Today in History

Today is Friday, Nov. 27, the 332nd day of 2020. There are 34 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 27, 1924, Macy's first Thanksgiving Day parade -- billed as a "Christmas Parade" -- took place in New York.

On this date:

In 1701, astronomer Anders Celsius, inventor of the Celsius temperature scale, was born in Uppsala, Sweden.

In 1910, New York's Pennsylvania Station officially opened.

In 1942, during World War II, the Vichy French navy scuttled its ships and submarines in Toulon to keep them out of the hands of German troops.

In 1953, playwright Eugene O'Neill died in Boston at age 65.

In 1962, the first Boeing 727 was rolled out at the company's Renton Plant.

In 1970, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.

In 1973, the Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.

In 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White. (White served five years for manslaughter; he committed suicide in October 1985.)

In 1998, answering 81 questions put to him three weeks earlier; President Clinton wrote the House Judiciary Committee that his testimony in the Monica Lewinsky affair was "not false and misleading."

In 1989, a bomb blamed on drug traffickers destroyed a Colombian Avianca Boeing 727, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground.

In 1999, Northern Ireland's biggest party, the Ulster Unionists, cleared the way for the speedy formation of an unprecedented Protestant-Catholic administration.

In 2000, a day after George W. Bush was certified the winner of Florida's presidential vote, Al Gore laid out his case for letting the courts settle the nation's long-count election.

Ten years ago: The State Department released a letter from its top lawyer to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, warning that an expected imminent release of classified cables would put "countless" lives at risk, threaten global counterterrorism operations and jeopardize U.S. relations with its allies.

Five years ago: A gunman attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and injuring nine. (Suspect Robert Dear was sent to a psychiatric hospital after being deemed incompetent for trial.) A subdued France paid homage to those killed in the Paris attacks two weeks earlier, honoring each of the 130 victims by name as President Francois Hollande pledged to "destroy the army of fanatics" who had claimed so many young lives.

One year ago: Two explosions, 13 hours apart, at a chemical plant in East Texas blew out windows and doors of nearby homes and prompted an evacuation order for more than 50,000 people; three plant workers sustained minor injuries.

Today's Birthdays: Footwear designer Manolo Blahnik is 78. Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow is 69. TV host Bill Nye ("Bill Nye, the Science Guy") is 65. Actor William Fichtner is 64. Caroline Kennedy is 63. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri is 63. Rock musician Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds) is 61. Actor Michael Rispoli is 60. Jazz composer/big band leader Maria Schneider is 60. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is 60. Rock musician Charlie Benante (Anthrax) is 58. Rock musician Mike Bordin (Faith No More) is 58. Actor Fisher Stevens is 57. Actor Robin Givens is 56. Actor Michael Vartan is 52. Actor Elizabeth Marvel is 51. Rapper Skoob (DAS EFX) is 50. Actor Kirk Acevedo is 49. Rapper Twista is 48. Actor Jaleel White is 44. Actor Arjay Smith is 37. Actor Alison Pill is 35. Actor Lashana Lynch (TV: "Still Star-Crossed") is 33.