years of heavy drinking and had a liver transplant in 1995, announced he had cancer but still would reprise his role as J.R. Ewing on the revival of “Dallas.” The rebooted “Dallas” premiered in June 2012, and Hagman died on November 23 of that same year. His death later was worked into the show, and in an episode that aired on March 4, 2013, the iconic J.R. was shot and killed by a then-unknown assailant. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/larry-hagman-star-of-dallas-and-i-dream-of-jeannie-dies)

Nov 23, 1990: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory creator Roald Dahl dies

On this day in 1990, Roald Dahl, the best-selling author of such children’s books as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, both of which were adapted for the big screen, dies at the age of 74 in Oxford, England. In addition to publishing a long list of children’s stories, Dahl wrote books for adults and penned numerous television scripts and screenplays, including the James Bond feature You Only Live Twice (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), starring Dick Van Dyke. Dahl was born September 13, 1916, in Llandaff, South Wales, and educated in England. During World War II, he was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. After publishing his first children’s book, The Gremlins, in 1943, Dahl wrote James and the Giant Peach, which was published in 1961 (and in 1996, adapted by Disney into a part live-action, part stop-motion animation movie). In 1964, Dahl followed up with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which became one of the best-loved children’s books of the 20th century. The book told the story of a poor boy named Charlie Bucket, who finds a Golden Ticket in a candy wrapper that grants him a tour of the famous but secret candy factory owned by the eccentric Willy Wonka. During his adventures in the candy factory, Charlie encounters a cast of strange and fantastic characters, including fellow golden ticket-holders Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt and Violet Beauregarde and the diminutive orange-skinned Oompa Loompas. Dahl penned the screenplay for his novel’s first big-screen adaptation, which was released in 1971 as Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder in the title role and Peter Ostrum as Charlie. Directed by Mel Stuart and shot primarily in Munich, Germany, the film received generally positive reviews but was a box-office disappointment. Dahl was critical of the film and opted not to sell the rights to the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which was first published in 1972. In 2005, a second film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, also based on Dahl’s book, was released and fared better at the box office. Directed by Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd), the film starred Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddy Highmore as Charlie and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design. From 1953 to 1983, Roald Dahl was married to the American actress Patricia Neal, whose film credits include Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and Hud (1963), for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-creator-roald-dahl-dies)

Nov 23, 1979: IRA member sentenced for Mountbatten's assassination

Thomas McMahon, a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), is sentenced to life imprisonment for preparing and planting the bomb that killed Lord Louis Mountbatten and three others three months before. On August 27, 1979, Lord Mountbatten was killed when McMahon and other IRA terrorists detonated a 50-pound bomb hidden on his fishing vessel Shadow V. Mountbatten, a World War II hero, elder statesman, and second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, was spending the day with his family in Donegal Bay off Ireland's northwest coast when the bomb exploded. Three others were killed in the attack, including Mountbatten's 14-year-old grandson, Nicholas. Later that day, an IRA bombing attack on land killed 18 British paratroopers in County Down, Northern Ireland. The assassination of Mountbatten was the first blow struck against the British royal family by the IRA during its long terrorist campaign to drive the British out of Northern Ireland and unite it with the Republic of Ireland to the south. The attack hardened the hearts of many Britons against the IRA and convinced Margaret Thatcher's government to take a hard-line stance against the terrorist organization. The IRA immediately claimed responsibility for the Mountbatten attack, saying it detonated the bomb by remote control from the coast. It also took responsibility for the same-day bombing attack against British troops in County Down, which claimed 18 lives. IRA member Thomas McMahon was later arrested and convicted for his role in the Mountbatten bombing. A near-legend in the IRA, he was a leader of the IRA's notorious South Armagh Brigade, which killed more than 100 British soldiers. He was one of the first IRA members to be sent to Libya to study detonators and timing devices and was an expert in explosives. Authorities believe the Mountbatten assassination was the work of many people, but McMahon was the only individual convicted. Sentenced to life in prison, he was released in 1998, along with other IRA and Unionist terrorists, under a controversial provision of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland's peace deal. McMahon claimed he had turned his back on the IRA and was becoming a carpenter.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ira-member-sentenced-for-mountbattens-assassination)

Nov 23, 1876: "Boss" Tweed delivered to authorities

William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, leader of New York City's corrupt Tammany Hall political organization during the 1860s and early 1870s, is delivered to authorities in New York City after his capture in Spain. Tweed became a powerful figure in Tammany Hall--New York City's Democratic political machine--in the late 1850s. By the mid 1860s, he had risen to the top position in the organization and formed the "Tweed Ring," which openly bought votes, encouraged judicial corruption, extracted millions from city contracts, and dominated New York City politics. The Tweed Ring reached its peak of fraudulence in 1871 with the remodeling of the City Court House, a blatant embezzlement of city funds that was exposed by The New York Times. Tweed and his flunkies hoped the criticism would blow over, but thanks to the efforts of opponents such as Harper's Weekly political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who conducted a crusade against Tweed, virtually every Tammany Hall member was swept from power in the elections of November 1871. All the Tweed Ring were subsequently tried and sentenced to prison. Boss Tweed served time for forgery and larceny and other charges but in 1875 escaped from prison and traveled to Cuba and Spain. In 1876, he was arrested by Spanish police, who reportedly recognized him from a famous Nash cartoon depiction. After Tweed's extradition to the United States, he was returned to prison, where he died in 1878. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/boss-tweed-delivered-to-authorities)

Nov 23, 1859: Billy the Kid born

The infamous Western outlaw known as "Billy the Kid" is born in a poor Irish neighborhood on New York City's East Side. Before he was shot dead at age 21, Billy reputedly killed 27 people in the American West. Billy the Kid called himself William H. Bonney, but his original name was probably Henry McCarty. Bonney was his mother Catherine's maiden name, and William was the first name of his mother's longtime companion--William Antrin--who acted as Billy's father after his biological father disappeared. Around 1865, Billy and his brother traveled west to Indiana with their mother and Antrin, and by 1870 the group was in Wichita, Kansas. They soon moved farther west, down the cattle trails, and in 1873 a legally married Catherine and William Antrin appeared on record in New Mexico territory. In 1874, Billy's mother died of lung cancer in Silver City. Billy soon left his brother and stepfather and took off into the New Mexico sagebrush. He worked as a ranch hand and in 1876 supposedly killed his first men, a group of reservation Apache Indians, in the Guadalupe Mountains. According to legend, it was not long before Billy killed another man, a blacksmith in Camp Grant, Arizona. Billy the Kid, as people began calling him, next found work as a rancher and bodyguard for John Tunstall, a English-born rancher who operated out of Lincoln, New Mexico. When members of a rival cattle gang killed Tunstall, in 1878, Billy became involved in the so-called Lincoln County War. Enraged at Tunstall's murder, Billy became a leader of a vigilante posse of "regulators" sent to arrest the killers. No arrests were made, however. Two of the murderers were shot dead by Billy's posse, and a worsening blood feud soon escalated into all-out warfare. After Billy's gang shot dead Lincoln Sheriff Bill Brady, who had sanctioned Tunstall's murder, Billy's enemies conspired with the territorial authorities to do away with the regulators. In July 1878, the rival gang surrounded the house where Billy and his gang were staying just outside of town. The siege stretched on for five days, and a U.S. Army squadron from nearby Fort Stanton was called in. Still, Billy and his gang refused to surrender. Suddenly, the regulators made a mass escape, and Billy and several of the other regulators miraculously managed to shoot their way out of town. After more than two years on the run, Billy was arrested by Lincoln Sheriff Pat Garrett, a man Billy had previously befriended before Garrett became a lawman. In April 1881, Billy was found guilty of the murder of Sheriff Brady and was sentenced to hang. On April 28, two weeks before his scheduled execution, Billy wrested a gun from one of his jailers and shot him and another deputy dead in a daring escape that received considerable national attention. On the night of July 14, 1881, Garrett finally tracked Billy down at a ranch near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He gained access to the house where Billy was visiting a girlfriend and then surprised him in the dark. Before the outlaw could offer resistance, Garret fired a bullet into his chest. Billy the Kid was dead at age 21. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/billy-the-kid-born)

Nov 23, 1499: Flemish pretender executed in London

Perkin Warbeck, who invaded England in 1497 claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV, is hanged for allegedly trying to escape from the Tower of London. Believed to be a native of Tournai in Belgium, Warbeck went to Ireland in 1491 and claimed he was Richard, duke of York, the second son of Edward IV. Richard and his elder brother were presumed murdered in the Tower of London by their uncle, King Richard III, in 1483. Warbeck found support from the enemies of King Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, and in 1497 landed at Cornwall and raised an army of 6,000 men. Faced with King Henry's larger army, he fled but was captured and imprisoned. In November 1499, he was executed. Warbeck's story was written by the Tudors--history's victors--and it might never be known whether he was actually Richard of York or just a Flemish impostor. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/flemish-pretender-executed-in-london)

Nov 23, 1980: Southern Italy rocked by earthquake

An earthquake strikes Southern Italy on this day 1980, killing more than 3,000 people. The casualty toll was so high in part because the tremor struck during Sunday night mass, as many residents sat in churches that crumbled in the quake. The 7.2-magnitude quake struck at 7:34 p.m. on a Sunday night and was centered in Eboli, south of Naples. In nearby Balvano, children were preparing for their first communion at the 1,000-year-old Conza Della Compagna church. The violent shaking demolished the church and killed scores of people, including 26 children. Throughout Southern Italy, fires broke out when gas lines ruptured. Since much of the area's water supply was disrupted by broken piping, firefighting efforts were severely hampered. In addition, extensive damage to the roads and railways leading into the small villages that dominated the region slowed down the rescue and relief efforts. To make matters even worse, a heavy fog blanketed the area that evening and the following morning. In the Apennine Mountains, hundreds of people were seriously injured in the village of Pescaopagano, but there was no way to help them because of the heavily damaged roads. Military helicopters attempted, with limited success, to drop supplies into the area. Over the next several weeks, it became clear that approximately 3,000 people had died and 300,000 more would be homeless as winter began. The government dispatched tents to more than 200 towns affected by the earthquake and further disaster was averted. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/southern-italy-rocked-by-earthquake)

Nov 23, 1959: The Birdman of Alcatraz is allowed a small taste of freedom

Robert Stroud, the famous "Birdman of Alcatraz," is released from solitary confinement for the first time since 1916. Stroud gained widespread fame and attention when author Thomas Gaddis wrote a biography that trumpeted Stroud's ornithological expertise. Stroud was first sent to prison in 1909 after he killed a bartender in a brawl. He had nearly completed his sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas when he stabbed a guard to death in 1916. Though he claimed to have acted in self-defense, he was convicted and sentenced to hang. A handwritten plea by Stroud's mother to President Woodrow Wilson earned Stroud a commuted sentence of life in permanent solitary confinement. For the next 15 years, Stroud lived amongst the canaries that were brought to him by visitors, and became an expert in birds and ornithological diseases. But after being ordered to give up his birds in 1931, he redirected his energies to writing about them and published his first book on ornithology two years later. When the publisher failed to pay Stroud royalties because he was barred from filing suit, Stroud took out advertisements complaining about the situation. Prison officials retaliated by sending him to Alcatraz, the federal prison with the worst conditions. In 1943, Stroud's Digest of the Diseases of Birds, a 500-page text that included his own illustrations, was published to general acclaim. In spite of his success, Stroud was depressed over the isolation he felt at Alcatraz, and he attempted suicide several times. The legendary "Birdman of Alcatraz" died in a Missouri prison in 1963 at the age of 73. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-birdman-of-alcatraz-is-allowed-a-small-taste-of-freedom)

Nov 23, 1981: Reagan gives CIA authority to establish the Contras

On this day, President Ronald Reagan signs off on a top secret document, National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), which gives the Central Intelligence Agency the power to recruit and support a 500-man force of Nicaraguan rebels to conduct covert actions against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. A budget of $19 million was established for that purpose. NSDD-17 marked the beginning of official U.S. support for the so-called Contras in their struggle against the Sandinistas. The decision came several months after President Reagan directed the CIA to develop a plan to stop what his administration believed to be a serious flow of arms from Nicaragua to rebels in neighboring El Salvador. The administration also believed that the Sandinista regime was merely a cat's paw for the Soviet Union. CIA officials subsequently set about securing pledges from Honduras to provide training bases and Argentina to give training to about 1,000 rebels (these would be in addition to the 500-man force trained and supplied by the CIA). Beyond the original goal of halting the flow of arms from Nicaragua, the tasks of the rebels were expanded to include spy missions and even paramilitary actions inside Nicaragua. News of the directive leaked out to the press in March 1982, but Reagan administration officials quickly downplayed the significance of the action. They argued that the CIA plan was designed to support Nicaraguan "moderates" who opposed the Sandinista regime, not the disreputable former soldiers and allies of Anastasio Somoza, whom the Sandinista overthrew in 1979. Deputy Director of the CIA Admiral Bobby R. Inman argued that the $19 million allocation provided little buying power for arms and other materials, saying that "Nineteen million or $29 million isn't going to buy you much of any kind these days, and certainly not against that kind of military force." In the years to come, U.S. support of the Contras became a highly charged issue among the American public. Congressional and public criticisms of the program eventually drove the Reagan administration to subvert congressional bans on aid to the Contras. These actions resulted in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/reagan-gives-cia-authority-to-establish-the-contras)

Civil War Nov 23, 1819: Union General Benjamin Prentiss is born

On this day in 1819, Union General Benjamin Prentiss is born in Belleville, Virginia. Prentiss served in a variety of capacities during the war but is best known for defending Arkansas during the Vicksburg campaign. Prentiss was raised in Missouri and moved to Quincy, Illinois, as a young man. He joined the Illinois militia, and was active when tensions arose between the Mormon and non-Mormon residents of the area after the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was lynched by a mob. When the Mexican War began in 1846, Prentiss raised a company of volunteers and served under General Zachary Taylor at Buena Vista. Upon his return to Illinois, Prentiss practiced law until the outbreak of the Civil War. He remained active in the militia and rose to the rank of colonel. At the beginning of the Civil War, Prentiss was placed in charge of Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. In August 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general and charged with protecting the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad across northern Missouri. His brigade was sent to join General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee, and he was elevated to divisional commander. Prentiss fought at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, and was caught in the infamous Hornet's Nest. He and part of his force were captured, and Prentiss spent six months in a Confederate prison. He was exchanged in October 1862 and later served on the court-martial board that convicted General Fitz John Porter, who was tried on charges of insubordination during the Battle of Second Bull Run, when he refused to conduct an attack ordered by his commander, John Pope. Porter was found guilty and cashiered from the army, but he said that Prentiss was "supposed unprejudiced, and acted so." After the Porter case closed, Prentiss commanded the District of Eastern Arkansas at Helena. He sent raids into the interior of the state and recruited escaped slaves into military service. On July 4, 1863, Prentiss's command held off an attack by General Sterling Price, who was trying, belatedly, to rescue the Confederate force inside of nearby Vicksburg, Mississippi. That garrison had already surrendered, but Prentiss emerged as the victor in the Battle of Helena. Despite this success, Prentiss found himself without a command when the Union reorganized the theater after the fall of Vicksburg. Prentiss requested a leave from the army, citing ill health and family concerns, as his wife had died in 1860 and he had young children. Prentiss spent the rest of his life as a land agent and postmaster in Missouri until he died in 1901. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/-benjamin-mayberry-prentiss-born)

Nov 23, 1966: Elvis Presley's "Spinout" opens in U.S. theaters

On this day in 1966, Elvis Presley's 22nd film, a rock 'n' roll musical called "Spinout" in which Elvis played a singing race car driver, opens in theaters across the U.S. The movie was the year's 57th highest-grossing film. "Spinout" was released on DVD in August 2004. In the movie, Elvis played Mike McCoy, the lead singer in a touring rock band and a race car driver. Toward the end of a weeklong gig in Southern California, McCoy goes for an afternoon spin in his Cobra racer and gets run into a ditch by Cynthia Foxhugh, a crazed fan (played by Shelley Fabares, who had starred in "The Donna Reed Show" and later had a big part in the sitcom "Coach"). Cynthia happens to be the daughter of local auto magnate Howard Fox hugh. She spends the rest of the film trying to win McCoy's heart, but she has competition: The snobbish intellectual Diana St. Clair (played by actor Diane McBain), who has just completed a book called "The Perfect American Male," and Les (played by Deborah Walley), the drummer in McCoy's band, are also vying for the suave singer/racer's affections. Meanwhile, Cynthia's father is pressuring McCoy to drive his fancy new "Fox Fire" car to victory in an upcoming race. In the end, McCoy manages to pair each of his admirers up with someone else, while he remains a happy bachelor, free to hit the road again in search of love. Presley's films are rarely noteworthy for their writing or their acting, but many people think that "Spinout" was better than average: The songs were catchy, and the racing scenes were comparatively exciting. Even some critics genuinely enjoyed the film. "Unusual for an Elvis comedy," one wrote, "'Spinout' is actually funny. Intentionally." The film is harmless enough," another said, "if about as deep as the stream Presley crashes his jaunty sports car into during the opening sequence." (On the other hand, the film was included in the book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They Got That Way)," so it's clear that not everyone shares this point of view.) "Spinout" was filmed on location at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and the Ascot Motor Car Racing Ground, a well-known dirt track nearby. Two hundred extras had bit parts in the road race scene. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/elvis-presleys-spinout-opens-in-us-theaters)

American Revolution Nov 23, 1749: Reluctant Patriot Edward Rutledge is born

On this day in 1749, Edward Rutledge, one of South Carolina's representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, is born in Charleston. Contrary to the majority of his Congressional colleagues, Rutledge advocated patience with regard to declaring independence. In a letter to John Jay, one of New York's representatives who was similarly disinclined to rush a declaration, Rutledge worried whether moderates like himself and Jay could "effectually oppose" a resolution for independence. Jay had urgent business in New York and therefore was not able to be present for the debates. Rutledge was the son of a physician who had emigrated from Ireland. Edward's elder brother John studied law at London's Middle Temple before returning to set up a lucrative practice in Charleston. Edward followed suit and studied first at Oxford University before being admitted to the English bar at the Middle Temple. He too returned to Charleston, where he married and began a family in a house across the street from his brother's. As revolutionary politics roiled the colonies, first John, then Edward served as South Carolina's representative to the Continental Congress. Neither Rutledge brother was eager to sever ties with Great Britain, but it fell to Edward to sign the Declaration of Independence to create the appearance of unanimity and strengthen the Patriots' stand. At age 26, Edward Rutledge was the youngest American to literally risk his neck by signing the document.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/reluctant-patriot-edward-rutledge-is-born)

World War II Nov 22, 1942: Soviets encircle Germans at Stalingrad

On this day in 1942, a Soviet counteroffensive against the German armies pays off as the Red Army traps about a quarter-million German soldiers south of Kalach, on the Don River, within Stalingrad. As the Soviets' circle tightened, German General Friedrich Paulus requested permission from Berlin to withdraw. The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a prize strategic coup, if it could be occupied. But despite repeated attempts, the German 6th Army, under Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army, under Ewald von Kleist, could not break past the adamantine defense by the Soviet 62nd Army, commanded by Gen. Vasily I. Chuikov, despite having pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad. Diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the cruelty of the Russian winter began to take their toll on the Germans. On November 19, the Soviets made their move, launching a counteroffensive that began with a massive artillery bombardment of the German position. The Soviets then assaulted the weakest link in the German force-inexperienced Romanian troops; 65,000 were ultimately taken prisoner by the Soviets. The Soviets then made a bold strategic move, encircling the enemy, launching pincer movements from north and south simultaneously, even as the Germans encircled Stalingrad. The Germans should have withdrawn, but Hitler wouldn't allow it. He wanted his armies to hold out until they could be reinforced. By the time those fresh troops arrived in December, it was too late. The Soviet position was too strong, and the Germans were exhausted. It was then only a matter of time before the Germans would be forced to surrender. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-encircle-germans-at-stalingrad)

World War I Nov 22, 1914: Fighting suspended in Ypres Salient

On November 22, 1914, the first extended battle fought between Allied and German forces in the much-contested Ypres Salient during World War I comes to an end after over one month of fighting. After the aggressive German advance through Belgium and eastern France was decisively halted by the Allied victory in the Battle of the Marne in late September 1914, the so-called "Race to the Sea" began, as each army attempted to outflank the other on its way northward, hastily constructing trench fortifications as they went. The race ended in mid-October at Ypres, the ancient Flemish city with fortifications guarding the ports of the English Channel. On October 19, the Germans launched their so-called Flanders Offensive, aimed at breaking the Allied lines and capturing Ypres and other channel ports, thus gaining control of the outlets to the Channel and the North Sea beyond. The Allies held fast in their resistance, seeking the chance to go on the attack themselves whenever possible. On the last day of October, German cavalry units began a more concentrated assault, forcing British cavalry from their position at Messines Ridge, near the southern end of the salient. Further to the north, General Douglas Haig's 1st British Corps managed to hold its lines with superior rifle fire, leading many Germans to mistakenly believe they were facing British machine guns. Another German attack on November 11 almost toppled the British in the town of Hooge, but a motley crew of British defenders--including cooks, medical orderlies, clerks and engineers--was able to exploit German indecisiveness and eventually drive the enemy back to its own lines. Chaotic fighting continued without respite throughout the next three weeks at Ypres, with heavy casualties suffered on both sides. On November 22, fighting was suspended with the arrival of harsher winter weather. The protracted First Battle of Ypres--or simply "First Ypres" as British survivors referred to it--had taken the lives of more than 5,000 British and 5,000 German soldiers and the region would see far more bloodshed over the four years to come, as both sides struggled to defend the positions established during that first month of conflict. In the memorable words of one British soldier, Private Donald Fraser, "one was not a soldier unless he had served on the Ypres front." On November 22, 1914, the first extended battle fought between Allied and German forces in the much-contested Ypres Salient during World War I comes to an end after over one month of fighting. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fighting-suspended-in-ypres-salient0

Vietnam War Nov 22, 1972: First B-52 shot down over North Vietnam

The United States loses its first B-52 of the war. The eight-engine bomber was brought down by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile near Vinh on the day when B-52s flew their heaviest raids of the war over North Vietnam. The Communistss claimed 19 B-52s shot down to date. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-b-52-shot-down-over-north-vietnam)

Vietnam War Nov 22, 1967: Westmoreland claims U.S. victory at Dak To

General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, briefs officials at the Pentagon and says that the battle around Dak To was "the beginning of a great defeat for the enemy." The battle for Dak To began on November 3 when 4,500 U.S. troops from the U.S. 4th Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade engaged four communist regiments of about 6,000 troops in the Central Highlands. The climax of the operation came in a savage battle that began on November 19 on Hill 875, 12 miles southwest of Dak To. The 173rd defeated the North Vietnamese, causing them to abandon their last defensive line on the ridge of Hill 875. However, it was a costly victory for the Americans, who suffered the loss of 135 men. In the 19 days of the battle in and around Dak To, North Vietnamese fatalities were estimated at 1,455. Total U.S. casualties included 285 killed, 985 wounded, and 18 missing. In his briefing at the Pentagon, Westmoreland stressed the positive outcome of the battle. He revealed that a document removed from the body of a dead North Vietnamese soldier on November 6 stated that the Dak To battle was to be the beginning of a winter/spring offensive by the Communist B-3 Front. This document also revealed that the main objective of the action at Dak To was the destruction of a major American unit. The communists came close but ultimately failed in this objective. The Americans, despite heavy losses, defeated the North Vietnamese, mauling three enemy regiments so badly that the they had to be withdrawn from South Vietnam to Cambodian and Laotian sanctuaries for refitting. Westmoreland was reportedly brought home from Vietnam by President Johnson to fulfill a public relations task and revive flagging morale throughout the country. His message on U.S. military prospects in Vietnam was continually optimistic, as he emphasized that progress was being made in the fight against the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. These public statements came back to haunt him when the communists launch a massive offensive during the Tet New Year holiday on January 30, 1968. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/westmoreland-claims-us-victory-at-dak-to)

Vietnam War Nov 22, 1963: JFK assassinated in Dallas

On this day, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. Kennedy took office on January 20, 1961. From the start of his term, he was faced with a deteriorating situation in Southeast Asia, in which both Laos and South Vietnam were threatened by communist insurgencies. In July 1962, Kennedy's roving ambassador, W. Averell Harriman, negotiated an international agreement that arranged for a neutral coalition government in Laos. Kennedy was less successful in South Vietnam, where U.S. military advisers had been training the South Vietnamese Army since 1954. The government of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem was threatened by a communist-dominated guerrilla movement called the National Liberation Front. In 1961, Kennedy demonstrated America's commitment to Diem's government by increasing the number of military advisers from 500 to 15,000 and ordering them into combat. By late 1963, Kennedy realized that Diem was more interested in maintaining his own power than in defeating the communists, so Kennedy did nothing to stop d! issident South Vietnamese generals from planning a coup against Diem. The coup began on November 1 and was successful; Diem was killed in the process. President Kennedy himself was assassinated only three weeks later. There has been much conjecture about what Kennedy ultimately would have done about the worsening situation in Vietnam--many have asserted that he would not have escalated the war as did his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. There were more than 16,000 advisers and other U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam when Kennedy was assassinated. Under Johnson, who said he was continuing Kennedy's policies on Southeast Asia, that number grew to over 500,000 by 1969. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jfk-assassinated-in-dallas)

Nov 22, 1986: Mike Tyson becomes the youngest heavyweight champ in history

On November 22, 1986, 20-year-old Mike Tyson knocks out 33-year-old Trevor Berbick in just five minutes and 35 seconds to become the youngest titleholder ever. "I’m the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in history," Tyson told his manager after the fight, "and I’m going to be the oldest." Tyson’s bravado wasn’t misplaced: When he walked into the ring to face Berbick, he had won all 27 of the matches he’d fought, knocking out 26 of his opponents. He threw unbelievably hard punches--"pineapples," trainer Angelo Dundee called them. Ref Mills Lane agreed: "Everything he’s got has ‘good night’ written all over it," he said. Berbick refused to be intimidated by the younger man’s furious arm and decided--unwisely, it turned out--to stand up to Tyson instead of boxing him. He didn’t bob or weave or even throw punches. He just stood there, wanting to show the world that he could take whatever Tyson was dishing out. "I was trying to prove to myself that I could take his best shot," Berbick said, but "he punches pretty hard." Tyson had a plan, too: "I wanted to throw every punch with bad intentions," he said after the fight. "I was throwing--what can I say--hydrogen bombs." During the first round, Berbick had fought in such slow motion that he looked like he was underwater; early in the second, Tyson walloped him to the mat with a powerful left hook. The older man bounced up, but Tyson thumped him again. Berbick froze; then his legs buckled and he fell. The ref began to count while the champ struggled to get up. He lifted himself off the mat twice, and twice his legs wobbled so much that he fell again. He finally made it up, but Lane stopped the fight anyway. "Berbick was up," he said later, "but to allow somebody to get hit in that condition, that’s criminal." Tyson kept his title for nine more bouts, until Buster Douglas beat him in 1990. After that, his life unraveled. He was sent to prison for three years for rape. Then, five fights into his comeback in 1995, he bit off a part of Evander Holyfield’s ear and was disqualified. He retired for good in 2005. Berbick didn’t fare much better: He, too, spent time in prison for rape, and was found dead (of "chop wounds" to his head, according to the coroner’s report) in a church courtyard in Jamaica in 2006. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mike-tyson-becomes-the-youngest-heavyweight-champ-in-history)

Nov 22, 1963: Kennedy becomes fourth president to be assassinated

On this day in 1963, the nation is shocked by the assassination of its president, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was riding in an open car in Dallas, Texas, when a gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at him from an upper-level window of a nearby building. Kennedy was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Dallas hospital. He was the fourth president in U.S. history to be assassinated. A bystander named Abraham Zapruder happened to capture Kennedy's shooting on his 8mm home-movie camera. Zapruder's film provided graphic visuals of JFK's death and has since been analyzed extensively for evidence of a potential conspiracy. Even decades later, some scholars, investigators and amateur sleuths continue to insist that Kennedy's death was a coup d'etat committed by hard-line U.S. anti-communists who feared Kennedy would pull U.S. advisors out of Vietnam and act "soft" on the communist threat from the USSR. Another conspiracy theory that involves a coordinated effort by organized crime, the Pentagon and the CIA to murder the president was explored by director Oliver Stone in his 1991 film JFK. In 1964, however, the federally appointed Warren Commission issued a report on the assassination and concluded that Oswald acted alone. A second investigation conducted in 1979 concluded that there may have been a second gunman, but it concurred with the first report that Oswald was the actual killer. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln became the first president to be assassinated when he was shot by a Confederate sympathizer while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. In 1881, James Garfield was shot by a disgruntled federal employee and lived 80 days before succumbing to his wounds. William McKinley was killed by an anarchist in 1901. Several other presidents have survived or narrowly avoided assassination attempts. Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest in 1981, but survived. Gerald Ford escaped two assassination attempts. An attempt on Andrew Jackson's life in 1835 was foiled when both of the gunman's two pistols failed to discharge properly. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kennedy-becomes-fourth-president-to-be-assassinated)

Nov 22, 1916: Jack London dies of kidney disease

Jack London, one of the best novelists to chronicle the last wild western frontier of Alaska, dies from kidney failure in Glen Ellen, California. Born in San Francisco in 1876, John Griffith London was the child of an unmarried mother who had come from a once wealthy family that had fallen on hard times. It is believed that his father was William Chaney, an itinerant journalist and lawyer whose main claim to fame was his role in popularizing the American study of astrology. However, Jack took the name of John London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran his mother married in 1876, the year Jack was born. Growing up in poverty, London nonetheless had a colorful adolescence filled with adventure and excitement. Before he reached the age of 19, London sailed the Pacific on a whaling boat, hoboed around the countryside, and joined Kelly's Army of unemployed protestors against American economic inequality. When he was 19, he crammed a four-year high school course into one year of intensive studies and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley. He quit college after only one year to join the Klondike gold rush, but remained a voracious reader and student throughout his life. Although his lasting claim to fame came from his stories of the Alaskan gold frontier, London only spent a brief time in the Klondike in the winter of 1897 searching for his fortune. Like most gold seekers, London's prospecting efforts failed. However, he returned to California with a trove of stories and tall tales that eventually proved even more valuable. London published his first stories of the Alaskan frontier in 1899, and he eventually produced over 50 volumes of short stories, novels, and political essays. His 1903 novel about a domestic dog who joins an Alaskan wolf pack, The Call of the Wild, brought him lasting fame and reflected his beliefs in Social Darwinism. Interestingly, despite his identification with rugged individualism and fierce competition, London was a committed socialist and supporter of the American labor movement. Although his writing was lucrative, London spent piles of money on an enormous house and ranching operation in California; to pay for these, he wrote throughout his life. Plagued by illnesses from an early age, London developed a kidney disease of unknown origin and died on November 22, 1916 at only 40 years old. Recent scholarship has discredited claims made by earlier biographers that London was an alcoholic womanizer who took his own life. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jack-london-dies-of-kidney-disease)

Nov 22, 1975: KC and the Sunshine band top the U.S. pop charts with "That's The Way (I Like It)"

One of the most popular American pop groups of its time, KC and the Sunshine Band earned the second of their five #1 pop hits on this day in 1975 when "That's The Way (I Like It)" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100. With their breakthrough single, "Get Down Tonight" (1975), having implored listeners to "Do a little dance" and "Make a little love...," KC and the Sunshine Band's follow-up mined very much the same territory with its driving, danceable beat and its frank declaration, "That's the way/Uh-huh, Uh-huh/I like i/Uh-Huh." But as risqué as the lyrics written by Harry Wayne Casey and his songwriting partner (and Sunshine Band co-founder), Richard Finch, tended to be, they were always delivered in a way that was more exuberant than suggestive. AM radio—white pop stations and black R&B stations alike—loved the racially integrated KC and the Sunshine Band, and so did many critics. As Steven Ditlea wrote in a rave New York Times review of one of the group's live appearances, "KC has the stage presence and the musical ability to bridge the cultural chasm separating white performers and black listeners as well as between black music and white audiences." Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch first began working together musically as low-level employees at a small, Hialeah-based record label called T.K. Their big break came in 1974, when a struggling T.K. artist named George McCrae overheard an instrumental track Casey and Finch had recorded on their own and volunteered his services as a singer. In just two takes, McCrae recorded the vocal track on a record called "Rock Your Baby," which was released in the spring of 1974 and went on to sell upwards of 3 million copies on its way to becoming a #1 pop hit. Following the success of "Rock Your Baby," Casey and Finch released an album called Do It Good that failed to find a large audience, but their second studio album, KC and the Sunshine Band (1975), was a multi-platinum smash that included both of the group's first two #1 pop hits as well as a third major hit in "Boogie Shoes." (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kc-and-the-sunshine-band-top-the-us-pop-charts-with-quotthat39s-the-way-i-like-itquot)

Nov 22, 1819: George Eliot is born

Mary Ann Evans, later known as George Eliot, is born on this day in Warwickshire, England. Eliot attended several schools until her mother's death in 1841, after which she moved to Coventry with her father. In Coventry, Eliot grew close with her neighbors, the radical intellectual Bray family. With their encouragement, Eliot began writing translations and reviews. After her father's death in 1849, she moved to London to become a freelance writer. There, she boarded with the family of John Chapman, who had published some of her work. Chapman purchased the Westminster Review in 1842, which Eliot edited for three years. About this time, Eliot became involved with married journalist and writer George Henry Lewes. Lewes was unable to obtain a divorce under strict Victorian statutes, so Lewes and Eliot lived together, but never married. Her polite Victorian acquaintances refused to call on her. Fearful that her unconventional relationship would provoke unfair criticism of her work, she began publishing fiction under the pseudonym George Eliot. Her earliest published fiction, several rural sketches, were published as a book, Scenes of Clerical Life (1858). Her first full-length novel, Adam Bede, was published in 1859. It was well received, as were most of her other six other novels, including The Mill on the Floss (1869) and Silas Marner (1861). Middlemarch, published in eight parts from 1871 to 1872, was Eliot's masterpiece. The novel presented a sweeping survey of all social classes in a rural town, drawing psychological insights that set the stage for the modern novel. After Lewes' death in 1878, Eliot married John Cross, her investment manager who was some 20 years her junior. She died seven months later. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-eliot-is-born)

Nov 22, 2002: Die Another Day released 40 years after first Bond film

On this day in 2002, the James Bond movie Die Another Day, starring Pierce Brosnan as the fictional British secret service agent also known by his code number, 007, opens in theaters across the United States. The film’s debut came almost exactly 40 years after the first Bond movie, Dr. No, was released in Great Britain in October 1962. (Coincidentally, the title song from the Die Another Day soundtrack, written and performed by Madonna, was released 20 years after the pop icon debuted her first single, “Everybody.”) Die Another Day also marked Brosnan’s last appearance as the debonair 007, a role he had played in three previous films. James Bond was the creation of British author and journalist Ian Fleming (1908-1964), who wrote 14 Bond novels. The first Bond book, Casino Royale, debuted in 1953. Dr. No, the first Bond film, was adapted from the sixth Bond novel and starred Sean Connery. The Scottish-born actor went on to play Bond in From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967). The Australian actor George Lazenby assumed the role of Bond for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), while Connery returned for Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Never Say Never Again (1983), a film regarded as “unofficial” because it wasn’t produced by EON Productions, the company behind all the other Bond films in the series. The British actor Roger Moore took over as Bond for 1973’s Live and Let Die, which he followed with The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983) and A View to a Kill (1985). The Welsh-born actor Timothy Dalton portrayed Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). Brosnan was the fifth man to assume the role of Bond, with 1995’s Golden Eye. The Irish-born actor also portrayed 007 in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The World is Not Enough (1999), before making his final appearance as the dashing secret agent in Die Another Day, which co-starred Halle Berry. The British actor Daniel Craig became the next Bond, in 2006’s Casino Royale. Along with George Lucas’ Star Wars series and the films based on the best-selling Harry Potter books, the James Bond franchise is among the most lucrative in the history of movies. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/die-another-day-released-40-years-after-first-bond-film)

Nov 22, 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns

Margaret Thatcher, the first woman prime minister in British history, announces her resignation after 11 years in Britain's top office. Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham, England, in 1925. In 1959, after marrying businessman Denis Thatcher and giving birth to twins, she was elected to Parliament as a Conservative for Finchley, a north London district. During the 1960s, she rose rapidly in the ranks of the Conservative Party and in 1967 joined the shadow cabinet sitting in opposition to Harold Wilson's ruling Labour cabinet. With the victory of the Conservative Party under Edward Health in 1970, Thatcher became secretary of state for education and science. In 1974, the Labour Party returned to power, and Thatcher served as joint shadow chancellor before replacing Edward Health as the leader of the Conservative Party in February 1975. She was the first woman to head the Conservatives. Under her leadership, the Conservative Party shifted further right in its politics, calling for privatization of national industries and utilities and promising a resolute defense of Britain's interests abroad. She also sharply criticized Prime Minister James Callaghan's ineffectual handling of the chaotic labor strikes of 1978 and 1979. In March 1979, Callaghan was defeated by a vote of no confidence, and on May 3 a general election gave Thatcher's Conservatives a 44-seat majority in Parliament. Sworn in the next day, Prime Minister Thatcher immediately set about dismantling socialism in Britain. She privatized numerous industries, cut back government expenditures, and gradually reduced the rights of trade unions. In 1983, despite the worst unemployment figures for half a decade, Thatcher was reelected to a second term, thanks largely to the decisive British victory in the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina. In other foreign affairs, the "Iron Lady" presided over the orderly establishment of an independent Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) in 1980 and took a hard stance against Irish separatists in Northern Ireland. In October 1984, an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton. The prime minister narrowly escaped harm. In 1987, an upswing in the economy led to her election to a third term, but Thatcher soon alienated some members of her own party because of her poll-tax policies and opposition to further British integration into the European Community. In November 1990, she failed to receive a majority in the Conservative Party's annual vote for selection of a leader. She withdrew her nomination, and John Major, the chancellor of the Exchequer since 1989, was chosen as Conservative leader. On November 22, she announced her resignation and six days later was succeeded by Major. Thatcher's three consecutive terms in office marked the longest continuous tenure of a British prime minister since 1827. In 1992, she was made a baroness and took a seat in the House of Lords. In 2011, the former prime minister was the subject of an award-winning (and controversial) biographical film, "The Iron Lady," which depicted her political rise and fall. Margaret Thatcher died on April 8, 2013, at the age of 87, following a stroke. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/margaret-thatcher-resigns)

Nov 22, 1988: Stealth bomber unveiled

In the presence of members of Congress and the media, the Northrop B-2 "stealth" bomber is shown publicly for the first time at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The aircraft, which was developed in great secrecy for nearly a decade, was designed with stealth characteristics that would allow it to penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses unnoticed. At the time of its public unveiling, the B-2 had not even been flown on a test flight. It rapidly came under fire for its massive cost--more than $40 billion for development and a $1 billion price tag for each unit. In 1989, the B-2 was successfully flown, performing favorably. Although the aircraft had a wingspan of nearly half a football field, its radar signal was as negligible as that of a bird. The B-2 also successfully evaded infrared, sound detectors, and the visible eye. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the original order for the production of 132 stealth bombers was reduced to 21 aircraft. The B-2 has won a prominent place in the modern U.S. Air Force fleet, serving well in bombing missions during the 1990s. (History.com) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/stealth-bomber-unveiled)

Nov 22, 1718: Blackbeard killed off North Carolina

Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, is killed off North Carolina's Outer Banks during a bloody battle with a British navy force sent from Virginia. Believed to be a native of England, Edward Teach likely began his pirating career in 1713, when he became a crewman aboard a Caribbean sloop commanded by pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1717, after Hornigold accepted an offer of general amnesty by the British crown and retired as a pirate, Teach took over a captured 26-gun French merchantman, increased its armament to 40 guns, and renamed it the Queen Anne's Revenge. During the next six months, the Queen Anne's Revenge served as the flagship of a pirate fleet featuring up to four vessels and more than 200 men. Teach became the most infamous pirate of his day, winning the popular name of Blackbeard for his long, dark beard, which he was said to light on fire during battles to intimidate his enemies. Blackbeard's pirate forces terrorized the Caribbean and the southern coast of North America and were notorious for their cruelty. In May 1718, the Queen Anne's Revenge and another vessel were shipwrecked, forcing Blackbeard to desert a third ship and most of his men because of a lack of supplies. With the single remaining ship, Blackbeard sailed to Bath in North Carolina and met with Governor Charles Eden. Eden agreed to pardon Blackbeard in exchange for a share of his sizable booty. At the request of North Carolina planters, Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia dispatched a British naval force under Lieutenant Robert Maynard to North Carolina to deal with Blackbeard. On November 22, Blackbeard's forces were defeated and he was killed in a bloody battle of Ocracoke Island. Legend has it that Blackbeard, who captured more than 30 ships in his brief pirating career, received five musket-ball wounds and 20 sword lacerations before dying. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blackbeard-killed-off-north-carolina)

Nov 22, 1950: Commuter trains collide in New York City

Two Long Island Railroad (LIRR) commuter trains collide on this day in 1950, killing 79 people. Defective equipment caused this horrific rear-end collision, the worst in the history of the LIRR. The accident occurred in the Richmond Hills section of Queens. A 12-car train carrying commuters from Manhattan to Hempstead on Long Island was ordered to slow down as it entered the station in Queens. Engineer William Murphy cut the speed to 15 miles per hour and then to a complete stop. As the train stood still on the tracks, rear flagman Bertram Biggin got off the train with a red lamp in order to warn any approaching trains of its presence. Soon, the train got a green light to move on and the Hempstead train attempted to restart its journey. Biggin got back on the train, but the stop had caused the train's brakes to lock. The express train to Babylon was on the same tracks just minutes behind and had green lights to proceed. It hit the rear of the Hempstead train going 40 miles per hour, smashing into and under the rear car, throwing it high into the air. Benjamin Pokorney, the motorman of the Babylon train, was killed, along with everyone traveling in the rear car. Another 363 people suffered significant injuries. New York City Mayor Vincent Impellitari called the LIRR a "disgraceful common carrier" following the discovery that defective equipment that was not maintained properly was responsible for the accident. Millions of dollars in damages were eventually paid to the victims and their families. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/commuter-trains-collide-in-new-york-city)

Nov 22, 1963: Kennedy assassinated

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated during a visit to Dallas, Texas. His death caused intense mourning in the United States and brought Vice President Lyndon Johnson to the presidency. Kennedy's untimely death also left future generations with a great many "what if" questions concerning the subsequent history of the Cold War. In the years since Kennedy's death, a number of supporters argued that had he lived he would have done much to bring the Cold War to a close. Some have suggested that he would have sharply curtailed military spending and brought the arms race under control. The most persistent claim, which served as the centerpiece of Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK, is that Kennedy would have withdrawn U.S. troops from Vietnam after being re-elected in 1964. Stone went on to charge that right-wing militants in the U.S. government coordinated the assassination plot. It is difficult to say what Kennedy would have done had he not been killed in November 1963, but the arguments raised by Stone and others do not seem supported by the available evidence. During his brief presidency, Kennedy consistently requested higher military spending, asking for billions in increased funding. After the humiliating defeat at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, his administration approved Operation Mongoose, a CIA program that involved plots to destabilize the communist government in Cuba. There was even discussion about assassinating Cuban leader Fidel Castro. In Vietnam, Kennedy increased the number of U.S. advisers from around 1,500 when he took office, to more than 16,000 by the time of his death. His administration also participated in the planning of the coup that ultimately overthrew South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was murdered by his own military just three weeks prior to Kennedy's assassination. If Kennedy was going to become less of a cold warrior after 1964, there was little to suggest this change prior to November 22, 1963. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kennedy-assassinated)

Civil War Nov 22, 1864: Confederate General Hood enters Tennessee

On this day in 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in a desperate attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman out of Georgia. This movement was part of the saga of Hood's Army of Tennessee in 1864. In the spring, the army, commanded then by Joseph Johnston, blocked Sherman's path to Atlanta from Chattanooga. During the summer, Sherman and Johnston fought a series of relatively small engagements as Sherman tried to flank the Rebel army. Johnston slowly retreated toward Atlanta, but kept his army intact. By July, Confederate President Jefferson Davis had seen enough territory lost to the Yankees, so he replaced the defensive Johnston with the aggressive Hood. Hood made a series of attacks on Sherman outside of Atlanta that did nothing but diminish his own army's capabilities. After a one-month siege, Hood was forced to withdraw from Atlanta. He took his army south, then swung around west of Atlanta in an attempt to cut Sherman's supply line. This line ran down the corridor from Chattanooga covering the same ground over which the two armies had fought in the summer. Although Sherman had to commit a substantial part of his force to protect the lines, Hood could do little more than pick at them. In October, Hood headed into Alabama to rest his beleaguered army. Hood then embarked on a bold expedition to save the western theater for the Confederates. He planned to move toward Nashville, into Kentucky and maybe even into the Northern states before turning east and joining up with General Robert E. Lee's army, which was under siege at Petersburg, Virginia. It was an enormous task, but Hood was determined to carry it out. The November 22 passage into Tennessee marked the start of a new campaign that spelled disaster for the Confederates. In early November, Sherman took part of his force, cut loose from his supply lines, and began his March to the Sea, which would end with the capture of Savannah, Georgia, just before Christmas. He sent the rest of the force under George Thomas back to Nashville to guard against Hood. Hood charged toward Thomas and attacked part of his force at Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30. Hood suffered a devastating defeat there but continued on to attack Thomas at Nashville on December 15. After that attack, little remained of Hood's once-proud Army of Tennessee History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/-hood-enters-tennessee)

Nov 22, 1900: First Mercedes goes for a test drive

On this day in 1900, the first car to be produced under the Mercedes name is taken for its inaugural drive in Cannstatt, Germany. The car was specially built for its buyer, Emil Jellinek, an entrepreneur with a passion for fast, flashy cars. Jellinek had commissioned the Mercedes car from the German company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft: it was lighter and sleeker than any car the company had made before, and Jellinek was confident that it would win races so handily that besotted buyers would snap it up. (He was so confident that he bought 36 of them.) In exchange for this extraordinary patronage, the company agreed to name its new machine after Jellinek's 11-year-old daughter, Mercedes. In 1886, the German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach had built one of the world's first "horseless carriages," a four-wheeled carriage with an engine bolted to it. In 1889, the two men built the world's first four-wheeled automobile to be powered by a four-stroke engine. They formed Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft the next year. In 1896, Emil Jellinek saw an ad for the D-M-G auto in a German magazine. Then, as the story goes, he traveled to D-M-G's Cannstatt factory, charged onto the factory floor wearing a pith helmet, pince-nez and mutton-chop sideburns and demanded that the company sell him the most spectacular car it had. That car was sturdy, but it could only go 15 miles per hour--not even close to fast enough for Jellinek. In 1898, he ordered two more cars, stipulating that they be able to go at least 10 miles per hour faster than the first one could. Daimler complied; the result was the 8-horsepower Phoenix. Jellinek was impressed enough with the Phoenix that he began to sell them to his friends: 10 in 1899, 29 in 1900. At the same time, he needed a racing car that could go even faster. Jellinek went back to D-M-G with a business proposition: if it would build him the world's best speedster (and name it the Mercedes), he would buy 36 of them. The new Mercedes car was fast. It also introduced the aluminum crankcase, magnalium bearings, the pressed-steel frame, a new kind of coil-spring clutch and the honeycomb radiator (essentially the same one that today's Mercedes use). It was longer, wider, and lower than the Phoenix and had better brakes. Also, a mechanic could convert the new Mercedes from a two-seat racer to a four-seat family car in just a few minutes.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-mercedes-goes-for-a-test-drive)

American Revolution Nov 22, 1783: John Hanson, so-called first president, dies

On this day in 1783, John Hanson, the first president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation, dies in his home state of Maryland. Hanson is sometimes called the first president of the United States, but this is a misnomer, since the presidency did not exist as an executive position separate from Congress until the federal Constitution created the role upon its ratification in 1789. Hanson was the self-educated son of Charles County, Maryland, farmers. His family had lived in Maryland for three generations beginning with the emigration from England of his grandfather, for whom he was named. At age 25, John married 16-year-old Jane Contee in Maryland. Their lasting union produced nine children, five of whom survived to adulthood, although their son Peter was later killed in action as a Continental soldier at Fort Washington, New York, in November 1776. Hanson's political career began in 1757 with his election to the Maryland Colonial Assembly. He returned to represent Charles County again from 1758-1763, 1765, 1766 and 1768-1769. As colonial-British relations frayed, Hanson took a seat in the revolutionary Annapolis Convention, which took control of the colony from the British in 1774 and renamed itself the Assembly of Freemen in 1776. An outspoken supporter of the Patriot cause, Hanson was instrumental in Maryland's decision to back the rebels laying siege to British-controlled Boston in the aftermath of the battles of Lexington and Concord. Named a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779, Hanson served in that body from 1780 to 1782, including a term as the president of Congress (a position similar to that of prime minister in the British Parliament) from 1781 to 1782, during which time the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified and General George Washington defeated the British army at Yorktown, Virginia. Upon the ratification of the Articles on March 1, 1781, the Continental Congress became the "Congress of the Confederation" or the "United States in Congress Assembled." Hanson was the first president of that body, but not of the United States. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-hanson-so-called-first-president-dies)

Nov 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy assassinated

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible. First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas' Parkland Hospital. He was 46. Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field airport. The swearing in was witnessed by some 30 people, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her husband's blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington. The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first proclamation, declaring November 25 to be a day of national mourning for the slain president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caisson bear Kennedy's body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew's Catholic Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then continued on to Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders of 99 nations gathered for the state funeral. Kennedy was buried with full military honors on a slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame was lit by his widow to forever mark the grave. Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, joined the U.S. Marines in 1956. He was discharged in 1959 and nine days later left for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become a citizen. He worked in Minsk and married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was allowed to return to the United States with his wife and infant daughter. In early 1963, he bought a .38 revolver and rifle with a telescopic sight by mail order, and on April 10 in Dallas he allegedly shot at and missed former U.S. Army general Edwin Walker, a figure known for his extreme right-wing views. Later that month, Oswald went to New Orleans and founded a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro-Castro organization. In September 1963, he went to Mexico City, where investigators allege that he attempted to secure a visa to travel to Cuba or return to the USSR. In October, he returned to Dallas and took a job at the Texas School Book Depository Building. Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas. Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by police responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit. On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. A crowd of police and press with live television cameras rolling gathered to witness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from a concealed .38 revolver. Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed that rage at Kennedy's murder was the motive for his action. Some called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree murder. Jack Ruby, originally known as Jacob Rubenstein, operated strip joints and dance halls in Dallas and had minor connections to organized crime. He features prominently in Kennedy-assassination theories, and many believe he killed Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger conspiracy. In his trial, Ruby denied the allegation and pleaded innocent on the grounds that his great grief over Kennedy's murder had caused him to suffer "psychomotor epilepsy" and shoot Oswald unconsciously. The jury found Ruby guilty of "murder with malice" and sentenced him to die. In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the decision on the grounds of improper admission of testimony and the fact that Ruby could not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time. In January 1967, while awaiting a new trial, to be held in Wichita Falls, Ruby died of lung cancer in a Dallas hospital. The official Warren Commission report of 1964 concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby were part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic or international, to assassinate President Kennedy. Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may have involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's findings, as with those of the Warren Commission, continue to be widely disputed. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kennedy-assassinated)

Nov 21, 1980: Millions tune in to find out who shot J.R.

On this day in 1980, 350 million people around the world tune in to television's popular primetime drama "Dallas" to find out who shot J.R. Ewing, the character fans loved to hate. J.R. had been shot on the season-ending episode the previous March 21, which now stands as one of television's most famous cliffhangers. The plot twist inspired widespread media coverage and left America wondering "Who shot J.R.?" for the next eight months. The November 21 episode solved the mystery, identifying Kristin Shepard, J.R.'s wife's sister and his former mistress, as the culprit. The CBS television network debuted the first five-episode pilot season of "Dallas" in 1978; it went on to run for another 12 full-length seasons. The first show of its kind, "Dallas" was dubbed a "primetime soap opera" for its serial plots and dramatic tales of moral excess. The show revolved around the relations of two Texas oil families: the wealthy, successful Ewing family and the perpetually down-on-their-luck Barnes family. The families' patriarchs, Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes, were former partners locked in a years-long feud over oil fields Barnes claimed had been stolen by Ewing. Ewing's youngest son Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and Barnes' daughter Pam (Victoria Principal) had married, linking the battling clans even more closely. The character of J.R. Ewing, Bobby's oldest brother and a greedy, conniving, womanizing scoundrel, was played by Larry Hagman. As J.R. had many enemies, audiences were hard-pressed to guess who was responsible for his attempted murder. That summer, the question "Who Shot J.R.?" entered the national lexicon, becoming a popular t-shirt slogan, and heightening anticipation of the soap's third season, which was to air in the fall. After a much-talked-about contract dispute with Hagman was finally settled, the season was delayed because of a Screen Actors Guild strike, much to the dismay of "Dallas" fans. When it finally aired, the episode revealing J.R.'s shooter became one of television's most watched shows, with an audience of 83 million people in the U.S. alone—a full 76 percent of all U.S. televisions on that night were tuned in—and helped put "Dallas" into greater worldwide circulation. It also popularized the use of the cliffhanger by television writers. The shooting of J.R. wasn't "Dallas'" only notorious plot twist. In September 1986, fans learned that the entire previous season, in which main character Bobby Ewing had died, was merely a dream of Pam's. The show's writers had killed the Bobby character off because Duffy had decided to leave the show. When he agreed to return, they featured him stepping out of the shower on the season-ending cliffhanger, and then were forced the next season to explain his sudden reappearance. The last premiere episode of "Dallas" aired on May 3, 1991. A spin-off, "Knots Landing," aired from December 27, 1979 until May 13, 1993. "Dallas" remains in syndication around the world.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/millions-tune-in-to-find-out-who-shot-jr)

American Revolution Nov 21, 1776: Washington orders General Lee to New Jersey

In what proved a fateful decision on this day in 1776, Continental Commander in Chief General George Washington writes to General Charles Lee in Westchester County, New York, to report the loss of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and to order Lee to bring his forces to New Jersey. Lee wanted to stay in New York, so he dawdled in departing and crossing the small state of New Jersey to the Delaware River, where Washington impatiently awaited the arrival of his reinforcements. Lee, who took a commission in the British army upon finishing military school at age 12 and served in North America during the Seven Years' War, felt slighted that the less experienced Washington had been given command of the Continental Army and showed no inclination to rush. Famed for his temper and intemperance, the Mohawk had dubbed Lee "Boiling Water." Lee was an adopted tribesman through his marriage to a Mohawk woman, but his union apparently failed to quell his interest in prostitutes. On December 13, Lee left his army, still dallying on its way to join Washington, and rode—with minimal guard--in search of female sociability at Widow White's Tavern in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. It was there that British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and the 16th Queen's Light Dragoons captured him on the morning of December 15. Former comrades in the British army, Tarleton and Lee were now captor and captive. After being disappointed in his efforts to secure a lucrative royal appointment, Lee had retired to the colonies in 1773 and quickly joined the Patriot cause. Tarleton had sworn in a London club that he would hunt down the traitor to the crown and relieve him of his head. Fortunately for Lee, Tarleton failed to keep his promise, although the vain general may well have preferred a quick end to the humiliation of being led from Widow White's Tavern to New York City in his nightdress. The British rejoiced at the capture of the Patriots' best-trained commander, while Washington fruitlessly negotiated for his release. Meanwhile, Lee enjoyed his captivity, even drafting a battle plan for his captors from plush accommodations in which his personal servant maintained his three rooms and no doubt served his food and wine in a most civilized fashion. The British did not act upon his plan, and Lee reported to Valley Forge upon his release in May 1778. After a series of arguments with Washington, Lee was suspended from the army in December 1778 and dismissed in 1780. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/washington-orders-general-lee-to-new-jersey)

Nov 21, 1927: Holland Tunnel appears on the cover of Time

On this day in 1927, Time magazine puts the week-old Holland Tunnel on its cover. The tunnel, which runs under the Hudson River between New York City and Jersey City, New Jersey, had opened to traffic the week before, at the stroke of midnight on November 13. (Earlier that day, President Calvin Coolidge had ceremonially opened the tunnel from his yacht on the Potomac by turning the same key that had "opened" the Panama Canal in 1915—Time called it "the golden lever of the Presidential telegraphic instrument"—which rang a giant brass bell at the tunnel's entrances.) On that first day, 51,694 vehicles traveled through the tunnel. Time presented all of the tunnel's vital statistics: its total length (9,250 feet, the "longest of its kind in the world"), length under the river (5,480 feet), hourly and yearly vehicle capacity (3,800 and 15,000,000, respectively), excavation (500,000 cubic yards of soil and rock) and cost ($48.4 million). It also explained the most significant thing about the tunnel: its sophisticated ventilation system. Until its engineers could figure out a way to keep carbon monoxide out of the air, building an underground road for cars and trucks had been a foolishly dangerous idea. A team of scientists from Yale, the University of Illinois and the Bureau of Mines discovered that only four parts of the poisonous gas per 10,000 of air could be lethal, and they recommended that the tunnel's builders design a two-duct ventilating system to ensure that people in the tunnel would always have fresh air to breathe. As Time explained: "To prevent disaster absolutely Chief Engineer Holland installed 84 ventilating fans in four 10 story buildings, two on each side of the Hudson. Part of them blow fresh air into the tunnel floor through vents, others suck vitiated air through ducts in the tunnel ceiling. Thus they change the tunnel air completely 42 times an hour and but 56 of the fans are needed to do so." (The other 28 were reserved for emergency use.) It took—and still takes—about 90 seconds to replace all of the air in the tunnel with fresh air. On the day the tunnel opened, the toll was 50 cents per car in both directions. In 1970, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey switched to one-way tolls. By 2009, the one-way toll was $8. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/holland-tunnel-appears-on-the-cover-of-time)

Nov 21, 1975: Congressional report charges U.S. involvement in assassination plots Previous DayNov

A Senate committee issues a report charging that U.S. government officials were behind assassination plots against two foreign leaders and were heavily involved in at least three other plots. The shocking revelations suggested that the United States was willing to go to murderous levels in pursuing its Cold War policies. The Senate Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, chaired by Senator Frank Church, alleged that U.S. officials instigated plots to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Patrice Lumumba of the Congo. In addition, the U.S. officials "encouraged or were privy to" plots that led to the assassinations of Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, General Rene Schneider of Chile, and Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. The attempts against Castro failed, but the other four leaders were killed. There was also evidence suggesting U.S. involvement in a number of other assassination plots against foreign leaders. The committee indicated that it had no specific evidence that an American president ever authorized an assassination. However, it went on to declare that "whether or not the President in fact knows about the assassination plots, and even if their subordinates failed in their duty of full disclosure, it still follows that the President should have known about the plots." The Central Intelligence Agency came in for special condemnation for its efforts to recruit Mafia hit men to kill Castro and mercenaries to assassinate Lumumba. In the report's conclusion, the committee declared that, "We condemn the use of assassination as a tool of foreign policy [and] find that assassination violates moral precepts fundamental to our way of life." President Gerald Ford criticized the decision to release the report, claiming that it would do "grievous damage to our country" and would be used by "groups hostile to the United States in a manner designed to do maximum damage to the reputation and foreign policy of the United States." (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congressional-report-charges-us-involvement-in-assassination-plots)

Nov 21, 1986: Oliver North starts feeding documents into the shredding machine

National Security Council staff member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, begin shredding documents that would have exposed their participation in a range of illegal activities regarding the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to a rebel Nicaraguan group. On November 25, North was fired but Hall continued to sneak documents to him by stuffing them in her skirt and boots. The Iran-Contra scandal, as it came to be known, became an embarrassment and a sticky legal problem for the Reagan administration. Only six years earlier, Iran had become an enemy of the United States after taking hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. At the time, Ronald Reagan had repeatedly insisted that the United States would never deal with terrorists. When the revelation surfaced that his top officials at the National Security Council had begun selling arms to Iran, it was a public relations disaster. During the televised Iran-Contra hearings, the public learned that the money received for the arms was sent to support the Contras in Nicaragua, despite Congress' Boland Amendment, which expressly prohibited U.S. assistance to the Contras. Though the communist Sandinistas had been legitimately elected in Nicaragua, the Reagan administration sought to oust them by supporting the Contras, an anti-Communist group. During the Iran-Contra hearings, North claimed that the entire Reagan administration had known about the illegal plan. After admitting that he had lied to Congress, he was convicted of shredding documents, obstruction of justice, and illegally receiving a security fence for his own residence. He received a light sentence of a fine, probation, and community service. A year later in July 1990, an appellate court voted 2-1 to overturn his conviction based on the possibility that some of the evidence may have come from testimony that Congress had immunized in their own hearings on the matter. President Reagan and Vice President George Bush maintained that they had no knowledge of the scheme. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oliver-north-starts-feeding-documents-into-the-shredding-machine)