November 31507 - Leonardo DaVinci was commissioned by the husband of Lisa Gherardini to paint her. The work is known as the Mona Lisa. 1631 - The Reverend John Eliot arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the first Protestant minister to dedicate himself to the conversion of Native Americans to Christianity. 1793 - Stephen F. Austin was born. He was the principal founder of Texas. 1796 - John Adams was elected the 2nd U.S. President. 1839 - The first Opium War between China and Britain erupted. 1892 - The first automatic telephone went into service at LaPorte, IN. The device was invented by Almon Strowger. 1900 - The first automobile show in the United States opened at New York's Madison Square Garden. 1903 - Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia. 1911 - Chevrolet Motor Car Company was founded by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant. 1934 - The first race track in California opened under a new pari-mutuel betting law. 1941 - U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Grew warned that the Japanese may be planning a sudden attack on the U.S. 1952 - Frozen bread was offered for sale for the first time in a supermarket in Chester, NY. 1953 - The Rules Committee of organized baseball restored the sacrifice fly. The rule had not been used since 1939. 1957 - Sputnik II was launched by the Soviet Union. It was the second manmade satellite to be put into orbit and was the first to put an animal into space, a dog named Laika. 1973 - The U.S. launched the Mariner 10 spacecraft. On March 29, 1974 it became the first spacecraft to reach the planet Mercury. 1975 - "Good Morning America" premiered on ABC-TV. 1979 - Five members of the Communist Workers' Party are shot to death in broad daylight at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in Greensboro, NC. Eight others were wounded. 1986 - The Ash-Shiraa, pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran to secure the release of seven American hostages. The story turned into the Iran-Contra affair. 1987 - China told the U.S. that it would halt the sale of arms to Iran. 1991 - Israeli and Palestinian representatives held their first-ever face-to-face talks in Madrid, Spain. 1992 - Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman U.S. senator. 1994 - Susan Smith of Union, SC, was arrested for drowning her two sons. Nine days earlier Smith had claimed that the children had been abducted by a black carjacker. 1995 - U.S. President Clinton dedicated a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to the 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. 1998 - Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, died at the age of 83. 1998 - A state-run newspaper in Iraq urged the country to prepare for to battle "the U.S. monster." 1998 - Minnesota elected Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a former pro wrestler, as its governor. 2002 - At Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, 777 people assembled a 58,435 square foot jigsaw puzzle with 21,600 pieces. 2003 - In Kabul, Afghanistan, a post-Taliban draft constitution was unveiled. 2005 - Walt Disney Pictures released "Chicken Little." It was the first Disney film completely created with computer animation. 2014 - In New York City, One World Trade Center opened for business. |