TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, Nov. 9, the 313th day of 2018. There are 52 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Nov. 9, 1938, Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in a pogrom or deliberate persecution that became known as “Kristallnacht.”
On this date:
In 1620, the passengers and crew of the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod.
In 1918, it was announced that Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II would abdicate; he then fled to the Netherlands.
In 1961, U.S. Air Force Maj. Robert M. White became the first pilot to fly an X-15 rocket plane at six times the speed of sound. The Beatles' future manager, Brian Epstein, first saw the group perform at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
In 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.
In 1967, a Saturn V rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.
In 1970, former French President Charles de Gaulle died at age 79.
In 1989, communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West; joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.
In 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.
In 2000, George W. Bush's lead over Al Gore in all-or-nothing Florida slipped beneath 300 votes in a suspense-filled recount, as Democrats threw the presidential election to the courts, claiming “an injustice unparalleled in our history.”
Ten years ago: Barack Obama's transition chief, John Podesta, told Fox News Sunday the president-elect planned to review President George W. Bush's executive orders on such things as stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.
Five years ago: A house party shooting in suburban Houston left two teens dead. Three of the four surviving Doolittle Raiders who attacked Tokyo in 1942, all in their 90's, offered a final toast to their fallen comrades in a ceremony at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.
One year ago: During a visit to Beijing, President Donald Trump criticized what he called a “very one-sided and unfair” trade relationship between the U.S. and China, but said he doesn't blame China for having taken advantage of the U.S.
Thought for Today: “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” — Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963).