Today in History

Today is Monday, Nov. 20, the 324th day of 2023. There are 41 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 20, 1947, Britain's future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey.

On this date:

In 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

In 1945, 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.)

In 1952, President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower announced his selection of John Foster Dulles to be his secretary of state.

In 1967, the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Clock at the Commerce Department ticked past 200 million.

In 1969, the Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phaseout.

In 1985, the first version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, was officially released.

In 1992, fire seriously damaged Windsor Castle, the favorite weekend home of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1998, forty-six states embraced a $206 billion settlement with cigarette makers over health costs for treating sick smokers.

In 2000, lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush battled before the Florida Supreme Court over whether the presidential election recount should be allowed to continue.

In 2003, Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation in Santa Barbara, California. (Jackson was later acquitted at trial.) Record producer Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of an actor, Lana Clarkson, at his home in Alhambra, California. (Spector's first trial ended with a hung jury in 2007; he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009.)

In 2012, former boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho was shot while sitting in a car in his hometown of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. (Camacho died four days later after doctors removed him from life support.)

In 2015, Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, was released from prison after 30 years behind bars for spying for Israel.

In 2017, CBS News suspended Charlie Rose, and PBS stopped distribution of his nightly interview show, after a Washington Post report carried accusations of sexual misconduct from eight women.

In 2018, President Donald Trump declared that he would not further punish Saudi Arabia for the murder of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi, dismissing reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must have at least known about the plot to kill the writer.

In 2022, a 22-year-old gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing at least five people and leaving 18 injured before he was subdued by patrons.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Estelle Parsons is 96. Comedian Dick Smothers is 85. President Joe Biden is 81. Singer Norman Greenbaum is 81. Actor Veronica Hamel is 80. Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is 77. Singer Joe Walsh is 76. Actor Richard Masur is 75. Opera singer Barbara Hendricks is 75. Former national security adviser John Bolton is 75. Actor Bo Derek is 67. Former NFL player Mark Gastineau is 67. Reggae musician Jimmy Brown (UB40) is 66. Actor Sean Young is 64. Pianist Jim Brickman is 62. Actor Ming-Na is 60. Actor Ned Vaughn is 59. Rapper Mike D (The Beastie Boys) is 58. Rapper Sen Dog (Cypress Hill) is 58. Actor Callie Thorne is 54. Actor Sabrina Lloyd is 53. Actor Joel McHale is 52. Actor Marisa Ryan is 49. Country singer Dierks Bentley is 48. Actor Joshua Gomez is 48. Actor Laura Harris is 47. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes is 47. Country singer Josh Turner is 46. Actor Nadine Velazquez is 45. Actor Jacob Pitts is 44. Actor Andrea Riseborough is 42. Actor Jeremy Jordan is 39. Actor Dan Byrd is 38. Actor Ashley Fink is 37. Rock musician Jared Followill (Kings of Leon) is 37. Actor Jaina Lee Ortiz is 37. Actor Cody Linley is 34. Pop musician Michael Clifford (5 Seconds to Summer) is 28.