Today in History

Today is Thursday, Nov. 27, the 331st day of 2014. There are 34 days left in the year. This is Thanksgiving Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 27, 1924, Macy's first Thanksgiving Day parade -- billed as a "Christmas Parade" -- took place in New York.

On this date:

In 1839, the American Statistical Association was founded in Boston.

In 1901, the U.S. Army War College was established in Washington, D.C.

In 1910, New York's Pennsylvania Station officially opened.

In 1939, the play "Key Largo," by Maxwell Anderson, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York.

In 1942, during World War II, the Vichy French navy at Toulon scuttled its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of German troops.

In 1953, playwright Eugene O'Neill died in Boston at age 65.

In 1962, the first Boeing 727 was rolled out at the company's Renton Plant.

In 1970, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.

In 1973, the Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.

In 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White.

In 1983, 181 people were killed when a Colombian Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crashed near Madrid's Barajas airport.

In 1989, a bomb blamed on drug traffickers destroyed a Colombian Avianca Boeing 727, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground.

Ten years ago: After four decades in North Korea and less than one month in a U.S. military jail near Tokyo, U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins became a free man. The Ukraine parliament declared the recently held presidential election invalid.

Five years ago: Tiger Woods crashed his SUV outside his Florida mansion, sparking widespread attention to reports of unfaithfulness to his wife, Elin Nordegren. (The couple divorced the following year.) Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced to their friends daughter Chelsea's engagement to longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky. Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned from the International Space Station with a smooth touchdown.

One year ago: In a short ceremony inside their Chicago apartment, Vernita Gray and her partner of five years, Patricia Ewert, made Illinois history as they became the first gay couple to wed under the state's new law legalizing same-sex marriage. Rising anger over deadly drone attacks spurred a Pakistani political party to reveal the identity of what it said was the top U.S. spy in the country and demand he be tried for murder. A crane collapsed at a Sao Paulo stadium being constructed for the 2014 World Cup, killing two workers.

Today's Birthdays: Author Gail Sheehy is 77. Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (Film: "The Hurt Locker") is 63. TV host Bill Nye ("Bill Nye, the Science Guy") is 59. Actor William Fichtner is 58. Caroline Kennedy is 57. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri (Film: "Thelma and Louise") is 57. Rock musician Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds) is 55. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is 54. Rock musician Charlie Benante (Anthrax) is 52. Rock musician Mike Bordin (Faith No More) is 52. Actor Fisher Stevens is 51. Actress Robin Givens is 50. Actor Michael Vartan is 46. Rapper Skoob (DAS EFX) is 44. Actor Kirk Acevedo is 43. Rapper Twista is 42. Actor Jaleel White is 38. Actor Arjay Smith (TV: "Perception") is 31. Actress Alison Pill is 29. Actress/singer Aubrey Peeples (TV: "Nashville"; "Sharknado") is 21.

Thought for Today: "Pioneers are seldom from the nobility. There were no Dukes on the Mayflower." -- Mack Sennett, Canadian-born American movie producer (1880-1960).

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.