TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 2, the 306th day of 2021. There are 59 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 2, 2000, American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko (gihd-ZEENG’-koh) and Sergei Krikalev (SUR’gay KREE’-kuh-lev), became the first residents of the international space station. On this date:
■ In 1783, General George Washington issued his Farewell Address to the Army near Princeton, New Jersey.
■ In 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states with the signing of proclamations by President Benjamin Harrison.
■ In 1920, white mobs rampaged through the Florida citrus town of Ocoee, setting fire to Black-owned homes and businesses, after a Black man, Mose Norman, showed up at the polls to vote on Election Day; some historians estimate as many as 60 people were killed.
■ In 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.
■ In 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.
■ In 1994, a jury in Pensacola, Florida, convicted Paul Hill of murder for the shotgun slayings of an abortion provider and his escort; Hill was executed in September 2003.
■ In 2003, in Iraq, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying dozens of U.S. soldiers, killing 16. In Durham, New Hampshire, V. Gene Robinson was consecrated as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
■ In 2004, President George W. Bush was elected to a second term as Republicans strengthened their grip on Congress. Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was slain in Amsterdam after receiving death threats over his movie “Submission,” which criticized the treatment of women under Islam.
■ In 2007, British college student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found slain in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy; her roommate, American Amanda Knox and Knox’s Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito (rah-fy-EHL’-ay soh-LEH’-chee-toh), were convicted of killing Kercher, but both were later exonerated. (Rudy Guede (GAY’day), a petty criminal who was convicted separately in the case, is serving a 16-year sentence.)
Ten years ago: The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to some 19,000 Japanese-Americans who’d served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service.
Five years ago: In Iowa, Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale Officer Justin Martin were shot and killed while sitting in their patrol cars in separate attacks about 2 miles apart; suspect Scott Michael Greene later pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to consecutive life prison terms.
One year ago: In the closing hours of the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump charged across the nation delivering an incendiary but false allegation that the election was rigged, while Democrat Joe Biden pushed to claim states that were once seen as safely Republican.