TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SUNDAY, NOV. 25, the 329th day of 2018. Thirty-six days are left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1963, the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery; his widow, Jacqueline, lighted an “eternal flame” at the gravesite.

In 1783, the British evacuated New York during the Revolutionary War.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Confederate agents set a series of arson fires in New York; the blazes were quickly extinguished.

In 1940, the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker made his debut in the animated short “Knock Knock.”

In 1961, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, was commissioned.

In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.

In 1987, Harold Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago, died in office at age 65.

In 1999, Elian Gonzalez, a 5-year-old Cuban boy, was rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida, setting off an international custody battle.

In 2001, as the war in Afghanistan entered its eighth week, CIA officer Johnny “Mike” Spann was killed during a prison uprising in Mazar-e-Sharif, becoming America’s first combat casualty of the conflict.

In 2002, President George W.

Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security and appointed Tom Ridge to be its head.

In 2016, Fidel Castro, who led his rebels to revolution in 1959, embraced Sovietstyle communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his halfcentury of rule in Cuba, died at age 90.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Playwright Murray Schisgal is 92. Actress Kathryn Crosby is 85. Actor Christopher Riordan is 81. Singer Bob Lind is 76. Author, actor and economist Ben Stein is 74. Actors John Larroquette and Tracey Walter, and movie director Jonathan Kaplan are 71. Author Charlaine Harris and retired MLB All-Star Bucky Dent are 67. Former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar is 55. Rock singer-musician Tim Armstrong and actor Steve Harris are 53. Actor Billy Burke and rock musician Rodney Sheppard (Sugar Ray) are 52. Actress Jill Hennessy is 49. Actress Christina Applegate is 47. Actress Kristian Nairn is 43. Former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb is 42. Actors Jerry Ferrara and Joel Kinnaman are 39. Actress Katie Cassidy is 32. Contemporary Christian singer Jamie Grace is 27.