TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, NOV. 1, the 305th day of 2021. There are 60 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament, went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists. In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was established. In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott. In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an “axis” running between Rome and Berlin. In 1949, an Eastern Airlines DC-4 collided in midair with a Lockheed P-38 fighter plane near Washington National Airport, killing all 55 people aboard the DC-4 and seriously injuring the pilot of the P-38. In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. (One of the pair was killed, along with a White House police officer.) In 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, code-named “Ivy Mike,” at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. In 1973, following the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox. In 1989, East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the West. In 1991, Clarence Thomas took his place as the newest justice on the Supreme Court.
In 1995, Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present. In 2003, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean stirred controversy within his party by telling the Des Moines Register he wanted to be “the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.” (The former Vermont governor explained that he intended to encourage the return of Southern voters who had abandoned the Democrats for decades, but were disaffected with the Republicans.) In 2015, the Kansas City Royals won their first World Series crown since 1985, beating the New York Mets 7-2 in Game 5, which lasted 12 innings, ending after midnight. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: World Golf Hall-of-Famer Gary Player is 86. Country singer Bill Anderson is 84. Actor Barbara Bosson is 82. Actor Robert Foxworth is 80. Country singer-humorist Kinky Friedman is 77. Actors Jeannie Berlin and Belita Morene, and music producer David Foster are 72. Country singer-songwriter-producer Keith Stegall is 67. Country singer Lyle Lovett is 64. Actor Rachel Ticotin is 63. Apple CEO Tim Cook is 61. Actor Helene Udy is 60. Pop singer-musician Mags Furuholmen (a-ha) and rock singer Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) are 59. Rock musician Rick Allen (Def Leppard) and country singer “Big Kenny” Alphin (Big and Rich) are 58. Singer Sophie B. Hawkins is 57. Rapper Willie D (Geto Boys) is 55. Country musician Dale Wallace (Emerson Drive) is 52. Actor Toni Collette and actor-talk show host Jenny McCarthy are 49. Actors David Berman and Aishwarya Rai are 48. Rock singer Bo Bice is 46. Actor Matt Jones is 40. Actor Natalia Tena is 37. Actor Penn Badgley is 35. Actor Max Burkholder and actor-musician Alex Wolff are 24.