November 14
In Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the religious leader Sheikh-ul-Islam declares an Islamic holy war on behalf of the Ottoman government and urges his Muslim followers to take up arms against Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, and Montenegro in World War I. – 1914.
The Depression-era Public Works Administration agrees with New York City to begin a huge slum clearance project covering 20 acres in Brooklyn, where low cost housing for 2,500 families will be completed. It was the first of many such jobs-and-housing projects across the country. – 1934.
November 15
U.S. president Jimmy Carter welcomes Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and his wife, Empress (or “Shahbanou”) Farrah, to Washington. Over the next two days, Carter and Pahlavi discuss improving relations between the two countries. Two years later, the two leaders’ political fates would be further entwined when Islamic fundamentalists overthrow the shah and take Americans hostage in Tehran. – 1977.
November 16
Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer and conquistador, springs a trap on the Incan emperor, Atahualpa. With fewer than 200 men against several thousand, Pizarro lures Atahualpa to a feast in the emperor’s honor and then opens fire on the unarmed Incans. Pizarro’s men massacre the Incans and capture Atahualpa and force him to convert to Christianity before eventually killing him. – 1532.
Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively enter the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state. – 1907.
Joseph Goebbels publishes in the German magazine Das Reich that “The Jews wanted the war, and now they have it”—referring to the Nazi propaganda scheme to shift the blame for the world war on to European Jewry, thereby giving the Nazis a rationalization for the so-called Final Solution. – 1941.
In a move that stirs up some controversy, the United States sends 88 German scientists to America to assist the Nation in its production of rocket technology. Most of these men had served under the Nazi regime and critics in the United States doubted the morality of placing them in the service of America. Nevertheless, the U.S. government is desperate to acquire the scientific know-how that had produced the terrifying and destructive V-1 and V-2 rockets for Germany during WWII. – 1945.
Construction begins on a giant bonfire at Texas A&M University, the continuation of a tradition that began 90 years earlier. Two days later, the bonfire collapsed and kills 12 students and injures another 27. The bonfire had 7,000 logs and was 59 feet high, four feet higher than authorized. – 1999.
November 17
The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. – 1869.
November 18
At exactly noon on this day, American and Canadian railroads begin using four continental time zones to end the confusion of dealing with thousands of local times. The bold move was emblematic of the power shared by the railroad companies. – 1883.
Thirty-one men die on Lake Michigan with the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley during one of the worst storms in the Lake’s history. Four crewmen survived. – 1958.
Peoples Temple founder leads hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at their agricultural commune in a remote part of the South American nation of Guyana. Many of the Peoples Temple followers willingly ingest a poison-laced punch while others were forced to do so. The final death toll at Jonestown that day was 909; one-third of those who perished were children. – 1978.
November 19
The Nation’s first automatic toll collection machine is used at the Union Toll Plaza on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway. – 1954.
At the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., during the American Civil War, president Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the Union had to fight to win the Civil War. – 1863.
November 20
Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II. – 1945.
Seventy-eight miners are killed in an explosion at the Consolidated Coal Company’s No. 9 mine in Farmington, W. Va.. – 1968.