9 November: "Oh Those Krauts!": Wilhelm II Wimps Out, Berlin Wall Over, Blah Blah, Also: Kristallnacht; Twins Attack Japan; Northeast Blacked Out; DeGaulle Dies

Today is Monday, Nov. 9, the 313th day of 2009. [That can't be lucky. — Ed.] There are 52 days left in the year. [Like cards in a deck, such are the days of our lives. — Ed.] UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Nov. 9, 1989, communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West; joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.

On this date:
In 1872, fire destroyed nearly 800 buildings in Boston.
In 1918, it was announced that Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II would abdicate. He then fled to the Netherlands.
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 1935, United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization, later Congress of Industrial Organizations.
In 1938, Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in a pogrom that became known as "Kristallnacht."

In 1953, author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled major league baseball was not within the scope of federal anti-trust laws.
In 1963, twin disasters struck Japan as some 450 miners were killed in a coal-dust explosion, and about 160 people died in a train crash.
In 1965, the great Northeast blackout occurred as a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours left 30 million people in seven states and part of Canada without electricity.

In 1967, a Saturn V rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a successful test flight.
In 1970, former French President Charles de Gaulle died at age 79.
In 1976, the U.N. General Assembly approved resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa, including one characterizing the white-ruled government as "illegitimate."
In 1999, with fireworks, concerts and a huge party at the landmark Brandenburg Gate, Germany celebrated the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The flight data recorder from EgyptAir Flight 990 was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean and shipped to a National Transportation Safety Board laboratory in Washington.
In 2001, the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif fell to the northern alliance in the first major territorial advance for the rebels against the ruling Taliban.
In 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned; they were the first members of the Cabinet to leave as President George W. Bush headed from re-election into his second term. Roger Clemens won his record seventh Cy Young Award.
In 2005, three suicide bombers carried out nearly simultaneous attacks on three U.S.-based hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing 60 victims and wounding hundreds.
In 2008, Barack Obama's transition chief, John Podesta, told "Fox News Sunday" the president-elect planned to review President George W. Bush's executive orders on such things as stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. China unveiled a $586 billion stimulus package aimed at inoculating the world's fourth-largest economy against the global financial crisis.
Today's Birthdays November 9: Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate R. Sargent Shriver is 94. Baseball executive Whitey Herzog is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson is 74. Actor Charlie Robinson is 64. Movie director Bille August is 61. Actor Robert David Hall ("CSI") is 61. Actor Lou Ferrigno is 58. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is 57. Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin is 50. Rock musician Dee Plakas (L7) is 49. Actress Ion Overman is 40. Rapper Pepa (Salt-N-Pepa) is 40. Blues singer Susan Tedeschi is 39. Actor Jason Antoon is 38. Actor Eric Dane is 37. Singer Nick Lachey (98 Degrees) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sisqo (Dru Hill) is 31.
Today In Entertainment History November 9
In 1953 [sic], Brian Epstein first saw The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. He soon became the band's manager.
In 1962, Motown Records released "You've Really Got a Hold On Me" by The Miracles. Roy Acuff was installed as the first living member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In 1966, Paul McCartney supposedly was killed in a car crash, according to the "Paul is Dead" hoax that circulated in 1969.

In 1967, Roger McGuinn expelled David Crosby from The Byrds. "Rolling Stone" magazine began publication, with John Lennon on the first cover.
In 1976, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their self-titled debut album.
In 1984, the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street" opened nationwide.
In 1990, "Dances With Wolves," starring Kevin Costner, opened nationwide.
In 1993, actress Angie Dickinson became the first person in 500 shows to walk out of a televised "This Is Your Life" tribute.
In 1997, actor Michael Lookinland, who played Bobby on "The Brady Bunch," was arrested for drunken driving in Utah after rolling his Ford Bronco.
In 2003, actor Art Carney died at the age of 85.
In 2004, Kenny Chesney won the Country Music Association album of the year award for "When The Sun Goes Down" as well as entertainer of the year.
Thought for Today: "I think charm is the ability to be truly interested in other people." — Richard Avedon, American fashion photographer (1923-2004).