Today in History

Today in History

Today is Monday, Nov. 7, the 312th day of 2016. There are 54 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 7, 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

On this date:

In 1861, former U.S. President John Tyler was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives (however, Tyler died before he could take his seat).

In 1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

In 1940, Washington state's original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," collapsed into Puget Sound during a windstorm just four months after opening to traffic.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1954, the CBS News program "Face the Nation" premiered with Ted Koop as host; the guest was Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis.

In 1962, Republican Richard Nixon, having lost California's gubernatorial race, held what he called his "last press conference," telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, 78, died in New York City.

In 1966, John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery in London.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.

In 1973, Congress overrode President Richard Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history; David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first black mayor.

In 1991, basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the AIDS virus, and was retiring. (Despite his HIV status, Johnson has been able to sustain himself with medication.)

In 1996, the U.S. liquor industry voted to drop its decades-old voluntary ban on broadcast advertising. A Nigerian Boeing 727 jetliner crashed en route to Lagos, killing 144 people. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor blasted off on a mission to map the surface of the Red Planet. (It went into orbit around Mars the next year.)

Ten years ago: Democrats won control of the House and Senate, riding a wave of anger over the Iraq war and congressional scandals; Keith Ellison, a Democratic state lawmaker from Minnesota, became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Panama won a seat on the U.N. Security Council after Guatemala and Venezuela dropped out to end a deadlock. Dhiren Barot, an al-Qaida operative who'd planned to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank and landmark London hotels, was sentenced in Britain to life in prison. Pop star Britney Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline.

Five years ago: A jury in Los Angeles convicted Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, of involuntary manslaughter for supplying a powerful anesthetic implicated in the entertainer's 2009 death. (Murray was sentenced to four years in prison; he served two years, and was released in Oct. 2013.) Former heavyweight champion boxer Joe Frazier died in Philadelphia at age 67.

One year ago: The leaders of China and Taiwan met for the first time since the formerly bitter Cold War foes split amid civil war 66 years earlier; Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (mah yeeng-joh) hailed the meeting in Singapore as a sign of a new stability in relations. The license plates that were on the limousine carrying President John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 were sold at auction for $100,000. Yitzhak Navon, 94, who was a top aide to Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion and who served as Israel's president from 1978 to 1983, died in Jerusalem.

Today's Birthdays: Evangelist Billy Graham is 98. Former U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, R-Minn., is 86. Actor Barry Newman is 78. Singer Johnny Rivers is 74. Former supermodel Jean Shrimpton is 74. Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is 73. Former CIA Director David Petraeus is 64. Actor Christopher Knight (TV: "The Brady Bunch") is 59. Rock musician Tommy Thayer (KISS) is 56. Actress Julie Pinson is 49. Rock musician Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne) is 48. Actress Michelle Clunie is 47. Actor Christopher Daniel Barnes is 44. Actors Jason and Jeremy London are 44. Actress Yunjin Kim is 43. Actor Adam DeVine is 33. Rock musician Zach Myers (Shinedown) is 33. Actor Lucas Neff is 31. Rapper Tinie Tempah is 28. Rock singer Lorde is 20.

Thought for Today: "You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go." -- Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973).