Today In History

Today is Friday, Nov. 2, the 306th day of 2018. There are 59 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1976: Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South since the Civil War to be elected president as he defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford.

ON THIS DATE

› 1889: North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states with the signing of proclamations by President Benjamin Harrison.

› 1917: British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration expressing support for a “national home” for the Jews in Palestine.

› 1947: Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (derisively dubbed the “Spruce Goose” by detractors), on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.

› 1959: Game show contestant Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he’d been given questions and answers in advance when he appeared on the NBC TV program “Twenty-One.”

› 2000: American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, became the first residents of the international space station.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Singer Jay Black (Jay and the Americans) is 80. Political commentator Patrick Buchanan is 80. Actress Stefanie Powers is 76. Author Shere Hite is 76. Country-rock singer-songwriter J.D. Souther is 73. Actress Kate Linder is 71. Rock musician Carter Beauford (The Dave Matthews Band) is 61. Actor Peter Mullan is 59. Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 57. Rock musician Bobby Dall (Poison) is

55. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage is 54. Actress Lauren Velez is 54. Actor Sean Kanan is 52. Actor David Schwimmer is 52. Christian/jazz singer Alvin Chea (Take 6) is 51. Jazz singer Kurt Elling is

51. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is 51. Rock singer-musician Neal Casal is 50. Actress Marisol Nichols is 47. Rhythm and blues singer Timothy Christian Riley (Tony Toni Tone) is 44. Rapper Nelly is 44. Actor Danny Cooksey is 43. Rock musician Chris Walla is 43. Actress Reshma Shetty is

41. Country singer Erika Jo is 32. Actor-singer Kendall Schmidt is 28.