Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 22, the 326th day of 2011. There are 39 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas; Texas Gov. John B. Connally was seriously wounded. A suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested.

On this date:

In 1718, English pirate Edward Teach -- better known as "Blackbeard" -- was killed during a battle off the North Carolina coast.

In 1928, "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel was first performed, in Paris.

In 1930, listeners of the British Broadcasting Corp. heard, for the first time, radio coverage of an American college football game as Harvard defeated Yale, 13-0.

In 1935, a flying boat, the China Clipper, took off from Alameda, Calif., carrying more than 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan. Lyricist Lorenz Hart died in New York at age 48.

In 1961, Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds was named Most Valuable Player of the National League.

In 1967, the U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured the previous June, and implicitly called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.

In 1975, Juan Carlos was proclaimed King of Spain.

In 1986, Elzire Dionne, who gave birth to quintuplets in 1934, died at a hospital in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, at age 77.

In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win re-election of the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced her resignation.

Ten years ago: With a tap on a laptop, Pope John Paul II for the first time sent out his official word over the Internet, apologizing for missionary abuses against indigenous peoples of the South Pacific. A huge landslide swept over gold miners illegally digging into the side of a mountain in western Colombia, killing 47 people. Cosmetics magnate Mary Kay Ash died in Dallas at age 83.

Five years ago: A chemical factory explosion in Danvers, Mass., destroyed the surrounding neighborhood but caused no deaths or serious injuries.

One year ago: Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, leaving more than 350 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country's biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge. Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was overwhelmingly elected the National League's Most Valuable Player.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director Arthur Hiller is 88. Actor Robert Vaughn is 79. Actor Michael Callan is 76. Actor Allen Garfield is 72. Animator and movie director Terry Gilliam is 71. Actor Tom Conti is 70. Singer Jesse Colin Young is 70. Astronaut Guion Bluford is 69. International Tennis Hall of Famer Billie Jean King is 68. Rock musician-actor Steve Van Zandt (a.k.a. Little Steven) is 61. Rock musician Tina Weymouth (The Heads; Talking Heads; The Tom Tom Club) is 61. Retired MLB All-Star Greg Luzinski is 61. Rock musician Lawrence Gowan is 55. Actor Richard Kind is 55. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is 53. Alt-country singer Jason Ringenberg (Jason & the Scorchers) is 53. Actress Mariel Hemingway is 50. Actor Winsor Harmon is 48. Actor-turned-producer Brian Robbins is 48. Actor Stephen Geoffreys is 47. Rock musician Charlie Colin is 45. Actor Nicholas Rowe is 45. Actor Mark Ruffalo is 44. International Tennis Hall of Famer Boris Becker is 44. Country musician Chris Fryar (Zac Brown Band) is 41. Actor Josh Cooke is 32. Actor-singer Tyler Hilton is 28. Actress Scarlett Johansson is 27. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower is 23. Actor Alden Ehrenreich is 22.

Thought for Today: "A man does what he must -- in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures -- and that is the basis of all human morality." -- President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963).

Copyright 2011, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.