Today in history
Today is Monday, Nov. 20, the 324th day of 2017. There are 41 days left in the year. Today’s highlight
On Nov. 20, 1947, Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey.
On this date
In 1620, Peregrine White was born aboard the Mayflower in Massachusetts Bay; he was the first child born of English parents in present-day New England.
In 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
In 1910, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 had its beginnings under the Plan of San Luis Potosi issued by Francisco I. Madero.
In 1925, Robert F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
In 1945, 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.)
In 1959, the United Nations issued its Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
In 1967, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock at the Commerce Department ticked past 200 million.
In 1969, the Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phaseout. A group of American Indian activists began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
In 1975, after nearly four decades of absolute rule, Spain’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco died, two weeks before his 83rd birthday.
In 1976, the boxing drama “Rocky,” a United Artists release starring Sylvester Stallone, premiered in New York.
In 1985, the first version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, was officially released.
In 1992, fire seriously damaged Windsor Castle, the favorite weekend home of Queen Elizabeth II.
Ten years ago: A judge in St. George, Utah, sentenced polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs to five years to life in prison for his role in the arranged marriage of an underage girl to her older cousin. (Jeffs’ conviction was overturned by the Utah Supreme Court in 2010; prosecutors decided against a re-trial because Jeffs was already serving a life sentence in Texas in a separate case.) Scientists in Japan and the U.S. reported creating the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells. Ian Smith, the last white prime minister of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), died near Cape Town, South Africa, at age 88.
Five years ago: Former boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho was shot while sitting in a car in his hometown of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. (Camacho died four days later after doctors removed him from life support.) “Elmo” puppeteer Kevin Clash resigned from “Sesame Street” amid allegations of sexually abusing underage boys, which Clash denied. Jack Taylor, a guard for the Grinnell College basketball team, shattered the NCAA scoring record with a 138-point performance as the Division III school beat Faith Baptist Bible, 179-104.
One year ago: President Barack Obama, concluding his final official world tour in Peru, told a news conference in Lima he didn’t intend to become his successor’s constant critic — but reserved the right to speak out if President-elect Donald Trump or his policies breached certain “values or ideals.” At the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, Ariana Grande was named artist of the year; Zayn was named new artist of the year.