Today in history

On Nov. 15, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, precursor to the Constitution. (Ratification by the 13 states was completed in 1781.)

In 1806 Army officer and explorer Zebulon Pike found the 14,110-foot Colorado mountain that would be named Pikes Peak in his honor.

In 1926 the National Broadcasting Co. debuted with a radio network of 24 stations.

In 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

In 1966 the flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic.

In 1969 250,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.

In 1978 anthropologist Margaret Mead died of cancer in New York; she was 76.

In 1985 Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing Northern Ireland.

In 2000 Al Gore made a surprise proposal for a statewide hand recount of Florida’s 6 million ballots — an idea immediately rejected by George W. Bush. (Earlier, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris had rejected requests from the counties to update presidential vote totals with the results of hand recounts under way at Gore’s urging.)