November 9
German Nazis launch a campaign of terror against Jewish people and their homes and businesses in Germany and Austria. The violence, which continued through November 10 and later, was dubbed Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, after the countless smashed windows of Jewish-owned establishments, left approximately 100 Jews dead, 7,500 Jewish businesses damaged, and hundreds of synagogues, homes, schools, and graveyards vandalized. – 1938.
Thirty million residents in eight U.S. states and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec were affected by the The Great Northeast Blackout. – 1965.
East German officials open the Berlin Wall which allowed travel from East Berlin to West Berlin. – 1989.
November 10
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that “two Battalions of Marines be raised” for service as landing forces for the recently-formed Continental Navy. The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams and adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. – 1775.
Two years after the death of his father, Michinomiya, Hirohito is enthroned as the 124th Japanese monarch in an imperial line dating back to 660 B.C.. Emperor Hirohito presided over one of the most turbulent eras in his nation’s history, from rapid military expansion beginning in 1931 to the crushing defeat of Japan by Allied forces in 1945. – 1928.
November 11
At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m., Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. The First World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. In addition, at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure. – 1918.
The U.S. Congress approves lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37. By the end of World War II, approximately 34 million men had registered; 10 million had been inducted into the military. – 1942.
November 12
Ellis Island in New York City closes after providing the gateway for 12 million immigrants from 1892 to 1924. From 1924 to 1954 it was mostly used as a detention and deportation center for undocumented immigrants. – 1954.
November 13
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of veterans of the conflict. The long-awaited memorial was a simple V-shaped black-granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 then-known Americans who died in the conflict. – 1982.
November 14
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.