This Day in History – November 15, 2011

1492 – Christopher Columbus notes first recorded reference to tobacco 1533 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire. 1660 – first kosher butcher (Asser Levy) licensed in NYC (New Amsterdam) 1763 – Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania & Maryland 1777 – The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, precursor to the U.S. Constitution. 1791 – The first U.S Catholic college, Georgetown University, opens its doors. 1806 – First US college magazine, Yale Literary Cabinet, publishes first issue 1806 – Explorer Zebulon Pike spots the mountaintop that became known as Pikes Peak. 1859 – The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece. 1864 – Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia and starts Sherman’s March to the Sea. 1869 – Free postal delivery formally inaugurated 1881 – American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded (Pittsburgh) 1889 – Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup. 1901 – Miller Reese patented an electrical hearing aid. 1919 – Senate first invokes cloture to end a filibuster (Versailles Treaty) 1920 – The League of Nations meets for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland. 1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter Inflation in the Weimar Republic. 1926 – The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations. 1932 – Walt Disney Art School created 1937 – First congressional session in air-conditioned chambers 1938 – First telecast of an unscheduled event (fire), W2XBT, NY 1939 – Social Security Administration approves first unemployment check 1939 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC 1940 – The first 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under peacetime conscription. 1941 – Cow Palace opens in San Francisco 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory. 1943 – Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put “on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps”. 1949 – Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte are executed for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi. 1965 – The Soviet probe, Venera 3, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On March 1, 1966, it became the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet when it crashed on Venus. 1966 – A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 708 crashes near Berlin, Germany, killing all three people on board. 1966 – The flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. 1967 – The only fatality of the X-15 program occurs during the 19first flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert. 1969 – 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war on the National Mall in Washington Dc 1969 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea. 1969 – Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy’s restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. 1969 – Janis Joplin, accused of vulgar & indecent language in Tampa, FL 1971 – Intel releases world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004. 1977 – President Jimmy Carter welcomes Shah of Iran 1979 – A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. 1979 – ABC-TV announces it would broadcast nightly specials on Iran hostage. The updates, hosted by Ted Koppel, become the basis for the show “Nightline.” Koppel hosted the show for 25 years. 1985 – A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes. 1985 – Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing Northern Ireland. 1987 – Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas DC-9-14 jetliner, crashes in a snowstorm at Stapleton International Airport in Denver killing 28 occupants, while 54 survive the crash. 1987 – In Braşov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu. 1988 – In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran is launched on her first and last space flight. 1988 PLO proclaims the State of Palestine, recognizes Israeli existence 1989 – “Batman” is released on video tape 1990 – President Bush signs the Clear Air Act of 1990 1990 – Producers confirm that Milli Vanilli didn’t sing on their album 1992 – Richard Petty drove in the final race of his 35-year career. 1993 – A judge in Mineola, NY, sentenced Joey Buttafuoco to six months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher. Fisher was serving a prison sentence for shooting and wounding Buttafuoco’s wife, Mary Jo. 2003 – The first day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting two synagogues, explode, killing 25 people and wounding about 300. Additional bombings follow on November 20. 2005 – In Amiens, France, Isabelle Dinoire became the first person to undergo a partial face transplant. She had been attacked by a dog earlier in the year. 2006 – Andy Warhol’s painting of Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse Tung sold for $17.4 million. At the same auction “Orange Marilyn” sold for $16.2 million and “Sixteen Jackies” sold for $15.6 million. 2007 – Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world’s largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans.]]]]> ]]>