Thursday, November 5, 2009

5 November: Gunpowder Plot [Your Pun Here]; Susan B. Anthony Tries To Vote For Ulysses S. Grant; FDR Three-Peats©; Last Colonial Gasps From Frogs, Limeys; Nixon Actually Elected

Today is Thursday, Nov. 5, the 309th day of 2009. There are 56 days left in the year. UPI crapfest. Today's Highlight in History:
On Nov. 5, 1605, the "Gunpowder Plot" failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament.
On this date:
In 1733, German-born publisher John Peter Zenger began printing The New York Weekly Journal in opposition to the British colonial administration.
In 1854, combined British-French forces scored a decisive victory over the Russians in the Crimea.
In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony defied the law by attempting to vote for President Ulysses S. Grant. (Anthony was convicted by a judge and fined $100, but never paid the fine.)
In 1895, George B. Selden of Rochester, N.Y., received the first U.S. patent for an "improved Road Engine."
In 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.

In 1930, the first commercial television broadcast was aired.
In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.
In 1946, Republicans captured control of both the Senate and the House in midterm elections.
In 1956, Britain and France landed troops in Egypt during fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces around the Suez Canal.
In 1968, Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and American Independent candidate George C. Wallace.

Sound Bite
In 1974, Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.
In 1985, Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, died at age 90; he was succeeded by Ezra Taft Benson.
In 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born Israeli extremist, was shot to death at a New York hotel. (Egyptian native El Sayyed Nosair was convicted of the slaying in federal court.) The U.S. Supreme Court let stand an order requiring the U.S. Army to permit homosexuals to re-enlist.
In 1991, the body of British media mogul Robert Maxwell was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands. Kiichi Miyazawa was formally appointed prime minister of Japan, succeeding Toshiki Kaifu.
In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer's disease. George Foreman became boxing's oldest heavyweight champion at age 45 by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton won a second term over former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
In 1998, a study showed strong genetic evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one child by his slave, Sally Hemings.
In 1999, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers. (Jackson later ordered Microsoft broken up into two companies, but the Justice Department subsequently said it was no longer seeking a breakup.) Pope John Paul II began his first visit to India in 13 years.
In 2004, the Kremlin announced that Russia had given final approval to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. In a surprise reversal, the Chilean army for the first time assumed institutional responsibility for widespread human rights violations during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Saskatchewan became the seventh Canadian province to allow same-sex couples to marry.
In 2005, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said there was no doubt the United States had been given false information in order to support the war in Iraq. Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces engaged in a fight against al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq near the Syrian border.
In 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced by the Iraqi High Tribunal to hang for crimes against humanity. (He was executed the following month.)
In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama pivoted quickly to begin filling out his new administration, selecting hard-charging Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel to be White House chief of staff. A case of postelection nerves on Wall Street sent the Dow industrials plunging nearly 500 points. Two men were shot to death in St. Johns, Ariz.; the 8-year-old son of one of the victims was arrested. (The boy later pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the death of his father's roommate; prosecutors dropped charges in the father's death as part of a plea deal.) Literary critic John Leonard died in New York at age 69. Bollywood movie director B.R. Chopra died in Mumbai at age 94.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Chris Robinson is 71. Actress Elke Sommer is 69. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is 69. Singer Art Garfunkel is 68. Actor-playwright Sam Shepard is 66. Singer Peter Noone is 62. Actor Nestor Serrano ("24") is 54. Actress-comedian Mo Gaffney is 51. Actor Robert Patrick is 51. Singer Bryan Adams is 50. Actress Tilda Swinton is 49. Actress Tatum O'Neal is 46. Actress Andrea McArdle is 46. Rock singer Angelo Moore (Fishbone) is 44. Actress Judy Reyes is 42. Rock musician Mark Hunter (James) is 41. Actor Sam Rockwell is 41. Country singers Jennifer and Heather Kinley (The Kinleys) are 39. Actor Corin Nemec is 38. Rock musician Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is 38. Country singer-musician Ryan Adams is 35. Actor Sam Page is 33.
Today In Entertainment History November 5 [Bad date to be a musician. — Ed.]
In 1942, American showman George M. Cohan died in New York at age 64.
In 1960, singer Johnny Horton died in a car crash in Milano, Texas. He was 35. He's known for the 1959 hit "The Battle of New Orleans" and the movie theme song "North to Alaska."
In 1970, Brian Wilson made a rare appearance with the Beach Boys at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles. He lost his balance several times and had to be helped off the stage.
In 1989, pianist Vladimir Horowitz died at age 85. On that same day, singer-songwriter Barry Sadler died of heart failure at age 49 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. [The AP knows nothing: "Death claimed pianist Vladimir Horowitz in New York at age 86 and singer-songwriter Barry Sadler in Murfreesboro, Tenn., at age 49." Make up your minds. We do prefer the "death claimed" cliche though. — Ed.]
In 1991, actor Fred MacMurray died of pneumonia at a hospital in Santa Monica, California. One of his best known roles was as the father in "My Three Sons."
In 1999, singer Gary Cherone left Van Halen.
In 2002, original Coaster Billy Guy died suddenly of heart disease in Las Vegas. He was not buried for 21 days because authorities couldn't find his estranged children and his girlfriend of 30 years was not allowed to claim his body.
In 2003, singer Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers was found dead in a hotel room in Kalamazoo, Michigan, just 45 minutes before the group was to perform. Hatfield was 63. "The Matrix Revolutions" opened at the same moment around the world, at 9 A.M. Eastern.
Thought for Today: "Good taste is better than bad taste, but bad taste is better than no taste at all." — Arnold Bennett, English poet, author and critic (1867-1931).

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