This Day in History

On Nov. 4, 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan won the White House as he defeated President Jimmy Carter by a strong margin.

On this date:

In 1862, inventor Richard J. Gatling received a U.S. patent for his rapid-fire Gatling gun.

In 1879, humorist Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Oklahoma.

In 1916, CBS newsman Walter Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

In 1922, the entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in Egypt.

In 1955, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young died in Newcomerstown, Ohio, at age 88.

In 1956, Soviet troops moved in to crush the Hungarian Revolution.

In 1979, the Iran hostage crisis began as militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran, seizing its occupants; for some of them, it was the start of 444 days of captivity.

In 1991, Ronald Reagan opened his presidential library in Simi Valley, California; attending were President George H.W. Bush and former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard Nixon – the first-ever gathering of five past and present U.S. chief executives.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli minutes after attending a festive peace rally.

In 2001, Hurricane Michelle roared across Cuba, forcing the government to shut down power for much of the communist island and evacuate 750,000 people. The Arizona Diamondbacks won their first World Series by beating the New York Yankees 3-2 in Game 7.

In 2007, King Tutankhamen’s face was unveiled for the first time to the public more than 3,000 years after the pharaoh was buried in his Egyptian tomb.

Ten years ago: An Italian judge convicted 23 Americans in absentia along with two Italians in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program. The New York Yankees won the World Series, beating the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 behind Hideki Matsui’s record-tying six RBIs.