Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 2, the 306th day of 2022. There are 59 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 2, 1783, General George Washington issued his Farewell Address to the Army near Princeton, New Jersey.

On this date:

In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln relieved Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont of his command of the Army's Department of the West based in St. Louis, following Fremont's unauthorized efforts to emancipate slaves in Missouri.

In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration expressing support for a "national home" for the Jews in Palestine.

In 1920, white mobs rampaged through the Florida citrus town of Ocoee, setting fire to Black-owned homes and businesses, after a Black man, Mose Norman, showed up at the polls to vote on Election Day; some historians estimate as many as 60 people were killed.

In 1950, playwright George Bernard Shaw, 94, died in Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England.

In 1976, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South since the Civil War to be elected president as he defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford.

In 1994, a jury in Pensacola, Florida, convicted Paul Hill of murder for the shotgun slayings of an abortion provider and his escort; Hill was executed in September 2003.

In 2000, American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, became the first residents of the international space station.

In 2003, in Iraq, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying dozens of U.S. soldiers, killing 16.

In 2004, President George W. Bush was elected to a second term as Republicans strengthened their grip on Congress.

In 2007, British college student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found slain in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy; her roommate, American Amanda Knox and Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of killing Kercher, but both were later exonerated. (Rudy Guede, a petty criminal who was convicted separately in the case, was released from prison in November 2021 after serving most of a 16-year sentence.)

In 2016, ending a championship drought that had lasted since 1908, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in extra innings.

In 2020, in the closing hours of the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump charged across the nation delivering an incendiary but false allegation that the election was rigged, while Democrat Joe Biden pushed to claim states that were once seen as safely Republican.

Ten years ago: Four days before Election Day, President Barack Obama accused Mitt Romney of scaring voters with lies, while the Republican challenger warned grimly of political paralysis and another recession if Obama reclaimed the White House. The New York City Marathon was canceled when Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed himself and yielded to mounting criticism that it was no time to be running a race in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump tapped Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chair at the end of her term in February. Authorities in Los Angeles and New York said they had opened new investigations prompted by sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Twitter reported that a customer support worker who was on his or her last day on the job had deactivated President Donald Trump's Twitter account for a few minutes, resulting in an error message that the user "does not exist."

One year ago: Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey narrowly won reelection in his reliably blue state while a Republican political newcomer, Glenn Youngkin, upset Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor's race. Democratic former police captain Eric Adams won New York's mayoral race. Minneapolis voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have replaced the city's police department with a reimagined public safety unit in the city where George Floyd died under an officer's knee. World leaders promised to protect Earth's forests, cut methane emissions and help South Africa wean itself off coal at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The Biden administration launched a wide-ranging plan to reduce methane emissions, targeting a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. The Atlanta Braves won their first World Series championship since 1995, hammering the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6.

Today's Birthdays: Political commentator Patrick Buchanan is 84. Actor Stefanie Powers is 80. Country-rock singer-songwriter J.D. Souther is 77. Actor Kate Linder is 75. Rock musician Carter Beauford (The Dave Matthews Band) is 64. Actor Peter Mullan is 63. Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 61. Rock musician Bobby Dall (Poison) is 59. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage is 58. Actor Lauren Velez is 58. Actor Sean Kanan is 56. Actor David Schwimmer is 56. Christian/jazz singer Alvin Chea (Take 6) is 55. Jazz singer Kurt Elling is 55. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is 55. Rock musician Fieldy is 53. Actor Meta Golding is 51. Rock singer-musician John Hampson (Nine Days) is 51. Actor Marisol Nichols is 51. Rapper Nelly is 48. Actor Danny Cooksey is 47. Rock musician Chris Walla is 47. Actor Reshma Shetty is 45. TV personality Karamo Brown ("Queer Eye," "Dancing With the Stars") is 42. Country singer Erika Jo is 36. Actor-singer Kendall Schmidt is 32.