Today In History

Today is Thursday, Nov. 9, the 313th day of 2017. There are 52 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1967: A Saturn 5 rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.

ON THIS DATE

› 1620: The passengers and crew of the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod.

› 1872: Fire destroyed nearly 800 buildings in Boston.

› 1935: United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (later renamed the Congress of Industrial Organizations).

› 1938: Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in a pogrom that became known as “Kristallnacht.”

› 1965: The great Northeast blackout began as a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours left 30 million people in seven states and part of Canada without electricity.

› 1976: The U.N. General Assembly approved resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa, including one characterizing the white-ruled government as “illegitimate.”

› 1989: Communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West; joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.

› 1999: With fireworks, concerts and a huge party at the landmark Brandenburg Gate, Germany celebrated the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog is 86. Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson is 82. Actor Charlie Robinson is 72. Movie director Bille August is 69. Actor Robert David Hall is 69. Actor Lou Ferrigno is

66. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is 65. Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin is 58. Rock musician Dee Plakas (L7) is 57. Actress Ion Overman is 48. Rapper Pepa (Salt-N-Pepa) is 48. Rapper Scarface (Geto Boys) is 47. Blues singer Susan Tedeschi is

47. Actor Jason Antoon is

46. Actor Eric Dane is 45. Singer Nick Lachey (98 Degrees) is 44. Country musician Barry Knox (Parmalee) is 40. Rhythm and blues singer Sisqo (Dru Hill) is 39. Country singer Corey Smith is 38. Actress Nikki Blonsky is

29. Actress-model Analeigh Tipton is 29.