San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, Nov. 8, the 313th day of 2020. There are 53 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight
On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected America’s 45th president, defeating Hillary Clinton in an astonishing victory for a celebrity businessman and political novice. Republicans kept their majorities in the Senate and House.
On this date
In 1793, the Louvre began admitting the public, even though the French museum had been officially open since August.
In 1861, the USS San Jacinto intercepted a British mail steamer, the Trent, and detained a pair of Confederate diplomats who were enroute to Europe to seek support for the Southern cause. (Although the Trent Affair strained relations between the United States and Britain, the matter was quietly resolved with the release of the diplomats the following January.)
In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln won re-election as he defeated Democratic challenger George B. Mcclellan.
In 1923, Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the “Beer-hall Putsch.”
In 1950, during the Korean War, the first jet-plane battle took place as Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MIG-15.
In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the presidency.
In 1966, Edward W. Brooke, R-mass., became the first Black candidate to be elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure allowing the merger of the American and National Football Leagues.
In 1974, a federal judge in Cleveland dismissed charges against eight Ohio National Guardsmen accused of violating the civil rights of students who were killed or wounded in the 1970 Kent State shootings.
In 2000, a statewide recount began in Florida, which emerged as critical in deciding the winner of the 2000 presidential election. Earlier that day, Vice President Al Gore had telephoned Texas Gov. George W. Bush to concede, but called back about an hour later to retract his concession.
Today’s birthdays
Singer Bonnie Raitt is 71. TV personality Mary Hart is 70. Actor Alfre Woodard is 68. Singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is 66. Singer-actor Leif Garrett is 59. Chef Gordon Ramsay is 54. Actor Courtney Thorne-smith is 53. Actor Parker Posey is 52. Singer Diana King is 50. Actor Gretchen Mol is 48. ABC News anchor David Muir is 47. Actor Matthew Rhys is 46. Actor Tara Reid is 45. TV personality Jack Osbourne is 35.