On November 27, 1095 at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II makes what is considered one of the most influential speeches of the Middle Ages, calling upon Christians to reclaim the Holy Land. Jerusalem had been barred to Christians since the Seljuk Turks captured the city in the mid-6th century. When the Turks looked west and threatened to take Constantinople in the late 11th century, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I called on Urban for help. Proclaiming "Deus Volt!" (God wills it), Urban's speech at Clermont united European Christians and sparked the First Crusade. On November 27, 1978, Dan White, a former member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, storms into city hall and shoots Mayor George Moscone. White had resigned from the board but reconsidered, and Moscone refused to allow White back on the board. The assassination comes about a half hour before Moscone is to appoint White's replacement. Having killed Moscone, White reloaded his handgun and went upstairs to the Board offices, where he shot and killed Supervisor Harvey Milk, one of the nation's first openly gay politicians, and a political rival of White's. At trial, White would claim distress over the loss of his job and a diet of junk food combined to cause him "diminished mental capacity." Remarkably, the "Twinkie defense" works, and his charges were reduced to voluntary manslaughter. He would serve 5 years in prison, and took his own life shortly after his release. On November 27, 2005, 13-year old Elizabeth Brooks is honored with the bar mitzvah to end all bar mitzvah's. Her guests (in NYC's famed Rainbow Room) were already perusing their gift bags filled with about $1,000 in electronic goodies, when a sax player who looked an awful lot like Kenny G walked onstage. Well, it was Kenny G, and he was just the opening act. Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, 50 Cent, and Steve Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith perform before the night is over. Elizabeth's celebration price tag is about $10 million. Her father, David H. Brooks, was CEO of DHB Industries, a Long Island manufacturer of body armor. Two years later, federal authorities hit Brooks with a 71-page indictment, including insider trading, tax evasion, and raiding his company's coffers for personal gain, including the full tab for Elizabeth's shin-dig. Brooks died in prison 9 years later.
On November 27, 1943, U.S. Navy flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient LCDR Butch O'Hare was killed in action. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is named in his honor. A restored Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat similar to the one O'Hare flew is on display in Terminal 2. His father, Easy Eddie O'Hare, was a lawyer for Al Capone. Easy Eddie became an informant for the IRS and provided key evidence used to convict Scarface of tax evasion. Easy Eddie was later gunned down.
On November 28, 1519, three ships commanded by Ferdinand Magellan emerge from a treacherous passage across the southern tip of South America (later dubbed the Straits of Magellan) into a huge ocean. After 3 weeks in the passage, the ocean is so peaceful, Magellan dubs it "Pacific." He and is crew are the first Europeans to see the Pacific Ocean from the east. On November 28, 1919, American-born Nancy Astor wins the seat on the House of Commons formerly held by her husband, Waldorf Astor, and will soon become the first woman seated as a Minister of Parliament. Although the first to be seated, Astor was not the first woman elected; Irish-born Constance Markiewicz was elected to represent a Dublin district a year earlier, but refused the seat as a protest against the British government. Astor would become known for her stances in support of women's and children's rights, and for her acerbic relationship with fellow Minister Winston Churchill. Her constituents in the district of Plymouth re-elected her continuously until her retirement in 1945. On November 28, 1895, Frank Duryea wins the first official motor car race in American history. Sponsored by the Chicago Tribune in an effort to give the infant automobile industry a boost, the original course called for a 92-mile race from Chicago to Waukegan, IL and back. But a blizzard the morning of the race led officials to change the outward destination to Evanston, shortening the race to 50 miles. The blizzard also clobbered the starting field; of 89 entries, only 6 made it to the starting line. Duryea won in a gas-powered car of his and his brother's design. In the year following the race, the Duryea brothers sold 13 of their "horseless carriages."
There’s a story about the time Winston and lady Astor were at dinner. Lady Astor said “Winston you’re drunk!” Winston replied “Yes madam I am and you’re ugly....but I’ll be sober in the morning.”
She also supposedly told him once, "If you were my husband, I would poison your tea." He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations votes to partition a portion of Palestine for the establishment of a Jewish state. Great Britain had assumed political control of the region following World War I, but Arabs and Jews immediately began fighting over the land. British sanctions over the years between the world wars tended to favor the Arabs, but Jews began to flood the region to escape the Holocaust, and in 1945, the United States sided with the Jews. Less than a year after the UN move, the British withdrew all claims in Palestine, and the state of Israel was formed. On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints a special committee to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy a week earlier. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren will head the commission. A year later, having interviewed more than 500 witnesses and visited the site of the assassination several times, the Warren Commission concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy, and that the Secret Service had not prepared adequately to protect the President on his trip to Dallas. On November 29, 1981 popular actress Natalie Wood drowns in a boating accident near Catalina, California. She was 43 years old. She was aboard the yacht owned by her and her husband, actor Robert Wagner. Actor Christopher Walken, who was in a film production with Wood at the time, was also aboard. Neither Wagner nor Walken saw her fall off the boat. Her body was discovered the following morning. (Natalie, Jack Lemmon (in 2 roles), Peter Falk, Kenan Wynn, and - at last - Tony Curtis, having poor pie manners in The Great Race) The Great Pie Fight - YouTube
Another Navy one. On this day in 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Shinano was torpedoed and sunk by USS Archerfish (SS-311) just 10 days after being commissioned. The Shinano was the largest carrier built at that time and remains the largest warship to be sunk by a submarine. #SubSunday.
On November 30, 1993, President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Act into law. Named for James Brady, President Reagan's press secretary who was catastrophically wounded in John Hinckley's assassination attempt on Reagan, the Brady Bill institutes a 5-day waiting period on citizens seeking to purchase a handgun. During that time (some call it a "cooling off period" to prevent a person's buying a gun in a fit of anger), authorities will perform a background check on the prospective buyer, either approving or denying the sale based on a set criteria. An estimated 3 million handgun sales have been blocked by the Brady Bill since its passage into law. (Clinton signs the bill as the wheelchair-bound Brady looks on) On November 30, 1965, 32-year-old lawyer Ralph Nader publishes Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. “For over half a century,” Nader’s book begins, “the automobile has brought death, injury, and the most inestimable sorrow and deprivation to millions of people.” He also suggested that available technology that could improve car safety was often put aside for the sake of the "service industry" - i.e. doctors, lawyers, morticians - that profited from "the highway carnage in this country." The book became a best-seller right away. It also prompted the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, seat-belt laws in 49 states (all but New Hampshire) and a number of other road-safety initiatives. Nader went on to advocate for a number of consumer causes and has run for president four times. (below: a Chevrolet Corvair. Chevy discontinued production of the car after sales plummeted thanks to accusations of design flaws outlined in Nader's book) On November 30, 1982, Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller. Jackson first achieved fame as a child star, the lead singer and youngest brother of The Jackson Five. His previous studio album, Off The Wall, sold 10 million copies and launched Michael to a solo career. But Thriller launches him to a level of success rarely seen in the industry. Seven singles from the album will reach the top 10 of the Billboard Pop Music Charts, with two ("Billie Jean", "Beat It") reaching number one. The album became the first ever to top record industry sales in two consecutive years (1982-83), won 8 Grammys and 8 American Music Awards, and by the end of 1983 was the top selling album of all time at 32 million copies sold. At the height of Thriller's popularity, Jackson would perform "Billie Jean" on TV during a celebration of Motown Records. The performance would lead an LA Times writer to label Jackson "The King of Pop." Although it remains number 2 in total albums sales in the U.S. (The Eagles: Their Greatest Hits), Thriller remains the number one selling album of all time world-wide. Moonwalk - Michael Jackson - Billie Jean - The First Moonwalk King Of Pop - YouTube
