TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, NOV. 12, the 316th day of 2018. There are 49 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union when Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.
In 1866, Chinese revolutionary Sun Yatsen, the first provisional president of the Republic of China, was born.
In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., giving the green light to traffic.
In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.
In 1984, space shuttle astronauts Dale Gardner and Joe Allen snared a wandering satellite in history’s first space salvage; the Palapa B2 satellite was secured in Discovery’s cargo bay for return to Earth.
In 1987, the American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIV-positive.
In 1998, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley filed a $433 million lawsuit against the firearms industry, declaring that it had created a public nuisance by flooding the streets with weapons deliberately marketed to criminals. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2000; an appeals court ruled in 2002 that the city of Chicago could proceed, but the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2004.
In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 headed to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Rock musician Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs) and sportscaster Al Michaels are 74. Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 73. Actress Megan Mullally is 60. Actor Vincent Irizarry is 59. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci is 57. Actor Sam Lloyd is 55. Rock musician David Ellefson is 54. Retired MLB AllStar Sammy Sosa is 50. Figure skater Tonya Harding is 48. Actress Rebecca Wisocky is 47. Actress Radha Mitchell is 45. Actresses Lourdes Benedicto, Tamala Jones and Angela Watson are 44. Singer Tevin Campbell is 42. Actress Ashley Williams is 40. Actress Cote de Pablo is 39. Actor Ryan Gosling and contemporary Christian musician Chris Huffman are 38. Actress Anne Hathaway is 36.