What Happened This Day In History - November 20

Today in History

November 20
269		Diocletian is proclaimed emperor of Numerian in Asia Minor by his soldiers. He had been the commander of the emperor’s bodyguard.
1695		Zumbi dos Palmares, the Brazilian leader of a 100-year-old rebel slave group, is killed in an ambush.
1700		Sweden’s 17-year-old King Charles XII defeats the Russians at Narva.
1903		In Cheyenne, Wyoming, 42-year-old hired gunman Tom Horn is hanged for the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell.
1914		Bulgaria proclaims its neutrality in the First World War.
1928		Mrs. Glen Hyde becomes the first woman to dare the Grand Canyon rapids in a scow (a flat-bottomed boat that is pushed along with a pole).
1931		Japan and China reject the League of Council terms for Manchuria at Geneva.
1943		U.S. Army and Marine soldiers attack the Japanese-held islands of Makin and Tarawa, respectively, in the Central Pacific.
1945		The Nazi war crime trials begin at Nuremberg.
1947		Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II) marries Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey.
1950		U.S. troops push to the Yalu River, within five miles of Manchuria.
1955		The Maryland National Guard is ordered desegregated.
1962		President John F. Kennedy bars religious or racial discrimination in federally funded housing.
1967		U.S. census reports the population at 200 million.
1971		The United States announces it will give Turkey $35 million for farmers who agree to stop growing opium poppies.
1974		The United States files an antitrust suit to break up ATT.
1978		South Africa backs down on a plan to install black rule in neighboring Namibia.
1981		Microsoft Windows 1.0 released.
1992		Fire in England’s Windsor Castle causes over £50 million in damages.
1998		First module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
2008		Dow Jones Industrial Average sinks to lowest level in 11 years in response to failures in the US financial system.
Born on November 20
1858		Selma Lagerdorf, Swedish novelist (The Story of Gosta Berling).
1889		Edwin Hubble, American astronomer who proved that there are other galaxies far from our own.
1908		Alistair Cooke, English journalist, television host.
1916		Thomas McGrath, poet and novelist.
1923		Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist.
1925		Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General, New York senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy. He was assassinated while running for president.
1936		Don DeLillo, author (White Noise, Libra).
1939		Dick Smothers, actor, singer; half of the Smothers Brothers whose controversial comedy-variety TV show challenged censorship boundaries in the 1960s, finally resulting in cancellation in 1969.
1942		Joe Biden, politician; US Senator from Delaware (1973–2009); President Barack Obama’s vice-president, beginning in 2009
1946		Duane Allman, singer, songwriter, musician; co-founder and primary leader of the The Allman Brothers Band until his death in 1971.
1963		Wan Yanhai, Chinese activist.
1975		Dierks Bentley, country singer, songwriter ("What Was I Thinkin’", "Every Mile a Memory").