TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, NOV. 24, the 328th day of 2021. There are 37 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television. In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
In 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. California, unanimously struck down a California law prohibiting people from bringing impoverished nonresidents into the state.
In 1947, a group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the “Hollywood Ten” was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged communist influence in the movie industry. John Steinbeck’s novel “The Pearl” was first published.
In 1950, the musical “Guys and Dolls,” based on the writings of Damon Runyon and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opened on Broadway.
In 1974, the bone fragments of a 3.2-million-year-old hominid were discovered by scientists in Ethiopia; the skeletal remains were nicknamed “Lucy.”
In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap short- and medium-range missiles. (The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev the following month.)
In 1991, rock singer Freddie Mercury died in London at age 45 of AIDS-related pneumonia.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the bitter, overtime struggle for the White House, agreeing to consider George W. Bush’s appeal against the hand recounting of ballots in Florida.
In 2012, fire raced through a garment factory in Bangladesh that supplied major retailers in the West, killing 112 people; an official said many of the victims were trapped because the eightstory building lacked emergency exits.
In 2014, it was announced that a grand jury in St. Louis County, Missouri, had decided against indicting Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown; the decision enraged protesters who set fire to buildings and cars, and looted businesses in the area where Brown had been fatally shot.
In 2017, militants attacked a crowded mosque in Egypt with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest ever attack by Islamic extremists in the country.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Basketball Hall-of-Famer Oscar Robertson is 83. Country singer Johnny Carver and former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue are 81. Rock drummer Pete Best is 80. Actor-comedian Billy Connolly and former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater are 79. Former Congressman and Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman is 77. Singer Lee Michaels is 76. Actor Dwight Schultz is 74. Actor Stanley Livingston is 71. Rock musician Clem Burke (Blondie; The Romantics) is 67. Actor/director Ruben Santiago-Hudson is 65. Actor Denise Crosby is 64. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is 62. Actor Shae D’Lyn, and rock musicians John Squire (The Stone Roses) and Gary Stonadge (Big Audio) are 59. Actors Conleth Hill and Garret Dillahunt, and actor-comedian Brad Sherwood are 57. Actor-comedian Scott Krinsky is 53. Rock musician Chad Taylor (Live) is 51. Actor Lola Glaudini is 50. Actor Danielle Nicolet is 48. Actor-writer-directorproducer Stephen Merchant is 47. Actor Colin Hanks is 44.