November 21
The American inventor Thomas A. Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a way to record and play back sound. – 1877.
A Senate committee issues a report charging that U.S. government officials were behind assassination plots against two foreign leaders and were heavily involved in at least three other plots. The shocking revelations suggested that the United States was willing to go to murderous levels in pursuing its Cold War policies. – 1975.
National Security Council staff member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, begin shredding documents that would have exposed their participation in a range of illegal activities regarding the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to a rebel Nicaraguan group. North was fired November 25, but Hall continued to sneak documents to him by stuffing them in her skirt and boots. The Iran-Contra scandal, as it came to be known, became an embarrassment and a sticky legal problem for the Ronald Reagan administration. – 1986.
Congress approves the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to take effect January 1 of the following year. – 1993.
November 22
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible. The unusual trajectory of the ricochet of the bullet has been the subject of many conspiracy theories. – 1963.
November 23
Ronald Reagan, president of the United States, signs off on a top secret document, National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), which gives the Central Intelligence Agency the power to recruit and support a 500-man force of Nicaraguan rebels to conduct covert actions against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. A budget of $19 Million was established for that purpose. NSDD-17 marked the beginning of official U.S. support for the so-called Contras in their struggle against the Sandinistas. – 1981.
November 24
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England. Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called natural selection. In natural selection, organisms with genetic variations that suit their environment tend to propagate more descendants than organisms of the same species that lack the variation, thus influencing the overall genetic makeup of the species. – 1859.
On this day, 111 U.S. B-29 Superfortress bombers raid Tokyo for the first time since Captain Jimmy Doolittle’s raid in 1942. Their target: The Nakajima aircraft engine works. – 1944.
November 25
The so-called “storm of the century” hits the eastern part of the United States and kills hundreds and causes millions of dollars in damages. Some areas were blanketed with several feet of snow for several days and travel was impossible for nearly a week in some places. The storm was unique because it featured extremely strong winds and heavy snow and record high and low temperatures. In Pittsburgh, Pa. 30 inches of snow fell in a blinding snowstorm, but further north in Buffalo it was 50 degrees. – 1950.
“The Mousetrap,” a murder-mystery written by the novelist and playwright Agatha Christie, opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. The crowd-pleasing whodunit went on to become the longest continuously running play in history, with more than 10 Million individuals to date attending its more than 20,000 performances in London’s West End. – 1952.
November 26
Six young women burn to death and 19 more die when they leap from the fourth-story windows of a blazing factory in Newark, N.J.. The floors and stairs were wooden; the only door from which the women could flee was locked. – 1910.
Franklin D. Roosevelt. president of the United States, signs a bill officially establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. – 1941.
November 27
Pope Urban II makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, to give rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to go to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of “Deus vult!” or “God wills it!” – 1095.
An unusual storm system finally dissipates over England after wreaking havoc on the country for nearly two weeks. Featuring hurricane strength winds, the storm kills some where between 10,000 and 30,000 persons. – 1703.