Today in History

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 29, the 333rd day of 2017. There are 32 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 29, 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the partitioning of Palestine between Arabs and Jews; 33 members, including the United States, voted in favor of the resolution, 13 voted against while 10 abstained. (The plan, rejected by the Arabs, was never implemented.)

On this date:

In 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, onetime adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.

In 1890, the first Army-Navy football game was played at West Point, New York; Navy defeated Army, 24-0. The Imperial Diet, forerunner of Japan's current national legislature, opened its first session.

In 1924, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels before he could complete his opera "Turandot." (It was finished by Franco Alfano.)

In 1956, the musical comedy "Bells Are Ringing," starring Judy Holliday, opened on Broadway.

In 1961, Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited earth twice before returning.

In 1967, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.

In 1972, the coin-operated video arcade game Pong, created by Atari, made its debut at Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.

In 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, California, at age 43.

In 1986, actor Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82.

In 1987, a Korean Air 707 jetliner en route from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok was destroyed by a bomb planted by North Korean agents with the loss of all 115 people aboard.

In 1991, 17 people were killed in a 164-vehicle pileup during a dust storm on Interstate 5 near Coalinga, California. Actor Ralph Bellamy died in Santa Monica, California, at age 87.

In 2001, George Harrison, the "quiet Beatle," died in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer; he was 58.

Ten years ago: A court in Sudan convicted British teacher Gillian Gibbons of insulting Islam for letting her pupils name a teddy bear "Muhammad" and sentenced her to 15 days in prison. (Gibbons was pardoned after spending more than a week in custody; she then left the country.) Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, embarked on a new, five-year term as a civilian president, a day after ceding the powerful post of army chief. Former congressman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., died in Chicago at age 83. Former General Motors chief executive Roger B. Smith died in Detroit at age 82.

Five years ago: The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to recognize a Palestinian state, a vote that came exactly 65 years after the General Assembly adopted a plan to divide Palestine into separate states for Jews and Arabs. (The vote was 138 in favor; nine members, including the United States, voted against and 41 abstained.) President Barack Obama had lunch with defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the White House's private dining room; the White House says they discussed America's leadership in the world.

One year ago: President-elect Donald Trump continued to fill out his Cabinet, choosing former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department, Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation's health care system, and Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation. Regional leaders and tens of thousands of Cubans jammed the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana, celebrating Fidel Castro on the spot where he delivered fiery speeches to mammoth crowds in the years after he seized power.

Today's Birthdays: Hall of Fame sportscaster Vin Scully is 90. Former French President Jacques Chirac is 85. Blues singer-musician John Mayall is 84. Actress Diane Ladd is 82. Songwriter Mark James is 77. Composer-musician Chuck Mangione is 77. Country singer Jody Miller is 76. Pop singer-musician Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals) is 75. Former Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee is 71. Actor Jeff Fahey is 65. Movie director Joel Coen is 63. Actor-comedian-celebrity judge Howie Mandel is 62. Former Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano is 60. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is 58. Actress Cathy Moriarty is 57. Actress Kim Delaney is 56. Actor Tom Sizemore is 56. Actor Andrew McCarthy is 55. Actor Don Cheadle is 53. Actor-producer Neill Barry is 52. Musician Wallis Buchanan is 52. Pop singer Jonathan Knight (New Kids on the Block) is 49. Rock musician Martin Carr (Boo Radleys) is 49. Actress Jennifer Elise Cox is 48. Actor Larry Joe Campbell is 47. Rock musician Frank Delgado (Deftones) is 47. Actress Paola Turbay is 47. Contemporary Christian singer Crowder is 46. Actress Gena Lee Nolin is 46. Actor Brian Baumgartner is 45. Actor Julian Ovenden is 42. Actress Anna Faris is 41. Gospel singer James Fortune is 40. Actress Lauren German is 39. Rapper The Game is 38. Actress Janina Gavankar is 37. Rock musician Ringo Garza is 36. Actor-comedian John Milhiser is 36. Actor Lucas Black is 35. Actor Diego Boneta is 27. Actress Lovie Simone (TV: "Greenleaf") is 19.

Thought for Today: "If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime." -- Jack Kerouac, American author (1922-1969).