Today in history
  • 1620Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod, [O.S. Nov 11]
  • 1791Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to General and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic.
  • 1863The Battle of Chattanooga, one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War, begins (also in Tennessee).
  • 1903Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.
  • 1906China prohibits the opium trade
  • 1909The Wright brothers form a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes.
  • 1921President Warren G. Harding signs the Willis Campell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbids doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.
  • 1933President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalls the American ambassador from Havana, Cuba, and urges stability in the island nation.
  • 1936The United States abandons the American embassy in Madrid, Spain, which is engulfed by civil war.
  • 1942The film Casablanca premieres in New York City.
  • 1971Battle of Garibpur: Indian troops aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas) defeat the Pakistan army
  • 1980In Europe’s biggest earthquake since 1915, 3,000 people are killed in Italy.
  • 1981US Pres. Ronald Reagan signs top secret directive giving the CIA authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
  • 1992The first Smartphone, IBM Simon, introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • 2011Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity; the agreement came after 11 months of protests.