Category Archives: History

History

On This Day – November 6

On This Day – November 6

  • 1999 Australians reject referendum to become a republic with a president as its head

    The referendum was held to amend the Australian constitution, which would make the country a republic with a president as its head. If the referendum has passed the British monarchy would no longer have been a constitutional monarchy.

  • 1985 Palace of Justice is Seized in Colombia

    25 guerrillas from the 19th of April Movement or the M-19 took over the Palace of Justice which houses the Colombian Supreme Court. They took 300 people hostage. The ensuing fight between the rebels and the government’s forces left more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court justices dead.

  • 1962 United Nations passes resolution to condemn Apartheid in South Africa

    The UN General Assembly asked its member states to stand up against apartheid and to cut off relations with South Africa in order to make a point. Apartheid was an official policy of racial discrimination and segregation followed in South Africa. Despite the UN Resolution, it remained governmental policy until 1994, when democratic general elections were held in the country.

  • 1947 Meet the Press makes its TV debut

    The longest running TV news show was first hosted by journalist and creator Martha Rountree and aired on NBC.

  • 1861 Jefferson Davis elected as president of Confederate States of America

    The senator from Mississippi was the provisional president of the Confederacy since February 1861. Despite being an effective president, his popularity waned as the Confederate government experienced losses during the Civil War. He was captured by Northern Soldiers in 1865 and imprisoned for 2 years.

History

On This Day – November 5

On This Day – November 5

  • 2009 13 killed at Fort Hood, Texas

    Major Malik Hasan opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center in Fort Hood, Texas and killed 13 people, injuring 30.

  • 2007 China’s first lunar satellite enters lunar orbit

    The Chang’e 1, an unmanned lunar-orbiting spacecraft sent the first pictures of the Moon on November 26.

  • 2003 Green Valley Killer pleads guilty

    Gary Ridgeway, a serial killer also known as the Green Valley Killer plead guilty to killing 48 women in the 1980s and 1990s.

  • 1995 Assassination attempt on Canadian Prime Minister

    André Dallaire tried to assassinate Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

  • 1943 Vatican City bombed

    Vatican City was bombed by a fascist Italian aircraft breaching the neutrality of Vatican during the second World War

History

On This Day – November 4

On This Day – November 4

  • 2008 Barack Obama is elected

    The first African-American to be elected President of the United States, Obama is the 44th person to occupy the Oval Office. He succeeded President George W. Bush and he has been elected to the office twice.

  • 1995 Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

    He was the Prime Minister of Israel when he was killed in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, an Israel who opposed the role that Rabin played in the Oslo Peace Accords. The Accords were a collection of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that set up the process of Palestinian self-determination and created the Palestinian Authority.

  • 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis

    The 444-day crisis began when a group of students took over the American Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostages. The crisis led to a breakdown in American and Iranian diplomatic relations.

  • 1952 US National Security Agency formed

    The NSA as it is popularly known is an intelligence organization that is responsible for monitoring and collecting signal intelligence around the world. The agency was preceded by the Armed Forces Security Agency.

  • 1925 First woman governor of a state in the US

    Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first and only female governor of the state of Wyoming in the United States. In addition to being the first woman to be ever elected as a state governor in the US, she was also the first female director of the United States Mint.

History

On This Day – November 3

On This Day – November 3

  • 1978 Dominica gains independence

    The Caribbean Island nation gained its independence from the British after being colonized in 1805.

  • 1973 NASA launches Mariner 10

    The last of the Mariner Program, Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to flyby two planets – Venus and Mercury. The probe flew by Venus on February 5, 1974, and did 3 flybys of Mercury on March 29, 1974, September 21, 1974, and on March 16, 1975, after which communications with the probe were terminated.

  • 1954 Godzilla released

    The Japanese science fiction starring a mutated monster of the same name became an instant hit.

  • 1868 John Willis Menard elected to U.S. House of Representatives

    He became the first African-American to be elected to the house.

  • 1838 The Times of India founded

    The world’s largest English-language daily was launched as a bi-weekly as the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce in Bombay, India.