Today in history

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 20, the 324th day of 2019. There are 41 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 20, 1985, the first version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, was officially released.

On this date:

In 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

In 1910, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 had its beginnings under the Plan of San Luis Potosi issued by Francisco I. Madero.

In 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.)

In 1947, Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster

Abbey.

In 1966, the musical play “Cabaret,” set in pre-Nazi Germany, opened on Broadway with Jill Haworth as Sally Bowles and Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies.

In 1967, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock at the Commerce Department ticked past 200 million.

In 1969, the Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phaseout. A group of American Indian activists began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

In 1975, after nearly four decades of absolute rule, Spain’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco died, two weeks before his 83rd birthday.

In 1984, pop star Michael Jackson was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with the unveiling of his star in front of a horde of screaming fans.

In 1998, forty-six states embraced a $206 billion settlement with cigarette makers over health costs for treating sick smokers.