history at a glance
TODAY is Wednesday, November 1, the 305th day of 2017. There are 60 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1952 – Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first large hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Mike” [“M” for megaton], in the Eniwetok atoll, located in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The explosion had a yield of ten megatons. 1954 – The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots
of the Algerian War of Independence. 1955 – The bombing of United Airlines Flight 629 occurs near Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and five crew members aboard the Douglas DC-6B airliner. 1957 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. 1959 – In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction. 1960 – While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps. 1961 – Fifty thousand women in 60 cities participate in the inaugural Women Strike for Peace (WSP) against nuclear proliferation. 1963 – The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens. 1963 – The 1963 South Vietnamese coup begins 1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America’s film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the
new Watergate Special Prosecutor. 1979 – In Bolivia, Colonel Alberto Natusch executes a bloody coup d’état against the constitutional government of Dr. Wálter Guevara. 1981 – Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the
United Kingdom. 1982 – Honda becomes the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio. The Honda Accord is the first car produced there. 1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally
establishing the European Union. 2012 – A fuel tank truck crashes and explodes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh killing 26 people and injuring 135.