November 3 History Class

“I believe in the people’s ability to govern themselves. If government would just get out of the way and allow them to lead their lives as they choose, they will succeed.”
~Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura

U.S./WORLD HISTORY

1868 – Ulysses Grant, the victorious Union general who had brought the Civil War to a close, was elected as the 18th President of the United States.
Grant won just more than 3 million votes across the country, while former New York Gov. Horatio Seymour received 2.7 million.

1868 – John Willis Menard was the first African American elected to the United States Congress. Because of an electoral challenge, he was never seated and was unable to represent Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district.
When Congress debated the issue, Congressman and future president James Garfield said that “it was too early” for an African American to be admitted to Congress.

1883 – In an action that epitomized the ultimate in legal absurdity, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Native American (or in their terms, an Indian) was by birth “an alien and a dependent” of the United States.

1936 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt won his reelection bid in a landslide.
Republican Governor Alf Landon of Kansas was assigned the task of challenging FDR, but didn’t help his cause by making no campaign appearances in the first two months after his nomination.
Roosevelt took 60.8% of the popular vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont

1964 – President Lyndon Johnson was re-elected in one of the most crushing victories in U.S. history.
During the campaign, Johnson did all he could to portray Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona as a saber-rattling warmonger who would bring the world to nuclear annihilation if elected.
Goldwater did indeed not rule out the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam, if necessary. He also called for deep cuts in social programs, and opposed much of the civil rights legislation.
Johnson won 61.1 percent of the popular vote, winning by 16 million votes.

1998 – Former professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota with 37 percent of the vote.
His opponents, seasoned politicians Hubert Humphrey III (son of Lyndon Johnson’s vice-president and the attorney general of Minnesota) and St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman, spent a total of $4.3 million on their campaigns.
Ventura, the Reform-Party candidate, spent $250,000 – money he raised by selling $22 t-shirts and accepting $50 donations from his supporters.

2014 – One World Trade Center, also known as Freedom Tower, officially opened.
The 104-story structure stands (including its 408-foot spire) at a height of 1,776 feet.

ROCK & ROLL HISTORY

1957 – Danny & The Juniors released At The Hop.
The single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the R&B Best Sellers list.

1965 – The Beatles recorded Michelle.
Although it was never released as a single (no single from Rubber Soul was issued in Britain or America), the song won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

2002 – Singer/songwriter Lonnie Donegan died of a heart attack at the age of 71.
The “King of Skiffle” had 31 UK Top 30 single hits, with three of them reaching the top of the charts.
His greatest success in America came with Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?), a # 5 hit in 1961.

2006 – Orchestra leader and composer Paul Mauriat died of natural causes at the age of 81.
Although he is best remembered for the 1968 hit Love Is Blue, Mauriat, using the pseudonym of Del Roma, had his first international hit with Chariot in 1963.
In the U.S., the song was recorded as I Will Follow Him by Little Peggy March and hit #1 on the Billboard charts.

MOVIE/TV HISTORY

1956 – The last telecast of Ford Star Jubilee – an American anthology series that aired once a month on Saturday nights on CBS – was really something special.
It was the first airing of what later became a television tradition — Judy Garland’s classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

1971 – Play Misty For Me, starring Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter and Donna Mills, premiered in U.S. theaters.
The film – which marked Eastwood’s directorial debut – was a financial success, grossing $10.6 million at the box office against a budget of $950,000.

1975 – Good Morning America premiered on ABC. More of an entertainment program instead of today’s news focused show, the first co-hosts were actor David Hartman and actress Nancy Dussault.

1976 – Carrie, a horror film starring Sissy Spacek and based on Stephen King’s 1974 best-selling first novel, opened in theaters around the United States.
The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing over $33.8 million against its $1.8 million budget.

2002 – Actor Jonathan Harris died of a blood clot in his heart. He was 87.
He played the roles of Bradley Webster on The Third Man and Dr. Zachary Smith on Lost In Space.

SPORTS HISTORY

1934 – Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees had finished the baseball season with a .363 batting average, 49 home runs, and a staggering 166 runs batted in.
Those numbers earned him the Triple Crown but incredibly, he lost the American League’s Most Valuable Player award to Detroit’s Mickey Cochrane (.320, 2 home runs, and 75 runs batted in).

1965 – In a unanimous vote, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax (26-8 and an ERA of 2.04) was named the Cy Young Award winner.

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2005-2020 RayLemire.com / Streamingoldies.com. All Rights Reserved.