Today in History

Today is Sunday, Nov. 14, the 318th day of 2021. There are 47 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 14, 1910, Eugene B. Ely became the first aviator to take off from a ship as his Curtiss pusher rolled off a sloping platform on the deck of the scout cruiser USS Birmingham off Hampton Roads, Virginia.

On this date:

In 1851, Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale" was published in the United States, almost a month after being released in Britain.

In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln gave the go-ahead for Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond; the resulting Battle of Fredericksburg proved a disaster for the Union.

In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau went on trial for assassinating President James A. Garfield. (Guiteau was convicted and hanged the following year.)

In 1915, African-American educator Booker T. Washington, 59, died in Tuskegee, Alabama.

In 1940, during World War II, German planes destroyed most of the English town of Coventry.

In 1965, the U.S. Army's first major military operation of the Vietnam War began with the start of the five-day Battle of Ia Drang. (The fighting between American troops and North Vietnamese forces ended on Nov. 18 with both sides claiming victory.)

In 1969, Apollo 12 blasted off for the moon.

In 1970, a chartered Southern Airways DC-9 crashed while trying to land in West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board, including the Marshall University football team and its coaching staff.

In 1972, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 1,000 level for the first time, ending the day at 1,003.16.

In 1996, singer Michael Jackson married his plastic surgeon's nurse, Debbie Rowe, in a ceremony in Sydney, Australia. (Rowe filed for divorce in 1999.)

In 2005, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees won his second American League Most Valuable Player award in three seasons.

In 2013, former Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger was led off to prison to begin serving a life sentence at 84 for his murderous reign in the 1970s and '80s. (Bulger was killed Oct. 30, 2018, hours after arriving at a federal prison in West Virginia.)

Ten years ago: Former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, in a telephone interview with NBC News, denied allegations he'd sexually abused eight boys and said any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay.

Five years ago: In his first extended remarks on the election, President Barack Obama abandoned his dire warnings and dark predictions about his newly elected successor and urged Americans to give President-elect Donald Trump time to rise to the daunting responsibilities of the office. Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League Rookie of the Year award unanimously and Detroit's Michael Fulmer took the American League honor. Gwen Ifill, co-anchor of PBS' "NewsHour," died in Washington at age 61.

One year ago: Donald Trump supporters unwilling to accept Democrat Joe Biden's election victory gathered in cities across the country including Washington, D.C., where thousands rallied; after night fell in the nation's capital, demonstrators favoring Trump clashed in the streets with counterprotesters, resulting in injuries to demonstrators and police officers and charges against nearly two dozen people. Mexico topped 1 million registered coronavirus cases and nearly 100,000 test-confirmed deaths, though officials agreed the number was probably much higher. Marshall University in West Virginia commemorated the 50th anniversary of a plane crash that killed 75 people, including 36 members of the school's football team; posthumous degrees were awarded to the players who were killed.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Kathleen Hughes is 93. Former NASA astronaut Fred Haise is 88. Composer Wendy Carlos is 82. Writer P.J. O'Rourke is 74. Britain's Prince Charles is 73. Rock singer-musician James Young (Styx) is 72. Singer Stephen Bishop is 70. Blues musician Anson Funderburgh is 67. Pianist Yanni is 67. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is 67. Former presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett is 65. Actor Laura San Giacomo is 60. Actor D.B. Sweeney is 60. Rapper Reverend Run (Run-DMC) is 57. Actor Patrick Warburton is 57. Rock musician Nic Dalton is 57. Country singer Rockie Lynne is 57. Pop singer Jeanette Jurado (Expose) is 56. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Curt Schilling is 55. Rock musician Brian Yale is 53. Rock singer Butch Walker is 52. Actor Josh Duhamel is 49. Rock musician Travis Barker is 46. Contemporary Christian musician Robby Shaffer is 46. Actor Brian Dietzen is 44. Rapper Shyheim is 44. Rock musician Tobin Esperance (Papa Roach) is 42. Actor Olga Kurylenko is 42. Actor-comedian Vanessa Bayer is 40. Actor Russell Tovey is 40. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is 28. Actor Cory Michael Smith is 35. Actor Graham Patrick Martin is 30. NHL forward Taylor Hall is 30.