November 4
Today in America's Present Past
1646 | Civil Rights: Massachusetts approved the death penalty for denying that the Holy Bible is God’s word.
1732 | SCOTUS: Justice Thomas Johnson was born.
1791 | General Richard Butler died.
1801 | Physician and political William Shippen died.
1809 | SCOTUS: Justice Benjamin Robbins Curtis was born.
1816 SCOTUS: Justice Stephen Johnson Field was born.
1841 | The first wagon train arrived in California after a five-and-a-half-month, 1,730-mile journey from Missouri.
1842 | POTUS: President Abraham Lincoln wed Mary Todd.
1856 | POTUS: James Buchanan elected 15th President.
1861 | The University of Washington was founded.
1862 | Entrepreneur Richard Jordan Gatling patents the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun.
1869 | Entrepreneur George Peabody died.
1873 | Dentist John Beers patented the “gold crown.”
1875 | Civil Rights: The Massachusetts Rifle Association was founded.
1876 | Sculptor James Earle Fraser was born.
1879 | Inventor Thomas Elkins patented the Refrigerating Apparatus.
1879 | Entertainer Will Rogers was born.
1879 | James Ritty patented the first cash register.
1884 | POTUS: Democrat Grover Cleveland was elected President.
1889 | Composer Alton Adams was born.
1895 | Poet Eugene Field died.
1903 | The first football-only stadium, Harvard Stadium was opened.
1906 | Author Bob Considine was born.
1909 | Aviator Evelyn Johnson was born.
1916 | Entrepreneur Ruth Handler was born.
1916 | Journalist Walter Cronkite was born.
1924 | POTUS: Republican Calvin Coolidge was elected President.
1924 | The nation’s first two female governors were elected (Texas and Wyoming).
1925 | Actress Doris Roberts was born.
1928 | Poet Hannah Weiner was born.
1946 | First Lady Laura Bush was born.
1946 | Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was born.
1948 | Poet T. S. Eliot won the Nobel Prize for literature.
1950 | Korean War: American troops vacate Pyongyang, North Korea.
1950 | Writer Charles Frazier was born.
1952 | Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President.
1955 | Baseball Pro Cy Young died.
1961 | Actor Ralph Macchio was born.
1969 | Actor and author Matthew McConaughey was born.
1969 | Entertainer Puff Daddy was born.
1980 | Republican Ronald Reagan was elected President.
1999 | Activist Daisy Bates died.
2001 | Film: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” debuted.
2006 | Author Ernestine Gilbreth Carey died.
2008 | Author Michael Crichton died.
2010 | Baseball Pro Sparky Anderson died.
2011 | Commentator Andy Rooney died.
2014 | Congress: Republican Tim Scott becomes the first African-American Senator in the south since Reconstruction.