1476 Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) defeats Basarab Laiota with the help of Stephen the Great and Stephen V Bathory and becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time.
1604 Johannes Bach (born), German composer and musician (died 1673)
1607 John Harvard (born), English-American minister (died 1638)
1609 Henry Dunster (born), English-American clergyman and academic, 1st President of Harvard College (died 1659)
1778 In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui.
1784 The Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of the United States established.
1789 A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as recommended by President George Washington and approved byCongress.
1842 The University of Notre Dame is founded.
1853 Bat Masterson (born), Canadian-American sheriff and journalist (died 1921)
1857 Ferdinand de Saussure (born), Swiss linguist (died 1913)
1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November (since 1941, on the fourth Thursday).
1876 Karl Ernst von Baer (died), German biologist (born 1792)
1876 Willis Carrier (born), American engineer, invented air conditioning (died 1950)
1895 Bill W. (born), American co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (died 1971)
1902 Maurice McDonald (born), American businessman, co-founded McDonald’s (died 1971)
1912 Eric Sevareid (born), American journalist (died 1992)
1917 The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams.
1922 Charles M. Schulz (born), American cartoonist (died 2000)
1922 Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.
1922 Toll of the Sea debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor (The Gulf Between is the first film to do so but it is not widely distributed).
1926 John Browning (died), American weapons designer (born 1855)
1939 Tina Turner (born), American singer, dancer, and actress
1944 A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth’s shop on New Cross High Street, London, killing 168 and seriously injuring 121.
1944 Germany begins V-1 and V-2 attacks on Antwerp, Belgium.
1945 John McVie (born), English bass player (Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers)
1956 Tommy Dorsey (died), American musician, bandleader, and composer (born 1905)
1983 In London, 6,800 gold bars, diamonds, and cash worth nearly £26M are stolen from the Brink’s security vault at Heathrow Airport.
1983 Chris Hughes (born), American publisher and businessman, co-founder of Facebook
1986 U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the members of what will become known as the Tower Commission.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017