On This Day in History
Today is Friday, Nov. 8, the 313th day of 2024 with 53 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include astronomer Edmond Halley in 1656; games producer Milton Bradley in 1836; writer Bram Stoker in 1847; psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1884; writer Margaret Mitchell in 1900; actor Esther Rolle in 1920; heart transplant pioneer Dr. Christiaan Barnard in 1922; Football Hall of Fame Coach Bobby Bowden in 1929; TV journalist Morley Safer in 1931; writer Ben Bova in 1932; actor Virna Lisi in 1936; musician Bonnie Bramlett in 1944 (age 80); musician Minnie Riperton in 1947; musician Bonnie Raitt in 1949 (age 75); TV personality Mary Hart in 1950 (age 74); actor Alfre Woodard in 1952 (age 72); musician Rickie Lee Jones in 1954 (age 70); writer Kazuo Ishiguro in 1954 (age 70); musician/artist Pearl Thompson (Cure) in 1957 (age 67); TV chef Gordon Ramsay in 1966 (age 58); actor Courtney Thorne-Smith in 1967 (age 57); actor Parker Posey in 1968 (age 56); Naomi Biden, daughter of President Joe Biden, in 1971; actor Gretchen Mol in 1972 (age 52); TV journalist David Muir in 1973 (age 51); actor Matthew Rhys in 1974 (age 50); actor Tara Reid in 1975 (age 49); actor Dania Ramirez in 1979 (age 45); musician Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!) in 1980 (age 44); TV personality Jack Osbourne in 1985 (age 39); actor Jessica Lowndes in 1988 (age 36); musician SZA, born Solana Imani Rowe, in 1990 (age 34); actor Jade Pettyjohn in 2000 (age 24).
On this date in history:
In 1864, amid the U.S. Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was elected to his second term as president. He was assassinated five months later.
In 1889, Montana was admitted to the union as the 41st state.
In 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered X-rays.
In 1923, Adolf Hitler led a failed attempt to overthrow the German government in what has become known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler was quickly arrested and charged with treason.
In 1932, voters elected Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 32nd president of the United States, defeating incumbent President Herbert Hoover.
In 1933, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt set up the Civil Works Administration as an emergency Depression agency to provide jobs for the unemployed.
In 1942, as World War II raged on, more than 400,000 Allied soldiers invaded North Africa .
In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the U.S. presidential election, defeating Richard Nixon. Kennedy was the 35th president .
In 1965, the United Kingdom formally abolishes the death penalty as Royal Assent is given to the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965.
In 1973, the right ear of John Paul Getty III, who had been kidnapped four months earlier, was delivered, along with a ransom note, to a daily newspaper. The ransom was reluctantly paid, with Getty III found alive at a gas station in southern Italy.
In 1974, Ted Bundy attempted and failed to abduct 18-year-old Carol DaRonch in the parking lot of a Utah mall. Her testimony resulted in his conviction for kidnapping, landing him in jail until his escape in 1977. He later killed more than 30 people and was executed in 1989.
In 1985, a judge overturned Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's conviction for a 1966 triple killing in a Patterson, N.J., bar, freeing the former boxer after 19 years in prison .
In 1988, U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush was elected as the 41st president of the United States .
In 1994, in a stunning upset, Republican candidates swept the general election , regaining control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress. It marked the first time in 40 years the Republicans controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In 2005, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin declared a state of emergency in a bid to quell the nation's worst rioting in decades.
In 2011, remains of U.S. soldiers were mishandled and body parts were lost at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, a scathing Washington report concluded. Three senior officials at the base were disciplined following an 18-month investigation.
In 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, smashed into the Philippines , causing death and destruction on island after island. The death toll rose into the thousands, with hundreds of people injured and missing and tens of thousands displaced. On Jan. 3, 2014, government officials said at least 6,166 people had been killed and 28,626 injured.
In 2016, voters elected businessman Republican Donald Trump to be president over Democrat Hillary Clinton. He became the first U.S. president with no prior military or government experience.
In 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history to date, the Camp Fire, broke out in Northern California's Butte County. The blaze would go on to kill 85 people and cause more than $16 billion in damage.
In 2023, the European Space Agency released the first images from its Euclid space telescope, which was designed to observe deep space in the hopes of unlocking the mysteries of the universe.
A thought for the day: "Death and taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them." - American author Margaret Mitchell
