This Week in History: Nov. 20th-Dec. 3rd

Nov 20- 1923: African American inventor Garrett Morgan patents the well-known three position traffic light. 1942: Future US President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is born in Scranton, PA. Happy 82nd birthday Mr. President! 1945: The International Military Tribunal convenes in Nuremberg, Germany, as 24 Nazi leaders go on trial for war crimes committed during World War II. 1982: The University of California-Berkeley defeats Stanford University 25-20, scoring a last-second touchdown running through members of Stanford’s marching band who had prematurely stormed the field to celebrate their team’s apparent victory. It lives in college football folklore simply known as “The Play.” 1983: ABC airs “The Day After,” a fictionalized movie depicting events surrounding a Russian nuclear attack on missile silos in the Kansas City, MO area. More than 100 million viewers in 39 million American households tuned in to watch the chilling made-for-TV movie, a record audience for the genre.

Nov 21- 1877: Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph. 1953: Time magazine publishes conclusive evidence that the “Piltdown Man” skull, discovered in a gravel pit in East Sussex, England in 1912 and purported to be the evolutionary “missing link” between apes and humans, was a hoax. While amateur archeologist Charles Dawson, the original “discoverer” of the fossilized skull, was thought to be the primary forger, subsequent research has suggested that several others involved in the “find” may have participated in the 41-year fraud. 1970: General Hafez al-Assad, the leader of a successful coup against the Syrian government, becomes Prime Minister. He would become the country’s president for the next 30 years until his death in 2000. He was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad. 1976: The movie “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote the screenplay, has its world premiere at the Paramount Theater in New York City. The film would capture three Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Picture.

Nov 22- 1955: RCA Records purchases Elvis Presley’s contract from Sun Records for $35,000. It turned out to be quite a bargain, as more than one BILLION of his albums have been sold worldwide! 1963: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while traveling in a motorcade in an open automobile in Dallas, TX. 1968: Captain Kirk smooches with Lieutenant Uhura during an episode of “Star Trek,” the first interracial kiss on American television. 1988: The Air Force’s Stealth bomber is unveiled in a ceremony at Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA. 1995: The first feature-length film containing 100% computer-generated images (CGI) is released in North American theaters. “Toy Story” would eventually gross over $370 million and spawn four popular sequels, with a fifth scheduled for release in 2026.

Nov 23- 1869: The clipper ship “Cutty Sark” is launched at Dumbarton, Scotland, one of the last models to be built and the only such ship to survive intact today. 1892: Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin announces his vision for the first modern Olympic Games during a speech at the annual meeting of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). 1936: The first issue of Life magazine hits American newsstands. 1942: The SS Benlomond, a British cargo ship, is sunk by a German submarine. The sole survivor of the 53 crewmen, Chinese steward Poon Lim, would drift on a raft for 133 days before being rescued. 2019: The last surviving Sumatran rhino in Malaysia, a 25-year-old female named Iman, dies after a long battle with cancerous tumors.

Nov 24- 1859: British naturalist Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” explaining his theory of evolution and natural selection, is published in London. 1874: American inventor Joseph Glidden receives a patent for barbed wire. 1947: A group of Hollywood writers, producers, and directors are cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to respond to questions about alleged communist influence in the film industry. The “Hollywood Ten” would be blacklisted and denied employment as a result. 1963: Accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is shot and killed by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters on live television. 1971: Hijacker D. B. Cooper parachutes from a Northwest Orient 727 somewhere between Seattle, WA and Reno, NV after receiving a ransom payment of $200,000. The hijacker and money were never found.

Nov 25- 1783: British troops evacuate from New York City, their last remaining military position after the end of the American Revolutionary War. 1839: A tropical cyclone strikes southeastern India, creating a 40 foot storm surge that destroyed more than 20,000 ships and killed an estimated 300,000 people. 1905: The first advertisement for a radio set appears in Scientific American magazine. The Telimco product was priced at $8.50 and guaranteed reception up to one mile from the transmitter! 1979: Former football player turned sportscaster Pat Summerall is teamed with former football coach John Madden for the first time in a storied partnership that lasted for 22 years.

Nov 26- 1791: President George Washington hosts his first cabinet meeting at his home in Philadelphia. In attendance: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; Secretary of War Henry Knox; Attorney General Edmund Randolph. 1922: Beloved cartoonist and the creator of “Peanuts” Charles Schulz is born in Minneapolis, MN. 1942: The classic film “Casablanca,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premieres at New York City’s Hollywood Theater. 1970: Basse-Terre, the capital city of French-owned Guadeloupe in the southern Caribbean, receives 1.5” of rain in ONE MINUTE, the heaviest downpour recorded in world history! 1983: One of the largest robberies of the century takes place as thieves steal £26 million ($39 million) in gold, diamonds, and cash from a Brink’s-Mat warehouse near Heathrow airport outside London. Most of the gold was never recovered.

Nov 27- 1895: Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel’s will establishes the Nobel Prize. 1924: Macy’s Department Store in New York City stages its first Thanksgiving Day parade. The large balloons would be added in 1931, and the event would be televised nationwide beginning in 1950. 1979: San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated in city hall by former supervisor Dan White. 2013: Walt Disney Pictures’ “Frozen” premieres in US theaters. The film would become the highest grossing animated movie in history, with box office receipts in excess of $1.28 billion. It would be overtaken in 2019 by the remake of “The Lion King.” 2017: Great Britain’s Prince Harry announces his engagement to American actress Meghan Markle.

Nov 28- 1582: 18-year-old William Shakespeare marries the already pregnant 26-year-old Anne Hathaway near Stratford-upon-Avon, England. After the wedding the couple took up residence at the home of the groom’s parents. 1814: The Times of London newspaper is the first to be printed on an automatic, steam-powered printing press. The technological innovation resulted in huge cost savings and led to newspapers becoming widely available to mass audiences. 1895: The first automobile race in the US took place in Illinois, as four cars and two motorcycles raced from Chicago to Evanston and back. The 55-mile competition, sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald, was won by Frank Duryea’s Motorized Wagon, averaging a stunning 7 MPH. 1919: American-born Lady Nancy Astor takes office as the first female elected to the British Parliament’s House of Commons. 1975: Soap operas “As the World Turns” and “The Edge of Night” are broadcast live for the final time.

Nov 29- 1947: The United Nations votes to partition Palestine in the Middle East, carving out territory for the State of Israel. 1951: The US conducts its first underground atomic bomb test near Frenchman Flat in the Nevada desert. 1972: Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell debuts Pong as an arcade game at Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, CA. (Needless to say, it was quite a hit!) 1981: Actress Natalie Wood is found dead on a California beach after falling off husband Robert Wagner’s yacht the previous night. Despite speculation and suspicion over the exact circumstances of her death, the county coroner ruled her cause of death to be accidental drowning and hypothermia.

Nov 30- 1487: The first German Beer Purity Law is adopted in Munich, when Duke Albert IV of Bavaria decrees that beer may only contain water, malt, and hops. 1940: Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, CT. The popular television spouses would divorce in 1960. 1954: Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, AL is the first (and still only) person on Earth to be struck by a falling meteorite. The chunk of rock created a three-foot hole in the roof and struck her as she napped on her couch. She sustained a bruise near the top of her hip but was otherwise unhurt! 1982: Singer Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album is released. It would become the best-selling album of all time with over 120 million copies sold. 2017: A rainbow in Taipei’s Yangmingshan mountain range is visible for nearly nine hours, the longest duration in recorded history!

Dec 1- 1824: With no presidential candidate winning a majority of Electoral votes, the choice was turned over to the House of Representatives, as per Amendment XII of the Constitution. Given the choice of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, or William H. Crawford, the House chose Adams (allegedly with the help of Henry Clay, who lobbied for Adams selection and was rewarded with appointment as Secretary of State)! 1891: The first game of basketball was played in the gymnasium of the International YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) Training School (now known as Springfield College). James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the school in Springfield, MA, had been directed to devise a game that could safely be played indoors during the winter. Naismith hung two half-bushel peach baskets high above the gym floor on opposite walls, gave the players a ball that bounced, and turned them loose. William P. Chase sank a mid-court shot for the only score in that first game. A month-and-a-half later, the rules Naismith had created were published in the school’s newspaper and the new game was officially born! 1913: The Ford Motor Company begins using a moving-chassis assembly line to build Model T cars at its plant in Highland Park, MI, reducing the time it takes to build a single car from more than 12 hours to one hour and 33 minutes! 1942: During World War II, gasoline rationing goes into effect throughout the US; the goal was not so much to save gas but rather to conserve rubber, which was desperately needed for the war effort, by reducing the use of car tires. 1955: Rosa Parks, an African American woman who lived in Montgomery, AL, is arrested when she refuses to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man, sparking a year-long boycott of the bus system and creating a rallying symbol for the civil rights movement.

Dec 2- 1823: President James Monroe expresses his still-respected “Doctrine,” declaring that European countries not establish colonies nor intervene in political matters in the Americas. 1845: In a speech to Congress, President James K. Polk speaks of the importance of settling the western territories, prompting journalist John Louis O’Sullivan to coin the term “manifest destiny” to express the belief that the US had a God-given mission to lead the world toward democracy by extending the “superior” American civilization far and wide. 1927: The first Ford Model A is sold; price tag — $385! 1929: The first fossilized skull of “Peking Man” is discovered in a cave in China. The skull is later determined to be 750,000 years old. 1982: The first permanent artificial heart (the Jarvic-7) is implanted into the chest of retired dentist Barney Clark by Dr. William DeVries at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. Dr. Clark would survive for 112 days.

Dec 3- 1775: The Grand Union Flag, adopted by the first Continental Congress to represent the United Colonies, is raised for the first time aboard the Continental ship Alfred. 1967: The first human heart transplant is performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. The patient, 53-year-old Lewis Washkansky, suffered chronic heart disease and received the heart of a 25-year-old woman fatally injured in a car accident. Mr. Washkansky died 18 days later from pneumonia, but his new heart functioned normally until his death. 1968: Elvis Presley performs live for the first time in seven years, relaunching his singing career on NBC’s “Comeback Special.” 1984: A chemical leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India releases 45 tons of toxic chemicals into the air. The official death toll from the accident was 2,254, although an estimated 14,000 more would die soon after. Over half-a-million people were thought to have sustained injury from the deadly leak. 2017: Astronauts on the International Space Station “throw” the first pizza party in space, making and eating their own pizzas, twirling and tossing them like frisbees in the gravity-less spacecraft. (Apparently the astronauts were never taught not to play with their food!)