http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Nov 21, 1783: Men fly over Paris
French physician Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier and François Laurent, the marquis d' Arlandes, make the first untethered hot-air balloon flight, flying 5.5 miles over Paris in about 25 minutes. Their cloth balloon was crafted by French papermaking brothers Jacques-Étienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventors of the world's first successful hot-air balloons.
For time immemorial, humanity has dreamed of flight. Greek mythology tells of Daedalus, who made wings of wax, and Leonardo da Vinci drew designs of flying machines and envisioned the concept of a helicopter in the 15th century. It was not until the 1780s, however, that human flight became a reality.
The first successful flying device may not have been a Montgolfier balloon but an "ornithopter"--a glider-like aircraft with flapping wings. According to a hazy record, the German architect Karl Friedrich Meerwein succeeded in lifting off the ground in an ornithopter in 1781. Whatever the veracity of this record, Meerwein's flying machine never became a viable means of flight, and it was the Montgolfier brothers who first took men into the sky.
Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier ran a prosperous paper business in the town of Vidalon in southern France. Their success allowed them to finance their interest in scientific experimentation. In 1782, they discovered that combustible materials burned under a lightweight paper or fabric bag would cause the bag to rise into the air. From this phenomenon, they deduced that smoke causes balloons to rise. Actually, it is hot air that causes balloons to rise, but their error did not interfere with their subsequent achievements.
On June 4, 1783, the brothers gave the first public demonstration of their discovery, in Annonay. An unmanned balloon heated by burning straw and wool rose 3,000 feet into the air before settling to the ground nearly two miles away. In their test of a hot-air balloon, the Montgolfiers were preceded by Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão, a Brazilian priest who launched a small hot-air balloon in the palace of the king of Portugal in 1709. The Montgolfiers were unaware of Lourenço's work, however, and quickly surpassed it.
On September 19, the Montgolfiers sent a sheep, a rooster, and a duck aloft in one of their balloons in a prelude to the first manned flight. The balloon, painted azure blue and decorated with golden fleurs-de-lis, lifted up from the courtyard of the palace of Versailles in the presence of King Louis XVI. The barnyard animals stayed afloat for eight minutes and landed safely two miles away. On October 15, Jean-François Pilátre de Rozier made a tethered test flight of a Montgolfier balloon, briefly rising into the air before returning to earth.
The first untethered hot-air balloon flight occurred before a large, expectant crowd in Paris on November 21. Pilátre and d'Arlandes, an aristocrat, rose up from the grounds of royal Cháteau La Muette in the Bois de Boulogne and flew approximately five miles. Humanity had at last conquered the sky.
The Montgolfier brothers were honored by the French Acadámie des Sciences for their achievement. They later published books on aeronautics and pursued important work in other scientific fields.
Nov 21, 1967: Westmoreland tells media the communists are losing
Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, tells U.S. news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
Having been reassured by the general, most Americans were stunned when the communists launched a massive offensive during the Vietnamese Tet New Year holiday on January 30, 1968. During this offensive, communist forces struck 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and about 50 hamlets. At one point during the initial attack on Saigon, communists troops actually penetrated the ground floor of the U.S. Embassy.
The fighting raged all over South Vietnam and lasted almost until the end of February. Overcoming the initial surprise of the attack, the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces recovered and ultimately inflicted a major military defeat on the communists. Nevertheless, Hanoi won a great psychological victory by launching such a widespread attack after Westmoreland assured the American people that the corner had been turned in South Vietnam. As a result of the unexpected Tet Offensive, many Americans came out forcefully against the war. Even CBS television anchorman Walter Cronkite, widely regarded as the most trusted man in American, publicly questioned U.S. policy in Vietnam.
Nov 21, 1941: Nazi chief architect requests POWs to labor for a new Berlin
On this day in 1941, Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler's chief architect and minister for armaments and war production, asks for 30,000 Soviet prisoners of war to use as slave laborers to begin a massive Berlin building program.
Speer was born March 19, 1905, in Mannheim, Germany. At the age of 22, he received his architectural license, having studied at three German technical schools. He became an ardent Nazi after hearing Hitler orate at a rally in late 1930, and joined the party in January 1931. Hitler, always impressed by academic credentials and any kind of artistic or technical talent, made Speer his personal architect. Among the projects with which the Fuhrer entrusted Speer was the design of the parade grounds for the Nuremberg Party Congress in 1934, which Leni Riefienstahl made famous in her famous propaganda film Triumph of the Will.
As minister of armaments and munitions, Speer's job description expanded to include not only armament production and transportation, but also the direction of raw material use and finally the conscription of slave labor, culled from concentration camps, for war material production. These slave laborers would come in handy for Hitler's "new" Berlin. Speer wanted to begin construction even as the war waged. Despite the drain on resources Hitler agreed. Speer beguiled the Fuhrer with models of a Great Hall for the Chancellery and a grand office for Goering.
But as the war turned against Nazi Germany, the rebuilding plans were scrapped. When the war was over, Hitler was dead, and Speer was tried as a war criminal at Nuremberg, the site of his grand parade, and sentenced to 20 years in Spandau prison in Berlin.
Nov 21, 1877: Edison's first great invention
The American inventor announces his invention of the phonograph, a way to record and play back sound.
Edison stumbled on one of his great inventions--the phonograph--while working on a way to record telephone communication at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. His work led him to experiment with a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, which, to his surprise, played back the short song he had recorded, "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB". Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the "Wizard of Menlo Park."
Edison set aside this invention in 1878 to work on the incandescent light bulb, and other inventors moved forward to improve on the phonograph. In 1887, Edison resumed work on the device, using the wax-cylinder technique developed by Charles Tainter. Although initially used as a dictating machine, the phonograph proved to be a popular tool for entertainment, and in 1906 Edison unveiled a series of musical and theatrical selections to the public through his National Phonograph Company. Continuing to improve on models and cylinders over the years, the Edison Disc Phonograph debuted in 1912 with the aim of competing in the popular record market. Edison's discs offered superior sound quality but were not compatible with other popular disc players.
During the 1920s, the early record business suffered with the growth of radio, and in 1929 recording production at Edison ceased forever. Edison, who acquired an astounding 1,093 patents in his 84 years, died in 1931.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
164 BC - Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.
235 - St Anterus begins his reign as Catholic Pope
695 - Pope Sergius names Willibrord as Archbishop Clemens of Friezen
1272 - Following Henry III of England's death on November 16, his son Prince Edward becomes King of England.
1317 - Frederik of Sierck/Zyrick becomes bishop of Utrecht
1620 - Pilgrim Fathers reach America: Provincetown Harbor, Mass
1620 - Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims in Cape Cod, [O.S. Nov 11]
1654 - Richard Johnson, a free black, granted 550 acres in Virginia
1696 - J Vanbrughes "Relapse or Virtue in Danger," premieres in London
1729 - Netherlands signs Treaty of Seville
1759 - Battle at Maxen: Prussian army surrenders to Austrians
1783 - Pilstre de Rozier & Marquis d'Arlandes make 1st free balloon flight
1787 - Andrew Jackson admitted to bar
1789 - North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state
1791 - Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic.
1794 - Honolulu Harbor discovered
1806 - Decree of Berlin: Emperor Napoleon I bans all trade with England
1813 - Stettin surrenders to allied armies
1818 - Russia's Czar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine
French Emperor Napoleon BonaparteFrench Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 1824 - 1st Jewish Reform congregation forms, Charleston, SC
1834 - HMS Beagle anchors at Bay of San Carlos, Chile
1837 - Thomas Morris of Australia skips rope 22,806 times
1847 - Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200
1848 - Alfred de Musset's "Andre del Sarto," premieres in Paris
1848 - Cincinnati Turngemeinde founded
1849 - Friedrich Hebbel's "Der Rubin," premieres in Vienna
1852 - Duke U, founded in 1838 as Union Institute chartered as Normal College
1864 - -22] Battle at Griswoldville, Georgia
1865 - Shaw University forms in Raleigh NC
1871 - Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter (NYC)
1871 - The 1st human cannonball, Emilio Onra, is shot
1876 - Skirmish between HM Stanley's expedition & natives
1877 - Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph)
1880 - Henry Stanley & Pierre de Brazza quarrel about possession of Congo
1895 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Bruce Partington Plans" (BG)
1901 - Richard Strauss' opera "Feuersnot," premieres in Dresden
1902 - 1st night football game, Phila Athletics beats Kanaweola AC, 39-0
1902 - Baseball's Phila Athletics & Phillies form pro football teams, joining Pitts Stars in 1st attempt at a National Football League
1905 - 1st game ever played in the Australian Tennis Open
1906 - China prohibits opium trade
1914 - Billy Mallett of Hamilton Tigers kicks 9 singles in a game
1914 - British army conquerors Bazra
1916 - HMHS Britannic sinks in the Aegean Sea after a mine explodes, killing 30 people.
Marxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir LeninMarxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir Lenin 1917 - M Gorki calls Lenin a blind fanatic/unthinking adventurer
1918 - 2 German ammunition trains explode in Hamont Belgium, 1,750 die
1918 - Polish soldiers organize a pogrom against Jews of Galicia Poland
1920 - Karel Capék's "Vec Makropulos," premieres in Prague
1920 - Mussolini's squad begins terror, 11 die in Bologna Italy
1922 - Rebecca L Felton (Ga) sworn in as 1st female US Senator
1924 - British premier Baldwin cancels Labor contract with USSR
1925 - Red Grange plays final Univ of Illinois game, signs with Chicago Bears
1933 - 1st US ambassador to USSR, W.C. Bullitt, begins service
1934 - "Uiver" returns from Schiphol in London-Melbourne air race
1934 - NY Yankees buy Joe DiMaggio from SF Seals (Pacific Coast League)
1935 - 1st commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper)
1935 - Jean Giraudoux' "La Guerre de Troie n'Aura," premieres in Paris
1937 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony premieres in Lenningrad
1938 - -24] Belgian king Leopold III visits Netherlands
Baseball Player Joe DiMaggioBaseball Player Joe DiMaggio 1938 - Nazi forces occupy western Czech & declared them German citizens
1940 - Nazi occupiers forbid building schools in Netherlands
1942 - Hitler names fieldmarshal Erich von Manstein commander of the newly-created Army Group Don (Heeresgruppe Don)
1942 - Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuts in "Tale of Two Kitties"
1943 - 7 Belgian ministers in London sentence King Leopold III
1944 - Personnel & executive staff of Philips demonstrate for more food
1945 - Benjamin Britten's 2nd String quartet in C, premieres
1945 - General Motors workers go on strike
1946 - Georgi Dimitrov elected premier of Bulgaria
1946 - Harry Truman becomes 1st US president to travel in a submerged sub
1947 - Bill Longson beats Lou Thesz in St Louis, to become wrestling champ
1949 - Bill Veeck sells Indians for $22 million
1952 - 1st US postage stamp in 2 colors (rotary process) introduced
1952 - Dodgers pitcher Joe Black wins NL Rookie of Year
1953 - "Pitdown Man," discovered in 1912 proved to be a hoax
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1953 - WKJG TV channel 33 in Ft Wayne, IN (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the "Piltdown Man" skull, held to be one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax.
1955 - Argentina asks Panama for return of ex-president Peron
1955 - KTVO TV channel 3 in Ottumwa-Kirksville, IA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 - Don Newcombe, wins NL MVP & 1st-ever Cy Young Award
1959 - Jack Benny (violin) & Richard Nixon (piano) play their famed duet
1960 - Bob Scheffing signs to manage Tigers after Casey Stengel turns it down
1962 - The Chinese People's Liberation Army declares a unilateral cease-fire in the Sino-Indian War.
1963 - JFK flies to Texas
1964 - "Something More!" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 15 perfs
1964 - "Zizi" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 49 performances
1964 - Pope Paul VI signs 3rd sitting of 2nd Vatican council
1964 - World's longest suspension bridge "Verrazano Narrows" opens (NYC)
1965 - 1st freighter arrives in Ashdod Port Israel
1965 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
US President John F. KennedyUS President John F. Kennedy 1966 - Dutch government of Zijlstra forms
1967 - Phillip & Jay Kunz fly a kite a record 28,000 feet
1967 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
1968 - Cin trades shortstop Leo Cardenas to Twins for pitcher Jim Merritt
1968 - Supremes & Temptations release "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"
1969 - KXIX (now KVCT) TV channel 19 in Victoria, TX (ABC) 1st broadcast
1969 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1970 - NY Knicks 1st game against Cleve Cavalier, Knicks win 102-94 at Madison Square Garden
1971 - NY Rangers scores a NHL record 8 goals in 1 period
1971 - Richard Baker becomes teacher of SF Zen Center
1971 - Indian troops partly aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas) defeat the Pakistan army in the Battle of Garibpur.
1972 - Red Sox Carlton Fisk wins AL Rookie of Year, Mets Jon Matlack wins NL
1973 - Pete Rose wins NL MVP
1973 - Pres Nixon's attorney, J Fred Buzhardt, reveals presence of 18½ minute gap in a White House tape recording related to Watergate
1974 - Freedom of Information Act passed by Congress over Pres Ford's veto
1975 - Linda McCartney drug charges in US are dropped
1977 - 1st flight of Concorde (London to New York)
1977 - Orioles 1st baseman Eddie Murray wins AL Rookie of Year
1978 - Bob Horner of Braves wins NL Rookie of Year Award
1979 - Crowd at Islamabad, Pakistan attack US embassy, 1 dies
1980 - Dallas' "Who Shot JR?" episode (Kristen) gets a 53.3 rating (83 mill)
1980 - Fire at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas kills 84
1980 - Gene Michael named 25th Yank mgr, replacing Dick Howser, who resigns
1980 - It is revealed Kristen shot J.R. Ewing on "Dallas"
1980 - John & Yoko pose nude for photographer Allan Tannenbaum
1980 - MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in fire; 84 die
1981 - 400,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against cruise missiles
Singer Olivia Newton-JohnSinger Olivia Newton-John 1981 - Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," single goes #1 & stays for 10 weeks
1983 - "Doonesbury" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 104 performances
1986 - Central African Republic adopts constitution
1986 - Suriname army leader Desi Bouterse massacres Moiwana village
1987 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Epitome, Ferdinand, Miesque, Sacahuista, Success Express, Theatrica, Very Subtle at Hollywood
1989 - Law banning smoking on most domestic flights signed by President Bush
1989 - TV cameras permitted in British House of Commons
1990 - Michael Milken is sentenced to 10 years for security law violations
1991 - Poetess Maria Elene Cruz Varela arrested in Cuba
1992 - Jan Karlsson swims world record 50m butterfly (23.80 sec)
1992 - Jani Sievinen swims world record 100m medley (53.78 sec)
1992 - Louise Karlsson swims world record 50m freestyle (31.19 sec)
1992 - Oregon Sen Bob Packwood issues apology for unwelcome sexual advances
1992 - Sam's Town Bowling Invitational won by Tish Johnson
1993 - "Cinderella" closes at New York State Theater NYC after 14 perfs
US President George H. W. BushUS President George H. W. Bush 1993 - "Cyrano - The Musical" opens at Neil Simon Theater NYC for 137 perfs
1993 - Neo-fascists MSI win 36% of municipal elections in Rome
1994 - 1st-class cricket debut of Andrew Symonds (Queensland v NSW, SCG)
1995 - Dow Jones closes above 5,000 for 1st time
1995 - Israel grants jailed US spy Jason Pollard, citizenship
1995 - New double Beatle CD released with new song "Free as a Bird"
1996 - "Rehearsal" opens at Criterion Theater NYC
1996 - A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 33.
2002 - NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.
2004 - The second round of the Ukrainian presidential election is held, unleashing massive protests and controversy over the election's integrity.
2004 - The island of Dominica is hit by the most destructive earthquake in its history. The northern half of the island receives the most damage, especially the town of Portsmouth. It is also felt in neighboring Guadeloupe, where one person is killed as a result.
2004 - The Paris Club agrees to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraq's external debt.
2006 - Anti-Syrian Lebanese Minister and MP Pierre Gemayel is assassinated in suburban Beirut.
2012 - An Israel and Hamas ceasefire is negotiated
2012 - Chelsea Manager Roberto Di Matteo is sacked and replaced by Rafael Ben
1620 - The Mayflower reached Provincetown, MA. The ship discharged the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, on December 26, 1620. 1694 - French author and philosopher Jean Francois Voltaire was born. At age 65 he spent only three days writing "Candide." 1783 - The first successful flight was made in a hot air balloon. The pilots, Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, flew for 25 minutes and 5½ miles over Paris. 1789 - North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1871 - M.F. Galethe patented the cigar lighter. 1877 - Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph. 1922 - Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve as a member of the U.S. Senate. 1929 - Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali had his first art exhibit. 1934 - The New York Yankees purchased the contract of Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League. 1942 - The Alaska highway across Canada was formally opened. 1953 - British Natural History Museum authorities announced that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax. 1962 - U.S. President Kennedy terminated the quaratine measures against Cuba. 1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived in San Antonio, TX. They were beginning an ill-fated, two-day tour of Texas that would end in Dallas. 1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case. 1979 - The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attacked by a mob that set the building afire and killed two Americans. 1980 - An estimated 83 million viewers tuned in to find out "who shot J.R." on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character that fired the gun. (Texas) 1980 - 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, NV. 1982 - The National Football League (NFL) resumed its season following a 57-day player's strike. 1985 - Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested after being accused of spying for Israel. He was later sentenced to life in prison. 1986 - U.S. Attorney General Meese was asked to conduct an inquiry of the Iran arms sales. 1987 - An eight-day siege began at a detention center in Oakdale, LA, as Cuban detainees seized the facility and took hostages. 1989 - The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time. 1992 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood, issued an apology but refused to discuss allegations that he'd made unwelcome sexual advances toward 10 women in past years. 1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted against making the District of Columbia the 51st state. 1994 - NATO warplanes bombed an air base in Serb-held Croatia that was being used by Serb planes to raid the Bosnian "safe area" of Bihac. 1995 - France detonated its fourth underground nuclear blast at a test site in the South Pacific. 1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 5,000-mark (5,023.55) for the first time. 1999 - China announced that it had test-launched an unmanned space capsule that was designed for manned spaceflight. 2000 - The Florida Supreme Court granted Al Gore's request to keep the presidential recounts going. 2001 - Microsoft Corp. proposed giving $1 billion in computers, software, training and cash to more than 12,500 of the poorest schools in the U.S. The offer was intended as part of a deal to settle most of the company's private antitrust lawsuits. 2002 - NATO invited Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.
1783 With the Marquis d'Arlandes, Pilâtre de Rozier made the first free flight in a balloon, reaching a peak altitude of about 3,000 ft and traveling about 5 1/2 mi in 20 min. 1789 North Carolina became the 12th state. 1922 Georgia's Rebecca Felton was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman U.S. Senator. 1934 Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes opened in New York City. 1969 For the first time since 1930, the U.S. Senate rejected a Supreme Court nominee, Clement Haynsworth. 1973 The 18 1/2 min gap in the Richard Nixon Watergate tapes was revealed. 1991 Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali was chosen to become secretary-general by the UN Security Council.
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/nov21.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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