1789 – New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, becoming the first state to do so. New Jersey’s action was a first step toward making the first 10 amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence.

1820 – The American whaler Essex, which hailed from Nantucket, was attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America. The 238-ton Essex was in pursuit of sperm whales, specifically the precious oil and bone that could be derived from them, when an enraged bull whale rammed the ship twice and capsized the vessel. The 20 crew members escaped in three open boats, but only five of the men survived the harrowing 83-day journey to the coastal waters of South America, where they were picked up by other ships.

1903 – Tom Horn, who carried out varied roles as an old west scout, Pinkerton detective, and hired killer, was executed by hanging. Horn had been convicted of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell, but is thought to have committed 17 murders.

1910 – Russian author Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace and Anna Karenina) died of pneumonia at the age of 82.

1920 – Woodrow Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize for his crucial role in establishing the League of Nations.

1923 – The U.S. Patent Office grantd Patent No. 1,475,074 to 46-year-old inventor and newspaperman Garrett Morgan for his three-position traffic signal. Though Morgan’s was not the first traffic signal (that one had been installed in London in 1868), it was an important innovation nonetheless: By having a third position besides just “Stop” and “Go,” it regulated crossing vehicles more safely than earlier signals had.

1929 – Leo Reisman and his orchestra recorded Happy Days Are Here Again for Victor Records. The classic was recorded just three weeks after the stock market crash that plunged the nation into the Great Depression.

1938 – Father Charles Coughlin, a controversial, but popular Roman Catholic priest and broadcaster who had expressed sympathy for the fascist governments of Hitler and Mussolini as an antidote for communism, delivered an attack on Jews. Referring to the millions of Christians killed by the Communists in Russia, Coughlin said, “Jewish persecution only followed after Christians first were persecuted.”
After this speech, some radio stations, including those in New York and Chicago, began refusing to air his speeches without pre-approved scripts, while several stations simply dropped his program.

1945 – Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis went on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II. The Nuremberg Trials were conducted by an international tribunal made up of representatives from the United States, Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, to crimes against humanity. Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, presided over the proceedings, which lasted 10 months and consisted of 216 court sessions.

1947 – In a lavish wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, Princess Elizabeth married her distant cousin, Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark who renounced his titles in order to marry the English princess.

1962 – President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11063, which mandated an end to discrimination in housing. The order, which came during the burgeoning Civil Rights movement, prohibited federally funded housing agencies from denying housing or funding for housing to anyone based on their race, color, creed or national origin.

1962 – In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, the United States announced the end of the Cuban blockade effective at 6:45 pm EST.

1966 – Cabaret opened on Broadway for the first of 1,165 performances.

1967 – San Jose State College students – defying California Governor Ronald Reagan’s warning – demonstrated against the Dow Chemical Company, the maker of napalm. Police were sent in, but the students refused to disperse and several protest leaders were arrested.

1968 – Methane gas explosions in a West Virginia coal mine killed 78 men. Consol No. 9 mine was located about 10 miles from the town of Monongah, West Virginia. It was a large mine, approximately eight miles by six miles, with untapped oil and natural gas below the coal. At midnight on November 20, the workers descended 600 feet below the earth’s surface to begin the night shift. At 5:40 a.m., a large explosion was quickly followed by three smaller ones. The blasts were so powerful that the lamphouse near the entrance to the mine was demolished, and the damage to the mine was so extensive, it had to be sealed with the bodies of the men still inside.

1975 – Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain for 36 years, died from complications with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 82. During his reign, Franco established a repression which was characterized by concentration camps, forced labor and executions, mostly against political and ideological enemies. The death toll he left behind was in excess of 250,000.

1982 – The University of California football team won an improbable last-second victory over Stanford when they completed five lateral passes around members of the Cardinals’ marching band, who had wandered onto the field a bit early to celebrate the upset they were sure their team had won.
After catching the last lateral of the series, Cal’s Kevin Moen careened through the confused horn section and made it safely to the end zone. Then he slammed into trombone player Gary Tyrell. A photograph from the Oakland Tribune of the jubilant Moen and the terrified Tyrell in the moment just before the collision is still displayed triumphantly all over Berkeley.

1992 – Fire erupted at Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth’s official residence west of London, causing extensive damage. The Queen and Prince Andrew pitched in to help save priceless artworks and other valuables housed in the fortress. The fire burned for 15 hours damaging or destroying nine principal rooms and over a hundred other rooms. It took a million and a half gallons of water to put out the blaze. The next five years would be spent restoring the Castle to its former glory.

2003 – Phil Spector, the influential, eccentric music producer who worked with a long list of performers including The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes, Ike and Tina Turner, and the Beatles, was indicted in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Spector pled not guilty to the charges.

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