TODAY IN HISTORY
In 1825, the first college social fraternity, the Kappa Alpha Society, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, New York.
In 1864, English mathematician and writer Charles Dodgson presented a handwritten and illustrated manuscript, “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,” to his 12-year-old friend Alice Pleasance Liddell; the book was later turned into “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” published under Dodgson’s pen name, Lewis Carroll.
In 1883, former enslaved woman and abolitionist Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan.
In 1917, the National Hockey League was founded in Montreal, succeeding the National Hockey Association.
In 1941, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull delivered a note to Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Kichisaburo Nomura, setting forth U.S. demands for “lasting and extensive peace throughout the Pacific area.” The same day, a Japanese naval task force consisting of six aircraft carriers left the Kuril Islands, headed toward Hawaii.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing, beginning Dec. 1.
In 1943, during World War II, the HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed.
In 1950, China entered the Korean War, launching a counteroffensive against soldiers from the United Nations, the U.S. and South Korea.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon’s personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she’d accidentally caused part of the 18-1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape.
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed a commission headed by former Sen. John Tower to investigate his National Security Council staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.
In 2000, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in the state’s presidential balloting by a 537-vote margin.
In 2008, teams of heavily armed Pakistani gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular tourist attraction and a crowded train station in Mumbai, India, leaving at least 166 people dead in a rampage lasting some 60 hours.
In 2017, amid allegations that he had groped women in the past, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken said he felt “embarrassed and ashamed,” but that he looked forward to gradually regaining the trust of voters. (Franken announced less than two weeks later that he was resigning from Congress.)
In 2020, Americans marked the Thanksgiving holiday amid the coronavirus pandemic, with many celebrations canceled or reduced; Zoom and FaceTime calls connected some families with those who didn’t want to travel.
In 2021, Stephen Sondheim, the songwriter who reshaped the American musical theater in the second half of the 20th century, died at his Connecticut home at the age of 91.
BIRTHDAYS
Impressionist Rich Little is 85.
Singer Jean Terrell is 79.
Pop musician John McVie is 78.
Actor Marianne Muellerleile is 75.
Actor Scott Jacoby is 67.
Actor Jamie Rose is 64.
Country singer Linda Davis is 61.
Actor Scott Adsit is 58.
Blues singer-musician Bernard Allison is 58.
Country singer-musician Steve Grisaffe is 58.
Actor Kristin Bauer is 57.
Actor Peter Facinelli is 50.
Actor Tammy Lynn Michaels is 49.
DJ/record label executive DJ Khaled is 48.
Actor Maia Campbell is 47.
Country singer Joe Nichols is 47.
Contemporary Christian musicians Anthony and Randy Armstrong (Red) are 45.
Actor Jessica Bowman is 43.
Pop singer Natasha Bedingfield is 42.
Actor Jessica Camacho is 41.
Rock musician Ben Wysocki (The Fray) is 39.
Singer Lil Fizz is 38.
MLB All-Star Matt Carpenter is 38.
Actor-singer-TV personality Rita Ora is 33.
Actor/singer Aubrey Peeples is 30.
