1493 – Christopher Columbus went ashore on an island he first saw the day before. He named it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico).  It was his second voyage to the New World and he never set foot on the mainland of what today is the United States. He was a major slave trader of the times, committing genocide, bringing tobacco to addict Europe (a crop unknown before its discovery in the New World.) Contrary to published reports, the world was known to the general population to be round, there was an easy sail at the time of the year to the Bahamas, and he died a rich man from all the commissions he received from the many voyages to plunder the islands he discovered. (See two books by James W. Loewen, “The Truth about Columbus,” and “Lies My Teacher Told Me.”)
    1620 - The Pilgrims reached Cape Cod. Mariner Bartholomew Gosnold (1572-1607) sailed the New England coast in 1602, naming things as he went.  When the Pilgrims first set foot in the New World in November 1620, it was at the site of Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod. They rested only long enough to draw up rules of governance (the Mayflower Compact) before setting sail westward in search of a more congenial place for their settlement, which they found at Plymouth. Later settlers stayed on the Cape, founding fishing villages along the coasts. The fishing industry drew boat builders and salt makers. Soon there were farmers working the cranberry bogs as well, and whaling ships bringing home rich cargoes of oil and whalebone. 
    1752 - Birthday of George Rogers Clark, American soldier and frontiersman, born at Albermarle County, VA.  Clark was the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Revolutionary War.  His brother, William, was with Merriweather Lewis on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.  Died at Louisville, KY, Feb. 13, 1818.
    1794 - Britain's King George III signed the Jay Treaty, finally resolving issues remaining from the Revolutionary War.
    1831 - Birthday of James Garfield, twentieth president of the US (and the first left-handed president), at Orange, OH. Term of office: Mar 4—Sept 19, 1881. While walking into the Washington, DC, railway station on the morning of July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by disappointed office seeker Charles J. Guiteau. He survived, in very weak condition, until Sept 19, 1881, when he succumbed to blood poisoning at Elberon, NJ, where he had been taken for recuperation. Guiteau was tried, convicted and hanged at the jail at Washington, June 30, 1882.
    1847 - Mary Anna Hallock Foote illustrated and wrote of life in mining towns and California.
http://askart.com/Biography.asp
http://members.tripod.com/~ntgen/bw/ha_notable.html#Mary
    1850 - The first life insurance policy for a woman was issued. Carolyn Ingraham, 36 years old, bought the policy in Madison, NJ.
    1861 - Julia Ward Howe wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
    1862 - Birthday of evangelist Billy Sunday. A little known fact:  Sunday was a major league outfielder in the 1880s before leaving the game to become an evangelist. Died at Chicago, IL, Nov 6, 1935.
    1863 - Seventeen acres of the battlefield at Gettysburg, PA, were dedicated as a national cemetery. Noted orator Edward Everett spoke for two hours.  The Gettysburg Address that Lincoln delivered in less than two minutes was later recognized as one of the most eloquent of the English language. Five manuscript copies in Lincoln’s hand survive, including the rough draft begun in ink at the Executive Mansion at Washington and concluded in pencil at Gettysburg on the morning of the dedication.  It is kept at the Library of Congress.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov19.html
    1868 - Testing the wording of the 14th Amendment that says “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States,” 172 New Jersey suffragists, including four black women, attempted to vote in the presidential election. Denied, they cast their votes instead into a women’s ballot box overseen by 84-year-old Quaker, Margaret Pryer.
    1874 - William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, of Tammany Hall in NYC, was convicted on 204 counts of defrauding the city of $12M, sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. Estimates of the total sum Tweed swindled from City Treasury range up to $200 million.
http://7-12educators.about.com/blabosstweed.htm
http://www.cmsu.edu/cj/boss.htm
    1874 - Developed out of the Women’s Temperance Crusade of 1873, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was organized at Cleveland, OH. The Crusade had swept through 23 states with women going into saloons to sing hymns, pray and ask saloonkeepers to stop selling liquor. Today, the temperance group, headquartered at Evanston, IL, includes more than a million members with chapters in 72 countries and continues to be concerned with educating people on the potential dangers of the use of alcohol, narcotics and tobacco.
    1883 - The United States Uniform Time Zone Plan (4 zones of 15 degrees) is put into operation.  "Despite all the good scientific and military arguments for world time, it was the railroad companies and not the government that were the first to institute it. Around 1870, if a traveler from Washington to San Francisco set his watch in every town he passed through, he would set it over two hundred times."  --- Stephen Kern, The Culture Of Time Space.
    1885 - Birthday of Haldor Lillenas, American hymn writer. He penned nearly 4,000 Gospel texts and hymn tunes during his lifetime, including "It Is Glory Just to Walk With Him”, "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" and "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace."
    1889 – Clifton Webb’s birthday, born Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck in Indianapolis.  Actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as “Laura”, “The Razor’s Edge”, and “Sitting Pretty”.  Webb died in Beverly Hills in 1966.
    1893 - The first newspaper color supplement was published in the Sunday New York World.    
    1895 - Frederick E. Blaisdell patents the pencil
    1903 – Carrie Nation attempts to address the US Senate on the evils of alcohol.  An American woman who was a radical member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol before the advent of Prohibition, she is particularly noteworthy for attacking the property of alcohol-serving establishments (most often taverns) with a hatchet.
    1905 - Birthday of trombone player/band leader Tommy Dorsey at Shenandoah, PA.   
http://www.redhotjazz.com/tommy.html
http://www.tommydorseyorchestra.org/
    1908 - Birthday of trombone player Keg Johnson, Dallas, TX
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,
449858,00.html?artist=Keg+Johnson
    1909 – Peter Drucker’s birthday in Vienna, Austria.  A management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation, he was also a leader in the development of management education.  He invented the concept known as management by objectives and he has been described as "the founder of modern management".  Drucker died in 2005 in Claremont, CA.
    1911 - New York receives the first Marconi wireless transmission from Italy
    1915 – International Workers of the World (IWW) Labor organizer, folk-poet Joe Hill was murdered by firing squad in Utah. The subject of numerous songs, plays, and books, some of his songs have been available continuously in the IWW's "Little Red Song Book," now in its 36th edition. Hill was convicted of killing a grocer and his son, even though the bullets were not from Hill's revolver and no one identified him as the murderer. His last words:
"Don't mourn, organize!"
Poet Alfred Hays wrote a ballad in Hill's memory:
"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I, 'But Joe you're ten years dead,'
'I never died,' says he." Hill became a martyr upon his execution. Efforts by President Woodrow Wilson, the government of Sweden, and many prominent Americans to get him a new trial had failed. Utah Phillips has recorded Joe Hill's songs, some downloadable at  http://hillstrom.iww.org/music/Utah_Phillips/
See: Smith, Gibbs M., Labor Martyr: Joe Hill (1972). (Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995 Encyclopedia) Only hours before facing the firing squad labor organizer Joe Hill composed his "Last Will":
“My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss & moan
Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.
My body - Oh! - if I could choose,
I would to ashes it reduce,
& let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life & bloom again.
This is my Last & Final Will.
Good luck to all of you,”
— Joe Hill
http://hillstrom.iww.org/joehill.html
http://www.pbs.org/joehill/story/
http://iww.org/
    1916 – Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn established Goldwyn Pictures.
    1919 - The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against, short of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.
    1921 - Birthday of Roy Campanella at Philadelphia, PA.  One of the first black major leaguers and a star of one of baseball’s greatest teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ “Boys of Summer,” Campy, as he was often called, was named the National League MVP three times in his 10 years of play, in 1951, 1953 and 1955. Campanella had his highest batting average in 1951 (.325) and in 1953, he established three single-season records for a catcher— most putouts (807), most home runs (41) and most runs batted in (142)—as well as having a batting average of .312. His career was cut short on Jan 28, 1958, when an automobile accident left him paralyzed. Campy gained even more fame after his accident as an inspiration and spokesman for the handicapped. He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. Roy Campanella died June 26, 1993, at Woodland Hills, CA.
    1921 - The Columbia Gorge ice storm finally came to an end. In Oregon, 54 inches of snow, sleet and glaze blocked the Columbia River Highway at The Dalles. Apart from traffic on the river itself, all transportation between Walla Walla, WA and Portland, OR came to a halt. Nine trains were stopped as railroads were blocked for several days.
    1928 – Time magazine presented its cover in color for the first time. The subject was Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
    1932 - Joe Kershalla scores 71 points in a college football game
    1933 – Larry King’s birthday.  Born Lawrence Leibel Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, King is a television and radio host, actor, voice artist, and comedian whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and 10 Cable ACE Awards.  From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the highly-rated, nightly interview television program “Larry King Live” on CNN. He currently hosts “Larry King Now” on Hulu and RT America Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. He also hosts "Politicking with Larry King," a weekly political talk show Thursday evenings on RT America.
    1934 - Chick Webb Band records “Blue Lou” and “Don’t Be that Way.”
    1935 –Jack Welch’s birthday at Peabody, MA.  He was chairman and CEO of GE between 1981 and 2001. During his tenure at GE, the company's value rose 4000%.
    1936 – Dick Cavett was born at Gibbon, NE.  After a brief stint as a comedy writer for the likes of Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jerry Lewis, Cavett had his own late-night talk show, “The Dick Cavett Show” for several networks through 1996.  Cavett has been nominated for at least 10 Emmy Awards and has won three.
    1938 – Cable pioneer, media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati.  Clearly a game-changer, he founded CNN, the first 24-hour cable news channel, and WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. As a philanthropist, he gave a $1 billion gift to support the UN, which created the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden support for the UN. Turner's media empire began with his father's billboard business, which he took over at 24 after his father's suicide.   The business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, was worth $1 million when Turner took it over in 1963 (roughly $7.7 million in present day terms). The purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the Turner Broadcasting System.  CNN revolutionized news media and spurred rapid growth in cable television properties, breaking the stronghold of the big three broadcasting networks NBC, CBS, and ABC.   His franchises have expanded to MGM, TNT, TCM, and others that led to a merger combining Turner into Time Warner in 1996.  Additionally, TBS purchased the Atlanta Braves baseball team and the NBA Atlanta Hawks, both in 1976.  While the Hawks remains an also-ran, under his watch, the Braves have been turned into one of baseball’s consistently-competitive teams, winning NL East pennants in 14 consecutive years beginning 1991, a Major League record. 
    1942 – Fashion designer Calvin Klein was born in The Bronx.
    1942 - FOSS, JOSEPH JACOB, Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Marine Fighting Squadron 121, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. Place and date: Over Guadalcanal, 9 October to 19 November 1942, 15 and 23 January 1943. Entered service at: South Dakota. Born: 17 April 1 915, Sioux Falls, S. Dakota. Citation: For outstanding heroism and courage above and beyond the call of duty as executive officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 121, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, at Guadalcanal. Engaging in almost daily combat with the enemy from 9 October to 19 November 1942, Capt. Foss personally shot down 23 Japanese planes and damaged others so severely that their destruction was extremely probable. In addition, during this period, he successfully led a large number of escort missions, skillfully covering reconnaissance, bombing, and photographic planes as well as surface craft. On 15 January 1943, he added 3 more enemy planes to his already brilliant successes for a record of aerial combat achievement unsurpassed in this war. Boldly searching out an approaching enemy force on 25 January, Capt. Foss led his 8 F-4F Marine planes and 4 Army P-38's into action and, undaunted by tremendously superior numbers, intercepted and struck with such force that 4 Japanese fighters were shot down and the bombers were turned back without releasing a single bomb. His remarkable flying skill, inspiring leadership, and indomitable fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the defense of strategic American positions on Guadalcanal. 
He was the leading fighter ace of the US Marines Corps in World War II.  Foss was elected as the first commissioner of the American Football League in 1960.  Foss died in Scottsdale, AZ in 2003.
    1943 - CROMWELL, JOHN PHILIP Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Navy. Born: 11 September 1901, Henry, Ill. Appointed from: Illinois. Other Navy award: Legion of Merit. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Commander of a Submarine Coordinated Attack Group with Flag in the U.S.S. Sculpin, during the 9th War Patrol of that vessel in enemy-controlled waters off Truk Island, 19 November 1943. Undertaking this patrol prior to the launching of our first large-scale offensive in the Pacific, Capt. Cromwell, alone of the entire Task Group, possessed secret intelligence information of our submarine strategy and tactics, scheduled Fleet movements and specific attack plans. Constantly vigilant and precise in carrying out his secret orders, he moved his undersea flotilla inexorably forward despite savage opposition and established a line of submarines to southeastward of the main Japanese stronghold at Truk. Cool and undaunted as the submarine, rocked and battered by Japanese depth charges, sustained terrific battle damage and sank to an excessive depth, he authorized the Sculpin to surface and engage the enemy in a gunfight, thereby providing an opportunity for the crew to abandon ship. Determined to sacrifice himself rather than risk capture and subsequent danger of revealing plans under Japanese torture or use of drugs, he stoically remained aboard the mortally wounded vessel as she plunged to her death. Preserving the security of his mission, at the cost of his own life, he had served his country as he had served the Navy, with deep integrity and an uncompromising devotion to duty. His great moral courage in the face of certain death adds new luster to the traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
    1943 - Stan Kenton records his theme, “Artistry in Rhythm” (Capital 159)
  http://www.artistdirect.com/store/artist/album/0,,113753,00.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004THEJ/inktomi-
musicasin-20/ref%3Dnosim/104-3191958-8595946
    1944 - Looking for ways to fund World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the 6th War Loan Drive on this day. The Loan Drive flooded the market with war bonds intended to meet Roosevelt's goals of "immediately" raising $14 billion for the war.
    1944 - McGRAW, FRANCIS X., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company H, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Schevenhutte, Germany, 19 November 1944. Entered service at: Camden, N.J. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. G.O. No.: 92, 25 October 1945. Citation: He manned a heavy machinegun emplaced in a foxhole near Schevenhutte, Germany, on 19 November 1944, when the enemy launched a fierce counterattack. Braving an intense hour-long preparatory barrage, he maintained his stand and poured deadly accurate fire into the advancing foot troops until they faltered and came to a halt. The hostile forces brought up a machinegun in an effort to dislodge him but were frustrated when he lifted his gun to an exposed but advantageous position atop a log, courageously stood up in his foxhole and knocked out the enemy weapon. A rocket blasted his gun from position, but he retrieved it and continued firing. He silenced a second machinegun and then made repeated trips over fire-swept terrain to replenish his ammunition supply. Wounded painfully in this dangerous task, he disregarded his injury and hurried back to his post, where his weapon was showered with mud when another rocket barely missed him. In the midst of the battle, with enemy troops taking advantage of his predicament to press forward, he calmly cleaned his gun, put it back into action and drove off the attackers. He continued to fire until his ammunition was expended, when, with a fierce desire to close with the enemy, he picked up a carbine, killed 1 enemy soldier, wounded another and engaged in a desperate firefight with a third until he was mortally wounded by a burst from a machine pistol. The extraordinary heroism and intrepidity displayed by Pvt. McGraw inspired his comrades to great efforts and was a major factor in repulsing the enemy attack.
    1944 - MILLER, ANDREW, Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G, 377th Infantry, 95th Infantry Division. Place and date: From Woippy, France, through Metz to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany, 1629 November 1944. Entered service at: Two Rivers, Wis. Birth: Manitowoc, Wis. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945. Citation: For performing a series of heroic deeds from 1629 November 1944, during his company's relentless drive from Woippy, France, through Metz to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany. As he led a rifle squad on 16 November at Woippy, a crossfire from enemy machineguns pinned down his unit. Ordering his men to remain under cover, he went forward alone, entered a building housing 1 of the guns and forced S Germans to surrender at bayonet point. He then took the second gun single-handedly by hurling grenades into the enemy position, killing 2, wounding 3 more, and taking 2 additional prisoners. At the outskirts of Metz the next day, when his platoon, confused by heavy explosions and the withdrawal of friendly tanks, retired, he fearlessly remained behind armed with an automatic rifle and exchanged bursts with a German machinegun until he silenced the enemy weapon. His quick action in covering his comrades gave the platoon time to regroup and carry on the fight. On 19 November S/Sgt. Miller led an attack on large enemy barracks. Covered by his squad, he crawled to a barracks window, climbed in and captured 6 riflemen occupying the room. His men, and then the entire company, followed through the window, scoured the building, and took 75 prisoners. S/Sgt. Miller volunteered, with 3 comrades, to capture Gestapo officers who were preventing the surrender of German troops in another building. He ran a gauntlet of machinegun fire and was lifted through a window. Inside, he found himself covered by a machine pistol, but he persuaded the 4 Gestapo agents confronting him to surrender. Early the next morning, when strong hostile forces punished his company with heavy fire, S/Sgt. Miller assumed the task of destroying a well-placed machinegun. He was knocked down by a rifle grenade as he climbed an open stairway in a house, but pressed on with a bazooka to find an advantageous spot from which to launch his rocket. He discovered that he could fire only from the roof, a position where he would draw tremendous enemy fire. Facing the risk, he moved into the open, coolly took aim and scored a direct hit on the hostile emplacement, wreaking such havoc that the enemy troops became completely demoralized and began surrendering by the score. The following day, in Metz, he captured 12 more prisoners and silenced an enemy machinegun after volunteering for a hazardous mission in advance of his company's position. On 29 November, as Company G climbed a hill overlooking Kerprich Hemmersdorf, enemy fire pinned the unit to the ground. S/Sgt. Miller, on his own initiative, pressed ahead with his squad past the company's leading element to meet the surprise resistance. His men stood up and advanced deliberately, firing as they went. Inspired by S/Sgt. Miller's leadership, the platoon followed, and then another platoon arose and grimly closed with the Germans. The enemy action was smothered, but at the cost of S/Sgt. Miller's life. His tenacious devotion to the attack, his gallant choice to expose himself to enemy action rather than endanger his men, his limitless bravery, assured the success of Company G.
    1944 - RIVERS, RUBEN, Medal of Honor.
Citation: For extraordinary heroism in action during the 15-19 November 1944, toward Guebling, France. Though severely wounded in the leg, Sergeant Rivers refused medical treatment and evacuation, took command of another tank, and advanced with his company in Guebling the next day. Repeatedly refusing evacuation, Sergeant Rivers continued to direct his tank's fire at enemy positions through the morning of 19 November 1944. At dawn, Company A's tanks began to advance towards Bougaktroff, but were stopped by enemy fire. Sergeant Rivers, joined by another tank, opened fire on the enemy tanks, covering company A as they withdrew. While doing so, Sergeant River's tank was hit, killing him and wounding the crew. Staff Sergeant Rivers' fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his unit and exemplify the highest traditions of military service.
    1947 – A 200” mirror arrives at Mount Palomar Observatory in California.
    1950 - Top Hits
“Harbor Lights” - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Tony Alamo)
“Goodnight Irene” - The Weavers
“Thinking of You” - Don Cherry
“I’m Moving On” - Hank Snow
    1950 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of NATO-Europe.
    1952 – A North American F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 1124 KPH
    1953 – The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 vote, rules baseball is a sport not a business.
    1954 - At the Union Toll Plaza on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway motorists dropped 25 cents into a wire mesh hopper and a green light would flash. This was the first automatic toll machine. If they didn’t drop the money in, an alarm sounded. A machine that could provide correct change went into operation at the extreme right lane of each direction of traffic. The first modern toll road was the Pennsylvania Turnpike which opened in 1940. On the West Coast, most highways are “free,” thus the word, “freeway.”
    1954 – Sammy Davis Jr. was involved in a car accident in San Bernardino, California. Three days later, he lost the sight in his left eye. It was rumored it was not an accident, but because he was dating Kim Novak. He said the accident changed his career. While in the hospital, friend Eddie Cantor tells Davis about the twin struggles of the Jewish and African-Americans, leading Davis to convert to Judaism. The accident, paradoxically, increased his popularity. He had released a number of singles which were mostly ignored until he signed with Decca Records in 1955, where he scored hits with “Something’s Gotta Give”, “Love Me or Leave Me” and “That Old Black Magic”.
    1955 – Carl Perkins recorded “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Studios in Memphis. It became his biggest Pop hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart. Elvis Presley’s version, which gets more air-play these days, only managed to get to #20. 
    1955 – National Review publishes its first issue.
    1957 - Chicago radio station WCFL is picketed by the local chapter of the Elvis Presley fan club when it refuses to play Presley’s records. Despite the protest, the station did not change its policy.
    1957 – Nineteen inches of snow covered the ground at Cresco, IA, a record November snow depth for the state
    1958 - Top Hits
“Tom Dooley” – The Kingston Trio
“Topsy II” – Cozy Cole
“Beep Beep” – The Playmates
“City Lights” – Ray Price
    1959 – The last Edsel rolled off the assembly line. Ford Motor Company stopped production of the big flop after two years and a total of 110,847 cars.
    1959 - ”Rocky and his Friends” premiered on TV.  This popular cartoon featured the adventures of a talking squirrel, Rocky (Rocket J. Squirrel), and his friend Bullwinkle, a flaky moose. The tongue-in-cheek dialogue contrasted with the simple plots in which Rocky and Bullwinkle tangled with Russian bad guys Boris Badenov and Natasha (who worked for Mr. Big). Other popular segments on the show included “Fractured Fairy Tales,” “Bullwinkle’s Corner” and the adventures of Sherman and Mr. Peabody (an intelligent talking dog). In 1961, the show was renamed “The Bullwinkle Show,” but the cast of characters remained the same.
http://timvp.com/bullwink.html
    1961 - A year after Chubby Checker reached the #1 spot with "The Twist", the singer appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" to sing the song again. "The Twist" became the first record to reach #1 a second time around.
    1961 - Cleveland running back Jim Brown rushes for an NFL record 242 yards and four touchdowns as the Browns beat the Philadelphia Eagles 45-24. 
    1961 - Houston Oilers’ QB George Blanda passes for 7 touchdowns vs New York Titans (49-13) at the Polo Grounds in the AFL.    
    1961 – Actress Meg Ryan’s birthday, born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra in Fairfield, CT.  Ryan has had a significant career across many recognizable films, but she will always be remembered for her first comedic role in “When Harry Met Sally,” opposite Billy Crystal. In a now-iconic scene, her character, while lunching with Crystal's character in Katz’s Deli, very theatrically demonstrates for him how easy it is to fake an orgasm.
    1962 – Birthday of Jodie Foster, film actor, director, and producer in LA as Alicia Christian Foster. She is a multi-Academy Award winner for her acting performances in “Silence of the Lambs” and “Accused”. Jodie was the youngest of four children raised by her mother Brandy, an art dealer and publicist. Jodie's father deserted the family before Jodie was born.
http://www.jodiefoster.nu/
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000149/bio
    1964 - Gary Lewis records "This Diamond Ring", which will climb to number one in the US the following January. Although the single will be credited to Gary Lewis and The Playboys, the music was actually provided by studio musicians and Lewis' voice was heavily mixed with that of singer Ron Hicklin. Co-writer Al Kooper has often said that although it has been his biggest commercial success as a songwriter, he was never happy with the Lewis version.
    1965 - Pop Tarts pastries created by Kellogg’s.
http://www.kelloggs.com/products/poptarts.html
http://www.pmichaud.com/toast/
    1966 - In one of the more famous college football match-ups between teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2, top-ranked Notre Dame tied second-ranked Michigan State, 10-10.
    1966 - Top Hits
“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” - The Supremes
“Good Vibrations” - The Beach Boys
“Winchester Cathedral” - The New Vaudeville Band
“I Get the Fever” - Bill Anderson
    1966 - Six weeks before his 31st birthday, LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, plagued by arthritis, announced his retirement from baseball. Koufax compiled a 12-season record of 165 wins, 87 losses and 2,396 strikeouts.
    1966 - The Special Events Committee presented The Righteous Brothers, April Stevens and Nino Tempo in the USF Gymnasium at the University of San Francisco. Same night: Beau Brummels at the Carousel Ballroom,  Grateful Dead at the Fillmore Auditorium,  Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & the Fish at the Avalon Ballroom. The city was rockin'!
    1966 - The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On" hits #1
    1967 - *WATTERS, CHARLES , Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Chaplain (Maj.), U .S. Army, Company A, 173d Support Battalion, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and date: Near Dak To Province, Republic of Vietnam, 19 November 1967. Entered service at: Fort Dix, N.J. Born: 17 January 1927, Jersey City, N.J. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Chaplain Watters distinguished himself during an assault in the vicinity of Dak To. Chaplain Watters was moving with one of the companies when it engaged a heavily armed enemy battalion. As the battle raged and the casualties mounted, Chaplain Watters, with complete disregard for his safety, rushed forward to the line of contact. Unarmed and completely exposed, he moved among, as well as in front of the advancing troops, giving aid to the wounded, assisting in their evacuation, giving words of encouragement, and administering the last rites to the dying. When a wounded paratrooper was standing in shock in front of the assaulting forces, Chaplain Watters ran forward, picked the man up on his shoulders and carried him to safety. As the troopers battled to the first enemy entrenchment, Chaplain Watters ran through the intense enemy fire to the front of the entrenchment to aid a fallen comrade. A short time later, the paratroopers pulled back in preparation for a second assault. Chaplain Watters exposed himself to both friendly and enemy fire between the 2 forces in order to recover 2 wounded soldiers. Later, when the battalion was forced to pull back into a perimeter, Chaplain Watters noticed that several wounded soldiers were Lying outside the newly formed perimeter. Without hesitation and ignoring attempts to restrain him, Chaplain Watters left the perimeter three times in the face of small arms, automatic weapons, and mortar fire to carry and to assist the injured troopers to safety. Satisfied that all of the wounded were inside the perimeter, he began aiding the medics--applying field bandages to open wounds, obtaining and serving food and water, giving spiritual and mental strength and comfort. During his ministering, he moved out to the perimeter from position to position redistributing food and water, and tending to the needs of his men. Chaplain Watters was giving aid to the wounded when he himself was mortally wounded. Chaplain Watters' unyielding perseverance and selfless devotion to his comrades was in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.
    1967 – The Beatles released “The Magical Mystery Tour” album in the UK, following with the US release on November 27.
    1968 - Diana Ross, onstage with the Supremes at the Royal Command Variety Performance in London, interrupts the show with a plea for interracial understanding. The audience, which includes members of the royal family, applauds for two minutes. 
    1969 – The first astronauts to retrieve a man-made object from the moon were Commanders Charles Conrad, Jr., mission leader, and Alan La Vern Bean, lunar landing module pilot, who recovered a piece of the unmanned spacecraft “Surveyor 3,” which had landed on the Ocean of Storms of the Moon on April 19, 1967. They were two of the three astronauts on Apollo 12, which was launched by a Saturn 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL, at 11:22am on November 14, 1969. While Commander Richard Francis Gorden, Jr. remained in orbits to pilot the command module, Conrad and Bean descended to the moon’s surface in the lunar module “Intrepid” and remained there for one day, the second time that human beings landed on the moon. Splashdown took place November 24, 1969, 400 miles from Samoa, after a flight of 244 hours, 36 minutes, 25 seconds.
    1973 - Senator Thomas J. McIntyre charged the major American oil companies of incompetence and selfishness. McIntyre alleged that they did not prepare for the upcoming energy crisis, and as a result have betrayed the American people.   And if you sat in those long lines waiting hours for a few gallons of gas, you likely agreed with him!!
    1974 - Top Hits
“Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band
“Do It (’Til You’re Satisfied)” - B.T. Express
“My Melody of Love” - Bobby Vinton
“Country Is” - Tom T. Hall
    1976 - Van Morrison's Moondance album is certified gold
    1976 – Heiress Patty Hearst is freed on $15 million bail
    1978 - Indiana-born, 47-year-old Reverend Jim Jones, leader of the “Peoples Temple,” was reported to have directed the suicides of more than 911 persons at Jonestown, Guyana. US Representative Leo J. Ryan, of California, and four members of his party were killed in ambush at Port Kaituma airstrip on Nov 18, 1978, when they attempted to leave after an investigative visit to the remote jungle location of the religious cult. This day, Jones and his mistress killed themselves after watching the administration of Kool-Aid laced with the deadly poison cyanide to members of the cult. At least 913 persons died in the biggest murder-suicide in history.
    1979 - Pitcher Nolan Ryan became the first baseball free agent to sign a contract for a salary of one million dollars per year, signing a four-year contract for $4.5 million. Ryan moved from the California Angels to the Houston Astros.
    1979 – Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
    1980 – CBS-TV bans Calvin Klein's jeans ad featuring Brooke Shields
    1981 - An unusually early snowstorm struck the Twin Cities of Minnesota, with as much as a foot of snow reported. The weight of the heavy snow caused the newly inflated fabric dome of the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis to collapse and rip.
    1982 - Top Hits
“Up Where We Belong” - Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
“Truly” - Lionel Richie
“Heart Attack” - Olivia Newton-John
“Heartbroke” - Ricky Skaggs
    1984 - 20-year-old Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the youngest major-league pitcher to be named Rookie of the Year in the National League. The Mets pitcher led the majors with 276 strikeouts.
    1985 - President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.
    1985 - Pennzoil wins a $10.53 billion judgment against Texaco in the largest civil verdict in US history, stemming from Texaco executing a contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.
    1986 – Philadelphia Phillies’ Mike Schmidt became only the third player in National League history to win the Most Valuable Player award three times. Roy Campanella of the Dodgers and Stan Musial of the Cardinals are the other three-time National League MVP winners.
    1988 - Strong thunderstorms developed during the mid-morning hours and produced severe weather across eastern Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley into the wee hours of the night. Thunderstorms spawned twenty-one tornadoes, including thirteen in Mississippi. One tornado killed two persons and injured eleven others at Nettleton, MS, and another tornado injured eight persons at Tuscaloosa, AL. Thunderstorms produced baseball size hail in east Texas and northern Louisiana, and Summit, MS was deluged with six inches of rain in four hours.
    1989 - Gale force winds continued to produce squalls in the Lower Great Lakes Region early in the day. Snowfall totals in western New York State reached 24 inches in southern Lewis County, with 21 inches reported at Highmarket. Unseasonably warm weather prevailed across the Northern and Central Plains Region. Eight cities reported record high temperatures for the date, including Denver, CO with a reading of 79 degrees.
    1990 - A summit was held at Paris with the leaders of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The highlight of the summit was the signing of a treaty to dramatically reduce conventional weapons in Europe, thereby ending the Cold War.
    1990 - Top Hits
“Love Takes Time” - Mariah Carey
“Pray” - M.C. Hammer
“More Than Words Can Say” - Alias
“You Really Had Me Going”- Holly Dunn
    1990 – Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of the Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the “Girl You Know It’s True” album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.
    1993 - Alan Giarettino proposed marriage to Christy Stubblefield while she rode around the ice rink on the Zamboni during the intermission of an East Coast Hockey League game in Huntington, WV. Stubblefield thought she had earned the ride by winning a contest. In truth, Giarettino had arranged the contest so that he could walk onto the ice during the ride, hand her a bouquet and drop to one knee. She said, “yes.”
    1994 - Nirvana’s album, "MTV Unplugged in New York", was number one in the U.S. for the week. The album featured these tracks: "About a Girl", "Come as You Are", "Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam", "The Man Who Sold the World", "Pennyroyal Tea", "Dumb", "Polly", "On a Plain", "Something in the Way", "Plateau", "Oh, Me", "Lake of Fire", "All Apologies" and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night".
    1995 - A 60 track album called "Beatles Anthology I" is released in the US and sets a first-day sales record of 450,000 units. 
    1995 - Frank Sinatra's all-star 80th birthday tribute is held in the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, featuring Bob Dylan performing "Restless Farewell" (at the request of Sinatra, Dylan had wanted to perform Frank's own "That's Life") and Paula Abdul singing "Luck Be a Lady." Afterwards, Dylan and fellow performer Bruce Springsteen, along with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, are invited back to the crooner's home.
    1995 – In the 83rd CFL Grey Cup, the Baltimore Stallions defeated the Calgary Stampeders, 37-20…that’s right, Baltimore won the Canadian Football League championship!
    1997 - The world’s first surviving septuplets were born by Cesarean section to Bobbi McCaughey of Carlisle, Iowa. She claimed her place in the record books by giving birth to septuplets: four boys (Kenneth, Brandon, Nathan and Joel) and three girls (Alexis, Natalie and Kelsey). The seven newcomers joined a family that already included one daughter, Mikayla. The infants ranged in weight from 2 pounds, 5 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces and were born over a period of six minutes. The father was Kenny McCaughey, a billing clerk at a car dealership.
    1998 - Sammy Sosa is selected as the NL MVP creating an historic Latin American sweep of the MVP awards with Ranger Juan Gonzales winning the award in the AL this season.
    1998 - Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of the Artist Without Beard" sold at auction for more than $71 million.
    1998 - The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton, arising from the revelations regarding intern Monica Lewinsky.
    2000 - Florida counts presidential ballots (more or less) as the process of determining the winner of the 2000 US presidential election continued.  Ultimately, the Supreme Court determined that George W, Bush had defeated former Vice President Al Gore, hanging chads and all.
    2001 - In a landslide vote (30 of 32 first-place votes) by the BBWAA, Giants left fielder Barry Bonds (.328, 137 RBIs, 73 HRs) wins the Most Valuable Player Award for an unprecedented fourth time (1990, 92- 93 as a Pirate). Three-time MVPs include Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt.
    2001 – Only weeks after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush signed the most comprehensive air security bill in U.S. history.
    2002 - The U.S. government completed its takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide.
    2002 - Twenty-four year veteran Jesse Orosco, the all-time leader in games pitched at 1,187, agrees to a one-year contract with the Padres estimated at $800,000.  At age 45, the lefty reliever, who started his Major League career with the Mets in 1979 (traded by the Twins for Jerry Koosman), is the oldest player in the majors.
http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=1840
http://www.baseball-reference.com/o/oroscje01.shtml
    2006 - Nintendo released its newest video game console, the Wii, in North America with an MSRP of $249.99
    2007 - At Caroline Kennedy's 50th birthday party, guest performer Neil Diamond reveals that his 1970 hit "Sweet Caroline" was actually written about her.
    2007 – The kindle by Amazon was first released to the public.
    2010 - Many nations urge lower fishing rates on the Atlantic bluefin tuna; quota limits on the critically endangered fish are discussed by major fishing nations in Paris.
    2011 - Part of the Prompt Global Strike program, a U.S. hypersonic weapon system undergoes a successful test, proving capable of striking targets 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) away in under 30 minutes