Today in history
Today is Monday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2018. There are 49 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 12, 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. On this date: In 1866, Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, the first provisional president of the Republic of China, was born.
In 1920, baseball got its first “czar” as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was elected commissioner of the American and National Leagues.
In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., giving the green light to traffic.
In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over Japanese forces.)
In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.
In 1970, the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan; it’s believed half a million people, possibly more, were killed.
In 1977, the city of New Orleans elected its first black mayor, Ernest “Dutch” Morial, the winner of a runoff.
In 1984, space shuttle astronauts Dale Gardner and Joe Allen snared a wandering satellite in history’s first space salvage; the Palapa B2 satellite was secured in Discovery’s cargo bay for return to Earth.
In 1987, the American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIVpositive.
In 1996, a Saudi Boeing 747 jetliner collided shortly after takeoff from New Delhi, India, with a Kazak Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, killing 349 people.
In 1998, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley filed a $433 million-dollar lawsuit against the firearms industry, declaring that it had created a public nuisance by flooding the streets with weapons deliberately marketed to criminals. (A judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2000; an appeals court ruled in 2002 that the city of Chicago could proceed; but the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2004.)
In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 headed to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.
Ten years ago: Same-sex marriages began in Connecticut, a month after the state Supreme Court ruled that gays had the right to wed. Kenny Chesney took home his fourth entertainer of the year trophy at the CMA Awards. Mitch Mitchell, the England-born drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead in his hotel room in Portland, Ore.; he was 61.
Five years ago: An international panel of architects announced that the new World Trade Center tower in New York would replace Chicago’s Willis Tower as the nation’s tallest building upon its completion. Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians won the AL Manager of the Year award in a close vote, and Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates was a runaway winner in the National League after both guided small-budget teams to the postseason. British composer John Tavener, 69, died in Child Okeford, England.