This day in history...

On November 1, 1993, the Maastricht Treaty comes into effect, formally establishing the European Union (EU). Twelve nations comprise the EU: Great Britain, France, Germany, the Irish Republic, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Austria, Finland, and Sweden became members of the EU in 1995. The agreement also calls for a strengthened European parliament, the creation of a central European bank, and common foreign and security policies, and lays the groundwork for the establishment of a single European currency, the "euro."

On November 1, 1800, President John Adams moves into the not-quite-finished President's House in Washington DC, which will soon be dubbed the White House. Later that day, Adams sent his wife Abigail (she was at her family home in Massachusetts at the time and would join her husband later in the month) saying he hoped, “none but honest and wise men [shall] ever rule under this roof.” Although pleased with the house at first, Abigail would soon note that it was cold and drafty in winter, and tolerable only with fires lit in every room.

 

November 2, 1982, is perhaps the worst day of the Soviet Union's ill-fated invasion of Afghanistan. Although the exact details have been suppressed, its believed that a fuel truck collided with another military vehicle inside the 1.7 mile long Salang Tunnel near the Afghan border city of Hairotum. The two trucks were part of a long army convoy traversing the tunnel, and the resulting explosion took an estimated 30 troop busses with it. Soviet military police, believing the explosion to be an attack, closed off the tunnel, which quickly filled with carbon monoxide from the number of engines idling inside. The death toll is estimated at about 3,000.


On November 2, 1963, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother are captured and killed by a group of soldiers. The execution comes a day after Diem's administration was overthrown by the military, a coup aided - it was revealed later - by U.S. officials who were increasingly dissatisfied with his dictatorial policies. Although celebrated by the South Vietnamese people, Diem's removal leaves the country in political chaos.


On November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in an epic World Series Game 7, giving the Cubs their first world championship since 1908. It is the end of the longest professional sports championship drought in North American history.

 

On November 3, 2014, One World Trade Center is officially dedicated in New York City. Thirteen years in planning and construction, the huge structure replaces the buildings (including the twin towers) of the original World Trade Center that were destroyed in the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Architect David Childs gives the terrorists a big "FU" by not only going bigger than the original towers (each 1,358 feet tall), he tops out his design at an America-loves-it 1,776 feet. The replacement is soon home to many of the world's leading financial firms, as was the original. But developers also take pains to bring in a more diverse group of tenants, such as media conglomerate Conde' Nast, which occupies 24 stories of the building.


On November 3, 1903, Panama (with U.S. backing) declares its independence from Colombia. The new government is also backed by the Panama Canal Company, which quickly brokers a deal with the U.S. to operate the still-under construction canal. The U.S. also sends a navy cruiser into Panamanian waters and pulls its trains on the U.S-administered Panama Railroad from its terminus at Colon, Colombia, hampering Colombian efforts to send troops into Panama to prevent the rebellion. Despite the help, Panamanian citizens protest the canal deal, an infringement on their new-found independence they will chew on for the next 90 years

On November 3, 1998, former professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota. A Reform Party candidate, Ventura spends less than $300,000 on a campy campaign (one TV ad features Ventura wearing only gym shorts and posing like Rodin's "The Thinker") and beats two established politicians with a combined budget of about $14 million. Ventura, a Navy demolitions expert during Vietnam, had been a highly successful "heel" (bad guy) as a wrestler, with the motto "win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat." But once elected governor, Ventura promised to take his duties seriously. He instituted a creative tax reform plan, and backed a light rail local transit system for the Twin Cities, but lost legislative backing when the state ran into financial problems late in his term and did not run for re-election.

 

On November 5, 1941, Japan' Prime Minister, General Hideki Tojo, sends Top Secret Order No. 1 to the Combined Japanese Fleet: begin preparations for attacking the Philippines, Malaya, various British and Dutch holdings in the Pacific, and the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.


On November 5 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory for the Presidency. The final electoral vote is Wilson 435, Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive Party) 88, William H. Taft (incumbent-Republican) 8. Wilson's election is the only time two former Presidents have been defeated on the same ballot.


On November 5, 1994 in Las Vegas, 45-year old George Foreman scores a 10th round knockout against previously undefeated WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Michael Moorer. Foreman, who had retired to become a preacher in 1977 and re-entered the ring in 1987, becomes the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. He is also a two-time champion, having beaten Joe Frazier in 1973 before losing the famed "Rumble in the Jungle" fight to Mohammed Ali a year later. In his win over Moorer, Foreman wears the same red trunks he wore the night he lost to Ali.

 

On November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis is elected President of the Confederate States of America. A native of Kentucky and West Point graduate, Davis entered politics fresh out of the Mexican-American War in the 1840's when he was appointed to a vacant U.S. Senate seat for Mississippi. He was elected President unopposed, but his country would expire before his 6-year term of office.


On November 6, 1906, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President to make a diplomatic visit outside the continental U.S. when he departs on a 17-day tour of Panama and Puerto Rico. Roosevelt visited with construction workers on the Panama Canal, bolstering spirits on the difficult project. In Puerto Rico, which had become a U.S. protectorate 5 years earlier, Teddy pitched his plan to allow Puerto Ricans to become U.S. citizens while remaining a somewhat autonomous community. (TR posing on a steam shovel on the Panama Canal construction site)


On November 6, 1869, Rutgers University hosts College of New Jersey (later to be renamed Princeton) in the first intercollegiate football game. The rules of the day create a game that resembles soccer much more than modern day football. The ball can be advanced only by kicking or batting with the hands, carrying is not allowed. The game also follows a one-point win system. The first team to kick the ball over its opponent's goal line wins the point and the game, and a new game starts. Rutgers wins, 6-4.

 

On November 7, 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented 4th term as President. George Washington had voluntarily stepped down after his second term, and most succeeding presidents followed his example. Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland ran for 3rd terms and lost, as did Teddy Roosevelt in a bid for a non-consecutive 3rd term. The 22nd Amendment, limiting presidents to two terms of office, was proposed by the Senate in 1947 and ratified by the states in 1951. (FDR died of arteriosclerosis six months into his fourth term)


On November 7, 1944 (same day!) Richard Sorge is hanged as a spy in Japan. Half-German and half-Russian and educated in political science, Sorge joined the German Communist Party in 1919. He emigrated to Russia in the late 20's, and in his first job with Soviet intelligence, organized a spy ring in China while posing as a foreign correspondent. When the Nazis rose to power, the Soviets rolled the dice with Sorge. They sent him back to Germany, where he joined the Nazi Party to enhance his cover, then sent him to Japan where he again organized a spy ring. His Nazi cover was so effective that he was able to actually work out of the German embassy in Tokyo. His reports on Japanese intentions (their designs did not include a move on the Russians) allowed Stalin to concentrate his defenses to the west and Hitler's real threat against the USSR. But his operation was exposed in October 1944. By then his "spy ring" numbered in the dozens. Twenty years after his execution, Sorge was named a Hero of the Soviet Union.


On November 7, 1940, high winds collapse the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington. Spanning a narrow channel of Puget Sound, it was the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world when opened in the mid-1930's. It was specifically designed to be flexible, but investigations after the collapse revealed the designers underestimated the aerodynamic forces at play in the Narrows. A new Tacoma Narrows bridge opened in 1950; the remains of the original still lie at the bottom of Puget Sound and are on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

On November 8, 1994, and for the first time in 40 years, Republicans across the nation take control of the U.S. House and Senate in mid-term elections. Republicans run on a united platform called "Contract With America", a 10-point plan including reduced taxes, a balance budget oath and dismantling of some welfare programs, with the promise of bringing all points to a vote within the first 100 days of session. Led by newly-appointed Speaker Newt Gingrich, the House would pass 9 of the 10 points (failing on a term limits amendment) within the 100 day time frame, though most died in the Senate.


On November 8, 1923, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler launches the Beer Hall Putsch, his first attempt to take control of the German government. With the German economy still struggling from post-WWI sanctions, Nazi troops, led by Hermann Goering, surround a Munich beer hall where business leaders and Bavarian government officials are meeting and storm the building. Hitler soon enters, pistol in hand, and announces the start of a "national revolution." The governmental leaders capitulated on the spot, but launched a counterattack on the Nazi Party headquarters the following day. The movement was repulsed in 3 days, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Nineteen people were killed in the process, including 16 Nazis. (Hitler and other early Nazi leaders)


On November 8, 1887, John H. "Doc" Holliday dies of tuberculosis in a Glenwood Springs, CO sanitarium. He was 36 years old. The Georgia native, raised as a Southern gentleman and trained as a dentist, moved to the western U.S. 15 years earlier when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and advised to live in a drier climate. He soon found he was a much better card player than a dentist, and began drifting around the famed Wild West towns of the day, supporting himself as a card player by day and living a rather debauched life at night. A famed gunfighter by legend, Holliday in fact killed at most 3 men, including Tom McLaury at the O.K. Corral.