Today in History

Today is Thursday, Nov. 26, the 331st day of 2020. There are 35 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 26, 2000, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in the state's presidential balloting by a 537-vote margin.

On this date:

In 1789, Americans observed a day of thanksgiving set aside by President George Washington to mark the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.

In 1883, former slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Mich.

In 1917, the National Hockey League was founded in Montreal, succeeding the National Hockey Association.

In 1933, a judge in New York ruled the James Joyce book "Ulysses" was not obscene and could be published in the United States.

In 1941, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull delivered a note to Japan's ambassador to the United States, Kichisaburo Nomura, setting forth U.S. demands for "lasting and extensive peace throughout the Pacific area." The same day, a Japanese naval task force consisting of six aircraft carriers left the Kuril Islands, headed toward Hawaii.

In 1943, during World War II, the HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed.

In 1950, China entered the Korean War, launching a counteroffensive against soldiers from the United Nations, the U.S. and South Korea.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she'd accidentally caused part of the 18-1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed a commission headed by former Senator John Tower to investigate his National Security Council staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.

In 1992, the British government announced that Queen Elizabeth II had volunteered to start paying taxes on her personal income, and would take her children off the public payroll.

In 2007, Sen. Trent Lott announced his retirement after a 35-year career in Congress. Washington Redskins star safety Sean Taylor, 24, was mortally wounded during a botched armed robbery at his home in Palmetto Bay, Florida. (Taylor died the next day.)

In 2008, teams of heavily armed Pakistani gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular tourist attraction and a crowded train station in Mumbai, India, leaving at least 166 people dead in a rampage lasting some 60 hours.

Ten years ago: Nineteen-year-old Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, after an elaborate sting operation in which Mohamud was led to believe he would be detonating a van of explosives during the city's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. (Mohamud was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.) President Barack Obama received 12 stitches in his upper lip after taking an errant elbow during a pickup basketball game with family and friends visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Five years ago: French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to tighten cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State group. Pope Francis celebrated his first Mass in Africa; later that day in Nairobi, Kenya, the pope met with several hundred priests and nuns, urging them to serve others and not be served. The White House underwent a Thanksgiving Day lockdown after a man draped in an American flag jumped the fence.

One year ago: Heavy snow and wind shut down highways in Colorado and Wyoming and forced more than 1,000 travelers to sleep overnight in Denver's airport after hundreds of flights were canceled as the Thanksgiving travel period went into high gear. Top-ranked Duke lost to Stephen F. Austin, 85-83, for the Blue Devils' first home loss to a nonconference foe since 2000.

Today's Birthdays: Impressionist Rich Little is 82. Singer Tina Turner is 81. Singer Jean Terrell is 76. Pop musician John McVie is 75. Actor Marianne Muellerleile is 72. Actor Scott Jacoby is 64. Actor Jamie Rose is 61. Country singer Linda Davis is 58. Actor Scott Adsit is 55. Blues singer-musician Bernard Allison is 55. Country singer-musician Steve Grisaffe is 55. Actor Kristin Bauer is 54. Actor Peter Facinelli is 47. Actor Tammy Lynn Michaels Etheridge is 46. DJ/record label executive DJ Khaled is 45. Actor Maia Campbell is 44. Country singer Joe Nichols is 44. Contemporary Christian musicians Anthony and Randy Armstrong (Red) are 42. Actor Jessica Bowman is 40. Pop singer Natasha Bedingfield is 39. Actor Jessica Camacho is 38. Country singer-musician Mike Gossin (Gloriana Rock) is 36. Rock musician Ben Wysocki (The Fray) is 36. Singer Lil Fizz is 35. MLB All-Star Matt Carpenter is 35. Actor-singer-TV personality Rita Ora is 30. Actor/singer Aubrey Peeples is 27.