Today in History

Today is Friday, Nov. 10, the 314th day of 2017. There are 51 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Nov. 10, 1982, the newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C., three days before its dedication. Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev died at age 75.

On this date:

In 1766, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, had its beginnings as William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, signed a charter establishing Queen's College in New Brunswick.

In 1775, the U.S. Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress.

In 1871, journalist-explorer Henry M. Stanley found Scottish missionary David Livingstone, who had not been heard from for years, near Lake Tanganyika in central Africa.

In 1917, 41 suffragists were arrested for picketing in front of the White House.

In 1938, Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on her CBS radio program. Turkish statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk died in Istanbul at age 57.

In 1942, Winston Churchill delivered a speech in London in which he said, "I have not become the King's First Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."

In 1951, customer-dialed long-distance telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey, called Alameda, California, Mayor Frank Osborne without operator assistance.

In 1954, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, depicting the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington, Virginia.

In 1969, the children's educational program "Sesame Street" made its debut on National Educational Television (later PBS).

In 1975, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the world body repealed the resolution in Dec. 1991). The ore-hauling ship SS Edmund Fitzgerald mysteriously sank during a storm in Lake Superior with the loss of all 29 crew members.

In 1997, a judge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reduced Louise Woodward's murder conviction to involuntary manslaughter and sentenced the English au pair to the 279 days she'd already served in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

In 2004, word reached the United States of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at age 75 (because of the time difference, it was the early hours of Nov. 11 in Paris, where Arafat died).

Ten years ago: A stagehands strike shut down most Broadway shows, with curtains rising again 19 days later. Author Norman Mailer, 84, died in New York. The mother of rapper Kanye West, Donda West, died at a Los Angeles-area hospital at age 58 a day after undergoing plastic surgery. Miami ended its 70-year stay at the famed Orange Bowl with a lopsided 48-0 loss to Virginia.

Five years ago: Two people were killed when a powerful gas explosion rocked an Indianapolis neighborhood, damaging or destroying more than 80 homes. (Five people were later convicted of charges in connection with the blast, which prosecutors said stemmed from a plot to collect insurance money.)

One year ago: President-elect Donald Trump took a triumphant tour of the nation's capital, where he held a cordial White House meeting with President Barack Obama, sketched out priorities with Republican congressional leaders and took in the majestic view from where he would be sworn in to office. After seven times as finalists for the National Toy Hall of Fame, the Little People of Fisher-Price's house, barn and school bus were enshrined along with the swing and Dungeons & Dragons in the hall's class of 2016.

Today's Birthdays: Film composer Ennio Morricone is 89. Blues singer Bobby Rush is 83. Actor Albert Hall is 80. Country singer Donna Fargo is 76. Former Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., is 74. Lyricist Tim Rice is 73. Actress-dancer Ann Reinking is 68. Actor Jack Scalia is 67. Movie director Roland Emmerich is 62. Actor Matt Craven is 61. Actor-comedian Sinbad is 61. Actress Mackenzie Phillips is 58. Author Neil Gaiman is 57. Actress Vanessa Angel is 54. Actor Hugh Bonneville is 54. Actor-comedian Tommy Davidson is 54. Actor Michael Jai White is 53. Country singer Chris Cagle is 49. Actor-comedian Tracy Morgan is 49. Actress Ellen Pompeo is 48. Actor-comedian Orny Adams is 47. Rapper-producer Warren G is 47. Actor Walton Goggins is 46. Comedian-actor Chris Lilley is 43. Contemporary Chrisian singer Matt Maher is 43. Rock singer-musician Jim Adkins (Jimmy Eat World) is 42. Rapper Eve is 39. Rock musician Chris Joannou(Silverchair) is 38. Actor Bryan Neal is 37. Actress Heather Matarazzo is 35. Country singer Miranda Lambert is 34. Actor Josh Peck is 31. Pop singer Vinz Dery (Nico & Vinz) is 27. Actress Zoey Deutch is 23. Actress Kiernan Shipka is 18. Actress Mackenzie Foy is 17.

Thought for Today: "Men get opinions as boys learn to spell, By reiteration chiefly." -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861).