On November 21st...

links will open in a new window
* external link

1555 Geologist Georgius Agricola died.

1620 The Mayflower Compact was signed.

1694 Author and philosopher Voltaire was born.

1783 Pilstre de Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes made the first manned free flight in a hot-air balloon.

1787 Businessman Samuel Cunard was born.

1789 North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1813 Composer William Russell died.

1834 Businessman Frederick Weyerhaueser was born.

1847 The steamer Phoenix was lost on Lake Michigan, killing 200 persons.

1854 Giacomo Marchesa della Chiesa (Pope Benedict XV) was born.

1871 Moses F. Gale patented a cigar lighter.
1871 Emilio Onra became the first "human cannonball."

1879 Geologist B. F. Mudge died.

1899 The destroyer HMS Viper became the world's first naval ship to be powered by a steam turbine engine.

1904 Jazz musician Coleman Hawkins was born.

1906 China banned the opium trade.

1907 Composer Gaetano Braga died.

1916 The HMS Britannic struck a mine and sank in the Aegean Sea, killing 30 persons.
1916 King Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary died.

1918 The German Navy surrendered to the British Navy.
1918 Two German ammunition trains exploded in Hamont, Belgium, killing 1,750 persons.

1920 Baseball player Stan Musial was born.

1922 Rebecca Latimer Felton became the first woman ever to be sworn in as a U. S. Senator.

1924 Florence Harding, widow of U. S. President Warren G. Harding, died.

1933 Actor Joseph Campanella was born.

1937 Actress Marlo Thomas was born.

1940 Musician Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., aka Dr. John, was born.

1942 Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuted in "Tale of Two Kitties."

1944 Actor Harold Ramis was born.

1945 Actress Goldie Hawn was born.
1945 Humorist Robert Benchley died.

1946 Harry Truman became the first U. S. president to travel in a submerged submarine.

1949 Bill Veeck sold the Cleveland Indians to a group headed by Ellis Ryan for $22 million.

1952 Actress Lorna Luft was born.

1958 Baseball player Mel Ott died.

1959 Jack Benny and Richard Nixon* played a duet at the President's Ball.
1959 Boxer Max Baer died.

1962 The Chinese People's Liberation Army declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Sino-Indian War.

1963 Robert Stroud, better known as "The Birdman of Alcatraz," died.

1964 The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn, New York, opened to traffic.

1966 Football player Troy Aikman was born.

1969 Baseball player Ken Griffey, Jr. was born.

1971 Football player Michael Strahan was born.

1974 The Freedom of Information Act was passed by the U. S. Congress, overriding President Gerald Ford's veto.
1974 Bombs exploded at two pubs in Birmingham, England, killing 21 persons.

1976 Rocky premiered in New York, New York.

1977 Concorde flights between London, England, and New York, New York, began.

1980 An estimated 83 million people tuned into "Dallas" to find out "Who Shot J. R.?"*
1980 A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas killed 85 people.*

1986 Central African Republic adopted a constitution.
1986 John Paul McConnell, Chief of Staff of the U. S. Air Force, died.

1987 James E. Folsom, two-time Governor of Alabama, died.

1989 Television cameras were permitted inside the British House of Commons.
1989 U. S. President George H. W. Bush signed a bill outlawing smoking on domestic airline flights.

1992 Kaysone Phomvihane, former President of Laos, died.

1993 Actor Bill Bixby died.

1996 A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killed 32 persons.

2001 King Salahuddin of Malaysia died.

2004 The island of Dominica was hit by the most destructive earthquake in its history.

2013 The roof of a supermarket collapsed in Riga, Latvia, killing 54 persons.

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on July 09, 2018.