TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, Nov. 17, the 321st day of 2019. There are 44 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 17, 1800, Congress held its first session in the partially completed U.S. Capitol building.
On this date:
In 1558, Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne upon the death of her halfsister, Queen Mary, beginning a 44-year reign.
In 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt.
In 1889, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. began direct, daily railroad service between Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as well as Chicago and San Francisco.
In 1911, the African-American fraternity Omega Psi Phi was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman, in an address to a special session of Congress, called for emergency aid to Austria, Italy and France. (The aid was approved the following month.)
In 1970, the Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote- controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon told Associated Press managing editors in Orlando, Florida: “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”
In 1979, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini (ah-yah-TOH’-lah hoh-MAY’-nee) ordered the release of 13 black and/or female American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
In 1997, 62 people, most of them foreign tourists, were killed when militants opened fire at the Temple of Hatshepsut (haht-shehp-SOOT’) in Luxor, Egypt; the attackers were killed by police.
In 2002, Abba Eban (AH’bah EE’-ban), the statesman who helped persuade the world to approve creation of Israel and dominated Israeli diplomacy for decades, died near Tel Aviv; he was 87.
In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the 38th governor of California.
In 2006, former “Seinfeld” star Michael Richards unleashed a barrage of racial epithets during a stand-up routine at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama held formal, closed- door talks in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao (hoo jin-tow). Sarah Palin’s autobiography “Going Rogue” was released; 1 million copies sold in less than two weeks.