TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, Nov. 3, the 307th day of 2018.
TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT
On Nov. 3, 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd president of the United States, defeating President George H.W. Bush. In Illinois, Democrat Carol MoseleyBraun became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
ON THIS DATE
In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.
In 1900, the first major U.S. automobile show opened at New York’s Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Automobile Club of America.
In 1903, Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.
In 1908, Republican William Howard Taft was elected president, outpolling William Jennings Bryan.
In 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Car Co. was founded in Detroit by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant. (The company was acquired by General Motors in 1918.)
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide election victory over Republican challenger Alfred “Alf ” Landon.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, into orbit; on board was a dog named Laika (LY’-kah), who was sacrificed in the experiment.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson soundly defeated Republican Barry Goldwater to win a White House term in his own right.
In 1970, Salvador Allende (ah-YEN’-day) was inaugurated as president of Chile. In 1979, five Communist Workers Party members were killed in a clash with heavily armed Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis during an anti-Klan protest in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair came to light as Ash-Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran.
In 1997, the Supreme Court let stand California’s groundbreaking Proposition 209, which banned race and gender preference in hiring and school admissions.
Ten years ago: On the eve of Election Day 2008, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain wrapped up their two-year campaign for the White House. Five years ago: President Barack Obama stepped into Virginia’s gubernatorial race, throwing the political weight of the White House behind Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who ended up defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli.
One year ago: Army
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan and triggered a search that left some of his comrades severely wounded, was spared a prison sentence by a military judge in North Carolina; President Donald Trump blasted the decision as a “complete and total disgrace.”
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
“Among these things but one thing seems certain — that nothing certain exists, and that nothing is more pitiable or more presumptuous than man.” — Pliny the Elder, Roman scholar.
— ASSOCIATED PRESS