http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Nov 19, 1863: Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought some four months earlier, was the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Over the course of three days, more than 45,000 men were killed, injured, captured or went missing. The battle also proved to be the turning point of the war: General Robert E. Lee's defeat and retreat from Gettysburg marked the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory and the beginning of the Southern army's ultimate decline.
Charged by Pennsylvania's governor, Andrew Curtin, to care for the Gettysburg dead, an attorney named David Wills bought 17 acres of pasture to turn into a cemetery for the more than 7,500 who fell in battle. Wills invited Edward Everett, one of the most famous orators of the day, to deliver a speech at the cemetery's dedication. Almost as an afterthought, Wills also sent a letter to Lincoln—just two weeks before the ceremony—requesting "a few appropriate remarks" to consecrate the grounds.
At the dedication, the crowd listened for two hours to Everett before Lincoln spoke. Lincoln's address lasted just two or three minutes. The speech reflected his redefined belief that the Civil War was not just a fight to save the Union, but a struggle for freedom and equality for all, an idea Lincoln had not championed in the years leading up to the war. This was his stirring conclusion: "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Reception of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was initially mixed, divided strictly along partisan lines. Nevertheless, the "little speech," as he later called it, is thought by many today to be the most eloquent articulation of the democratic vision ever written.
Nov 19, 1942: Soviet counterattack at Stalingrad
The Soviet Red Army under General Georgi Zhukov launches Operation Uranus, the great Soviet counteroffensive that turned the tide in the Battle of Stalingrad.
On June 22, 1941, despite the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, Nazi Germany launched a massive invasion against the USSR. Aided by its greatly superior air force, the German army raced across the Russian plains, inflicting terrible casualties on the Red Army and the Soviet population. With the assistance of troops from their Axis allies, the Germans conquered vast territory, and by mid October the great Russian cities of Leningrad and Moscow were under siege. However, the Soviets held on, and the coming of winter forced the German offensive to pause.
For the 1942 summer offensive, Adolf Hitler ordered the Sixth Army, under General Friedrich von Paulus, to take Stalingrad in the south, an industrial center and obstacle to Nazi control of the precious Caucasus oil wells. In August, the German Sixth Army made advances across the Volga River while the German Fourth Air Fleet reduced Stalingrad to burning rubble, killing more than 40,000 civilians. In early September, General Paulus ordered the first offensives into Stalingrad, estimating that it would take his army about 10 days to capture the city. Thus began one of the most horrific battles of World War II and arguably the most important because it was the turning point in the war between Germany and the USSR.
In their attempt to take Stalingrad, the German Sixth Army faced General Vasily Zhukov leading a bitter Red Army employing the ruined city to their advantage, transforming destroyed buildings and rubble into natural defensive fortifications. In a method of fighting the Germans began to call the Rattenkrieg, or "Rat's War," the opposing forces broke into squads eight or 10 strong and fought each other for every house and yard of territory. The battle saw rapid advances in street-fighting technology, such as a German machine gun that shot around corners and a light Russian plane that glided silently over German positions at night, dropping bombs without warning. However, both sides lacked necessary food, water, or medical supplies, and tens of thousands perished every week.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was determined to liberate the city named after him, and in November he ordered massive reinforcements to the area. On November 19, General Zhukov launched a great Soviet counteroffensive out of the rubble of Stalingrad. German command underestimated the scale of the counterattack, and the Sixth Army was quickly overwhelmed by the offensive, which involved 500,000 Soviet troops, 900 tanks, and 1,400 aircraft. Within three days, the entire German force of more than 200,000 men was encircled.
Italian and Romanian troops at Stalingrad surrendered, but the Germans hung on, receiving limited supplies by air and waiting for reinforcements. Hitler ordered Von Paulus to remain in place and promoted him to field marshal, as no Nazi field marshal had ever surrendered. Starvation and the bitter Russian winter took as many lives as the merciless Soviet troops, and on January 21, 1943, the last of the airports held by the Germans fell to the Soviets, completely cutting off the Germans from supplies. On January 31, Von Paulus surrendered German forces in the southern sector, and on February 2 the remaining German troops surrendered. Only 90,000 German soldiers were still alive, and of these only 5,000 troops would survive the Soviet prisoner-of-war camps and make it back to Germany.
The Battle of Stalingrad turned the tide in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. General Zhukov, who had played such an important role in the victory, later led the Soviet drive on Berlin. On May 1, 1945, he personally accepted the German surrender of Berlin. Von Paulus, meanwhile, agitated against Adolf Hitler among the German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union and in 1946 provided testimony at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. After his release by the Soviets in 1953, he settled in East Germany.
Nov 19, 1940: Hitler urges Spain to grab Gibraltar
On this day in 1940, Adolf Hitler tells Spanish Foreign Minister Serano Suner to make good on an agreement for Spain to attack Gibraltar, a British-controlled region. This would seal off the Mediterranean and trap British troops in North Africa.
Spain had just emerged from a three-year (1936-39) civil war, leaving Gen. Francisco Franco in dictatorial control of the nation. Although Franco had accepted aid for his Nationalist forces from the fascist governments of Germany and Italy during his war against the left-wing Republicans, he had maintained a posture of "neutrality" once the Second World War broke out. Two factors led the Caudillo, or chief of state, to reconsider this stance: (1) the fact that early Italian victories in Africa and German victories in Europe made a fascist victory more than just a possibility, and (2) his own desire to regain control of Gibraltar, a tiny peninsula south of Spain and a British colony. Toward this end, Franco began manipulating his own people to the point of exercising frenzied mobs to demand war against England to retake Gibraltar, which Spain lost during the War of Spanish Succession in 1704.
Gibraltar was a key strategic region, the only point of access to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean and long a significant air and naval base for the United Kingdom. If Spain could occupy Gibraltar, it would cut Britain off from its own troops in North Africa and frustrate plans to drive back Rommel and his Afrika Korps, as well as stop any British plans to invade Italy. Hitler was keen on pushing Spain in this direction. But when the Fuhrer emphasized the need to move quickly, the Spanish foreign minister, on orders from Franco, insisted that Spain would need 400,000 tons of grain before it could wage war against Britain. Hitler knew this was merely a delaying tactic; Franco did not want to commit his country to the war, even as he allowed German subs to refuel in Spanish ports and German spies to keep tabs on British naval forces in Gibraltar.
But as the war began to turn against the Axis powers, so did Franco, who saw a future of negotiating trade deals with the Western democracies. The Caudillo began to cooperate with the Allies in a variety of ways, including allowing Free French forces to cross Spain from Vichy France to Resistance bases in North Africa. But the Allies saw Franco as a mere opportunist, and Spain was not allowed into the United Nations until 1955.
Nov 19, 1969: Pele scores 1,000th goal
Brazilian soccer great Pele scores his 1,000th professional goal in a game, against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium. It was a major milestone in an illustrious career that included three World Cup championships.
Pele, considered one of the greatest soccer players ever to take the field, was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in Tres Coracos, Brazil, in 1940. He acquired the nickname Pele during his childhood though the name has no meaning in his native Portuguese. When he was a teenager, he played for a minor league soccer club in Bauru in Sao Paulo state and in 1956 joined the major league Santos Football Club in the city of Sao Paulo, playing inside left forward. Two years later, he led the Brazilian national team to victory in the World Cup. ele, who was only 17 years old, scored two goals to defeat Sweden in the final.
Pele was blessed with speed, balance, control, power, and an uncanny ability to anticipate the movements of his opponents and teammates. Although just five feet eight inches tall, he was a giant on the field, leading Santos to three national club championships, two South American championships, and the world club title in 1963. Under Pele's leadership, Brazil won the World Cup in 1958, 1962, and 1970. In 1970, Brazil was granted permanent possession of the World Cup's Jules Rimet Trophy as a tribute to its dominance. On November 19, 1969, Pele scored his 1,000th goal on a penalty kick against Vasco da Gama. Eighty thousand adoring fans in Maracana stadium cheered him wildly, even though Santos was the opposing team.
Pele announced his retirement in 1974 but in 1975 accepted a $7 million contract to play with the New York Cosmos. He led the Cosmos to a league championship in 1977 and did much to promote soccer in the United States. On October 1, 1977, in Giants Stadium, he played his last professional game in a Cosmos match against his old team Santos.
During his long career, Pele scored 1,282 goals in 1,363 games. In 1978, Pele was given the International Peace Award and in 1993 he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Since retiring, he has acted as an international ambassador for his sport and has worked with the United Nations and UNICEF to promote peace and international reconciliation through friendly athletic competition.
Nov 19, 1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest debuts
On this day in 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film about a group of patients at a mental institution, opens in theaters. Directed by Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey, the film starred Jack Nicholson and was co-produced by the actor Michael Douglas. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest went on to become the first film in four decades to win in all five of the major Academy Award categories: Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher, who played Nurse Ratched), Best Director, Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Picture.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest marked Jack Nicholson’s first Oscar win, although the actor, who was born April 22, 1937, in Neptune, New Jersey, had already received four other Academy Award nominations by that time. Nicholson’s first nomination, in the Best Supporting Actor category, came for his performance as an alcoholic lawyer in 1969’s Easy Rider, co-starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. He earned his next Oscar nomination, for Best Actor, for 1970’s Five Easy Pieces, in which he played a drifter. For 1973’s The Last Detail, Nicholson earned another Best Actor Oscar nomination. His fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination came for his performance as Detective Jake Gittes in director Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974). In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nicholson played Randle McMurphy, a convict who pretends to be crazy so he can be sent to a mental institution and avoid prison work detail. Once at the asylum, McMurphy encounters a varied cast of inmates and clashes memorably with the authoritative Nurse Ratched.
During the 1980s, Nicholson, known for his charisma and devilish grin, appeared in such films as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), which was based on a Stephen King horror novel; The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), with Jessica Lange; Reds (1981), which was directed by Warren Beatty and earned Nicholson another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination; Terms of Endearment (1983), for which he collected a second Best Actor Oscar; Prizzi’s Honor (1985), for which he received another Best Actor Oscar nomination; The Witches of Eastwick (1987), with Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer; Ironweed (1987), for which he took home yet another Best Actor Academy Award nomination; and Batman (1989), in which he portrayed the villainous Joker.
Nicholson’s prolific film work in the 1990s included The Two Jakes (1990), a sequel to Chinatown directed by Nicholson himself, the biopic Hoffa (1992) and A Few Good Men (1992), for which he earned another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. A Few Good Men features Tom Cruise and Demi Moore and includes the now-famous Nicholson line “You can’t handle the truth.” Nicholson won his third Best Actor Oscar for 1997’s As Good as it Gets, which co-stars Helen Hunt, and earned his 12th Academy Award nomination for his performance in 2002’s About Schmidt. The iconic actor’s more recent film credits include Something’s Gotta Give (2003), with Diane Keaton, and The Departed (2006), directed by Martin Scorsese.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
461 - St Hilary begins his reign as Catholic Pope
615 - Pope Deusdedit/Adeodatus I elected to succeed Boniface
IV
1302 - Pope Boniface VIII delegates degree "Unam
sanctam"
1367 - League of Cologne goes against Danish king Waldemar
IV
1493 - Christopher Columbus discovers Puerto Rico, on his
2nd voyage
1521 - Battle at Milan: Emperor Karel
V's/pontifical/Spanish/German troops beat France & occupy Milan
1523 - Giulio de' Medici chosen as Pope Clemens VII
1530 - Augsburg] Emperor Karel I enables Edict of Worms
1544 - Pope Paul III opens council of Trente
1620 - Mayflower reaches Cape Cod & explores the coast
1621 - Rabbi Isaiah b Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in
Israel
1644 - 1st protestant ministry society in New England
1700 - Battle at Narva: Swedish King Karel XII defeats
Russians
1794 - Jakobin Club forms in Paris
1794 - Jay Treaty, 1st US extradition treaty, signed with
Great Britain
1805 - Lewis & Clark reach Pacific Ocean, 1st European
Americans to cross continent
1816 - Warsaw University is established.
1824 - Storm causes St Petersburg flood, killing 10,000
1837 - Floridsdorf-Deutsch Wagram railway in Austria opens
Poet Alfred TennysonPoet Alfred Tennyson 1850 - Alfred
Tennyson becomes British Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth
1861 - Julia Ward Howe committed "Battle Hymn of the
Republic" to paper
1863 - Lincoln delivers his address in Gettysburg; "4
score & 7 years..."
1873 - William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, of Tammany Hall
(NYC) convicted of defrauding city of $6M, sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment
1879 - Natl Association of Trotting Horse Breeders
determines what "is" a trotter
1881 - A meteorite lands near the village of Großliebenthal,
southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.
1887 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Dying
Detective" (BG)
1893 - 1st newspaper color supplement (NY World)
1894 - 1st mushroom on a stamp (China 1 & 5 Ap)
1894 - Dutch troops occupy & plunders palace of Tjakra
Negara, Lombok
1895 - Frederick E Blaisdell patents the pencil
1896 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Sussex
Vampire" (BG)
1903 - Carrie Nation attempts to address Senate
1906 - London selected to host 1908 Olympics
1909 - Former Dutch premier Abraham Kuyper denies corruption
Explorer of the New World Christopher ColumbusExplorer of
the New World Christopher Columbus 1910 - Ferenc Molnàrs "Tester,"
premieres in Budapest
1911 - NY receives 1st Marconi wireless transmission from
Italy
1916 - Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn
Pictures (the company later became one of the most successful independent
filmmakers).
1919 - US Senate rejects (55-39) Treaty of Versailles &
League of Nations
1922 - Demonstration for a French Language University in
Ghent
1923 - Béla Bartòk's "Tancsuite," premieres
1926 - British mine strikes after 28 weeks ends
1928 - 1st issue of Time magazine, Japanese Emperor Hirohito
on cover
1932 - Joe Kershalla scores 71 points in a college football
game
1932 - Shaft & Thyssen demand Hitler become German
chancellor
1933 - Women allowed to vote in Spain (helps right wing)
1939 - Don Lash wins 6th straight AAU cross-country 10K
championship
1940 - Belgian King Leopold III visits Adolf Hitler
1940 - German air raid on Birmingham fails
1942 - Joseph Goebbels visits "German Theatre in the
Niederlanden"
Nazi Minister of Propaganda and Information Joseph
GoebbelsNazi Minister of Propaganda and Information Joseph Goebbels 1942 -
Russia launches winter offensive against Germans along Don front
1943 - U-536 sinks in Atlantic Ocean
1944 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling $14 billion USD in war bonds
to help pay for the war effort.
1946 - Bradman scores 119 South Australia v Victoria, 183
mins, 8 fours
1947 - 200" mirror arrives at Mt Palomar
1948 - Belgian government of Spaak, forms
1949 - Prince Rainier III coronation as 30th ruling Prince
of Monaco
1950 - US General Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of
NATO-Europe
1951 - Roy Campanella named NL MVP on his 30th birthday
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1952 - North American F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed
record, 1124 KPH
1952 - Spain joins UNESCO
1953 - US Supreme Court rules (7-2) baseball is a sport not
a business
1953 - US VP Richard Nixon visits Hanoi
1955 - KXMB TV channel 12 in Bismarck, ND (CBS/ABC) begins
broadcasting
37th US President Richard Nixon37th US President Richard
Nixon 1955 - National Review publishes its first issue.
1957 - Antonin Novotny appointed president of Czechoslovakia
1958 - First 2 F-27 Fokker's Friendships delivered on Aer
Lingus
1959 - "Rocky & His Friends" debuts on ABC
1959 - Ford cancels Edsel
1960 - Mickey Vernon is hired as 1st manager of new
Washington team
1961 - Houston George Blanda passes for 7 touchdowns vs NY
Titans (49-13)
1962 - Fidel Castro accepts removal of Soviet weapons
1962 - KOET (now KULC) TV channel 9 in Ogden, UT (PBS)
begins broadcasting
1962 - SN Behrman's "Lord Pengo," premieres in NYC
1962 - Todor Zjivkov becomes premier of Bulgaria
1965 - ABC radio begins weekly "Vietnam Update"
report
1965 - Kellogg's Pop Tarts pastries created
1966 - Mad Dog Vachon beats Dick The Bruiser in Omaha, to
become NWA champ
1967 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Pensacola Ladies' Golf
Invitational
Cuban President Fidel CastroCuban President Fidel Castro
1967 - The establishment of TVB, the first wireless commercial television
station in Hong Kong.
1968 - Mali military coup, president Modibo Keita flees
1968 - Yankees pitcher Stan Bahnsen wins AL Rookie of Year
1969 - Apollo 12's Conrad & Bean become 3rd & 4th
humans on Moon
1969 - WENY TV channel 36 in Elmira, NY (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1970 - Golden Gate Park Conservatory becomes a Cal state
historical landmark
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 - Ft Wilderness opens
1972 - "Ambassador" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater
NYC for 9 performances
1972 - "Dear Oscar" closes at Playhouse Theater
NYC after 5 performances
1972 - Gershwin Theater (Uris) opens at 1633 Broadway NYC
1972 - KFIZ TV channel 34 in Fond du Lac, WI suspends
broadcasting
1972 - Willy Brandts SPD wins West German election
1973 - Elections in Suriname, premier Sedney's PNP doesn't
win a chair
1975 - Reds 2nd baseman Joe Morgan is named NL MVP
1976 - George Harrison releases "This Song"
1976 - Patty Hearst is freed on $15 million bail
1976 - Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first
President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.
1977 - -21] Egyptian president Sadat visits Israel
1977 - Canuck's Ron Sedlbauer fails on 3rd penalty shot
against Islanders
1977 - Egyptian Pres Anwar Sadat arrives in Israel
1977 - Libya drops diplomatic relations with Egypt
1978 - Gavaskar gets twin cricket tons for India for 2nd
time
1979 - Astros sign Nolan Ryan, to record 4 year, $4.5
million contract
1979 - Chuck Berry released from prison on income tax
evasion
Supermodel & Actress Brooke ShieldsSupermodel &
Actress Brooke Shields 1980 - CBS TV bans Calvin Klein's jean ad featuring Brooke
Shields
1983 - Edmonton Oilers beat NJ Devils, 13-4, Wayne Gretzky
calls the Devils "a Mickey Mouse organization"
1984 - Liquid gas tank in Mexico City explodes; 334 die
1984 - NY Met Dwight Gooden, 20, is youngest to be named NL
Rookie of Year
1985 - Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport,"
premieres in NYC
1985 - US President Reagan & Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev meet for 1st time
1986 - Phillies 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt wins NL MVP
1986 - Tina Howe's "Coastal Disturbances,"
premieres in NYC
1987 - France performs nuclear test
1989 - US beats Trinidad, 1-0 qualifing for 1990 world
soccer cup finals it was US' 1st qualification since 1950
1990 - Greyhound files reoganization plan so they can be
traded publically
1990 - Iraq announces it will free all German hostages
1990 - Pittsburgh's Barry Bonds wins NL MVP
1991 - Balt Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken wins his 2nd AL MVP
1992 - "3 From Brooklyn" opens at Helen Hayes
Theater NYC for 45 performances
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Mikhail GorbachevGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev 1993 - Algerian Moslem fundamentalists uprising, 27 killed
1993 - Curacaose vote to remain part of Dutch Antilles
1994 - Aishwarya Rai, 21, of India, crowned 44th Miss World
1994 - Sam's Town Bowling Invitational won by Tish Johnson
1995 - "Beatle Anthology" premieres on ABC-TV
1995 - "Sacrilege" closes at Belasco Theater NYC
after 21 performances
1995 - "School for Scandal" opens at Lyceum
Theater NYC for 23 performances
1995 - 83rd CFL Grey Cup: Balt Stallions defeats Calgary
Stampeders, 37-20
1995 - CNET lauches www.shareware.com
1995 - Keelin Curnuck, 23, Ms Venus Swimwear 1994, crowned
Miss NY USA
1995 - Suicide bomber blasts into Egyptian embassy in
Islamabad, kills 16
1996 - "God Said, Ha!," opens at Lyceum Theater
NYC for 22 performances
1996 - "Sex & Longing" closes at Cort Theater
NYC
1996 - Albert Belle, signs record five-year, $55 million
with White Sox
1996 - Space Shuttle STS 80 (Columbia 21), launches into
space
1996 - The case of the Port Arthur massacre comes to trial.
1996 - Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to
lead a multi-national policing force in Zaire.
1997 - "Eugene Onegin," opens at Martin Beck
Theater NYC
1997 - "Old Neighborhood," opens at Booth Theater
NYC
1997 - STS 87 (Columbia 24) launches into orbit
1997 - In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to
septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive.
They would go on to become the first set of septuplets to survive infancy, with
all seven alive in 2007.
1998 - Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without
Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million USD.
42nd US President Bill Clinton42nd US President Bill Clinton
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary
Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton.
1999 - Shenzhou 1: The People's Republic of China launches
its first Shenzhou spacecraft.
1999 - In Istanbul, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe ends a two-day summit by calling for a political
settlement in Chechnya and adopting a Charter for European Security.
1794 - Britain's King George III signed the Jay Treaty. It resolved the issues left over from the Revolutionary War. 1850 - The first life insurance policy for a woman was issued. Carolyn Ingraham, 36 years old, bought the policy in Madison, NJ. 1863 - U.S. President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania. 1893 - The first newspaper color supplement was published in the Sunday New York World. 1895 - The "paper pencil" was patented by Frederick E. Blaisdell. 1919 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles with a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against. A two-thirds majority was needed for ratification. 1928 - "Time" magazine presented its cover in color for the first time. The subject was Japanese Emperor Hirohito. 1942 - During World War II, Russian forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front. 1954 - Two automatic toll collectors were placed in service on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. 1959 - Ford Motor Co. announced it was ending the production of the unpopular Edsel. 1966 - Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles Dodgers) announced his retirement from major league baseball. 1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made man's second landing on the moon. 1970 - Hafiz al-Assad seized power in Syria. 1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to set foot in Israel on an official visit. 1979 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) signed a four-year contract for $4.5 million. At the time, Ryan was the highest paid player in major league baseball. 1981 - U.S. Steel agreed to pay $6.3 million for Marathon Oil. 1984 - Dwight Gooden, 20-year-old, of the New York Mets, became the youngest major-league pitcher to be named Rookie of the Year in the National League. (MLB) 1985 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva. 1990 - NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty of nonaggression. 1993 - The U.S. Senate approved a sweeping $22.3 billion anti-crime measure. 1994 - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO to bomb rebel Serb forces striking from neighboring Croatia. 1997 - In Carlisle, IA, septuplets were born to Bobbi McCaughey. It was only the second known case where all seven were born alive. 1998 - The impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Clinton began. 1998 - Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of the Artist Without Beard" sold at auction for more than $71 million. 1998 - Michelle Lee received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1999 - In Istanbul, Turkey, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded a two-day summit after adopting a new arms accord. During the conference, Russia was criticized for its military campaign against Chechnya's separatist movement. 2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed the most comprehensive air security bill in U.S. history. 2002 - The oil tanker Prestige broke into two pieces and sank off northwest Spain. The tanker lost about 2 million gallons of fuel oil when it ruptured November 13th and was towed about 150 miles out to sea. 2002 - The U.S. government completed its takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide. 2003 - Eight competing designs for a memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center were unveiled. One design would be built at the site of the World Trade Center.
1703 A masked man held prisoner in the Bastille in Paris died. His true identity was the cause of much intrigue, and his story became the basis of literary works by François Voltaire and Alexandre Dumas. 1794 John Jay and Lord Grenville signed Jay's Treaty. 1863 Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the national cemetery on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg, Pa. 1977 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel. 1985 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time in Geneva. 1990 Milli Vanilli's Grammy award was rescinded after it was discovered they didn't do their own singing.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/nov19.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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