Today’s highlight in history
On Nov. 7, 1917, Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.
On this date
In 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1940, Washington state’s original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed “Galloping Gertie,” collapsed into Puget Sound during a windstorm just four months after opening to traffic.
In 1954, the CBS News program “Face the Nation” premiered with Ted Koop as host; the guest was Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.).
In 1973, Congress overrode President Richard Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive’s power to wage war without congressional approval.
In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the governor’s race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history; David N. Dinkins was elected New York City’s first black mayor.
In 1991, basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for HIV, and was retiring. (Despite his HIV status, Johnson has been able to sustain himself with medication.)
In 1996, the U.S. liquor industry voted to drop its decades-old voluntary ban on broadcast advertising.
Ten years ago: An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in Tuusula, Finland, killing seven other students and the principal before taking his own life.
Five years ago: One day after a bruising election, President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner both pledged to seek a compromise to avert looming spending cuts and tax increases that threatened to plunge the economy back into recession.
One year ago: Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, 82, died in Los Angeles.