Today is Saturday, Nov. 2, the 307th day of 2024. There are 59 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Nov. 2, 1948, in one of the most unexpected results in U.S. election history, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman won the presidential election against the heavily favored Republican governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey.
Also on this date:
In 1783, Gen. George Washington issued his Farewell Address to the Army.
In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln relieved Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont of his command of the Army’s Western Department, following Fremont’s unauthorized efforts to emancipate slaves in Missouri.
In 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his Hughes H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the ‘Spruce Goose,’ on its one and only flight; a massive wooden seaplane with a wingspan longer than a football field, it remained airborne for 26 seconds.
In 1959, Charles Van Doren testified to a Congressional committee that he had conspired with television producers to cheat on the television quiz show ‘Twenty-One.’
In 1976, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South to be elected president since the Civil War as he defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford.
In 2000, American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, became the first crew to reside onboard the International Space Station; they spent a total of 136 days in the International Space Station before returning to Earth on Space Shuttle Discovery.
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, defeating Sen. John Kerry, and Republicans strengthened their control of 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.
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 2021, the Atlanta Braves won their first World Series championship since 1995, defeating the Houston Astros in Game 6.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Tennis Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall is 90.
- Political commentator Pat Buchanan is 86.
- Olympic gold medal wrestler Bruce Baumgartner is 65.
- Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 63.
- Playwright Lynn Nottage is 60.
- Actor David Schwimmer is 58.
- Jazz singer Kurt Elling is 57.
- Rapper Nelly is 50.
- Film director Jon Chu is 45.
- TV personality Karamo Brown (“Queer Eye”) is 44.
- NFL quarterback Jordan Love is 26.