ALMANAC On this day, Nov. 20
1789 New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1945 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.) 1947 Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey. 1952 President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower announced his selection of John Foster Dulles to be his secretary of state.
1967 The U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock at the Commerce Department ticked past 200 million. 1969 A group of American Indian activists began a 19month occupation of Alcatraz
Island in San Francisco Bay. 1985 The first version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, was officially released.
1998 Forty-six states embraced a $206 billion settlement with cigarette makers over health costs for treating sick smokers.
2000 Lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush battled before the Florida Supreme Court over whether the presidential election recount should be allowed to continue.
2003 Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation in Santa Barbara, Calif. (Jackson was later acquitted at trial.) Record producer Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of an actor, Lana Clarkson, at his home in Alhambra, Calif. (Spector’s first trial ended with a hung jury in 2007; he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009 and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. He died in January 2021.)
2012 “Elmo” puppeteer Kevin Clash resigned from “Sesame Street” amid allegations of sexually abusing underage boys, which Clash denied. 2015 Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, was released from prison after 30 years behind bars for spying for Israel. (After five years of parole, Pollard moved to Israel in December 2020.)
Today’s birthdays: Actor Estelle Parsons, 95. Comedian Dick Smothers, 84. President Joe Biden, 80. Singer Norman Greenbaum, 80. Actor Veronica Hamel, 79. Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff, 76. Singer Joe Walsh, 75. Actor Richard Masur, 74. Opera singer Barbara Hendricks, 74. Former national security adviser John
Bolton, 74. Actor Bo Derek, 66. Former NFL player Mark Gastineau, 66. Reggae musician Jimmy Brown (UB40), 65. Actor Sean Young, 63. Pianist Jim Brickman, 61. Actor Ming-Na, 59. Actor Ned Vaughn, 58. Rapper Mike D (The Beastie Boys), 57. Rapper Sen Dog (Cypress Hill), 57. Actor Callie Thorne, 53. Actor Sabrina Lloyd, 52. Actor Joel McHale, 51. Actor Marisa Ryan, 48. Country singer Dierks Bentley, 47. Actor Joshua Gomez, 47. Actor Laura Harris, 46. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes, 46. Country singer Josh Turner, 45. Actor Nadine Velazquez, 44. Actor Jacob Pitts, 43. Actor Andrea Riseborough, 41. Actor Jeremy Jordan, 38. Actor Dan Byrd, 37. Actor Ashley Fink, 36. Rock musician Jared Followill (Kings of Leon), 36. Actor Jaina Lee Ortiz, 36. Actor Cody Linley, 33.