Today in History
November 15
| 1315 | Swiss soldiers ambush and slaughter invading Austrians in the battle of Morgarten. | |
| 1533 | The explorer Francisco Pizarro enters Cuzco, Peru. | |
| 1626 | The Pilgrim Fathers, who have settled in New Plymouth, buy out their London investors. | |
| 1777 | The Articles of Confederation, instituting perpetual union of the United States of America, are adopted by Congress. | |
| 1805 | Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their party reach the mouth of the Columbia River, completing their trek to the Pacific. | |
| 1806 | Explorer Zebulon Pike discovers the Colorado Peak that bears his name, despite the fact that he didn’t climb it. | |
| 1864 | Union Major General William T. Sherman’s troops set fires that destroy much of Atlanta’s industrial district prior to beginning Sherman’s March to the Sea. | |
| 1881 | The American Federation of Labor is founded. | |
| 1909 | M. Metrot takes off in a Voisin biplane from Algiers, making the first manned flight in Africa. | |
| 1917 | Kerensky flees and Bolsheviks take command in Moscow. | |
| 1920 | Forty-one nations open the first League of Nations session in Geneva.. | |
| 1922 | It is announced that Dr. Alexis Carrel has discovered white corpuscles. | |
| 1930 | General strikes and riots paralyze Madrid, Spain. | |
| 1937 | Eighteen lawsuits are brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority, calling for its dissolution. | |
| 1942 | An American fleet defeats a Japanese naval force in a clash off Guadalcanal. | |
| 1946 | The 17th Paris Air Show opens at the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees. It is the first show of this kind since World War II. | |
| 1952 | Newark Airport in New Jersey reopens after closing earlier in the year because of an increase in accidents. | |
| 1957 | Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev asserts Soviet superiority in missiles, challenging the United States to a rocket-range shooting match. | |
| 1960 | The first submarine with nuclear missiles, USS George Washington, takes to sea from Charleston, South Carolina. | |
| 1962 | Cuba threatens to down U.S. planes on reconnaissance flights over its territory. | |
| 1963 | Argentina voids all foreign oil contracts. | |
| 1965 | In the second day of combat, regiments of the 1st Cavalry Division battle on Landing Zones X-Ray against North Vietnamese forces in the Ia Drang Valley. | |
| 1969 | A quarter of a million anti-Vietnam War demonstrators march in Washington, D.C. | |
| 1976 | A Syrian peace force takes control of Beirut, Lebanon. | |
| 1984 | Baby Fae dies 20 days after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California. | |
| 1985 | Anglo-Irish Agreement signed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. | |
| 1988 | Palestinian National Council proclaims an independent State of Palestine. | |
| 1990 | People’s Republic of Bulgaria replaced by a new republican government. | |
| 2007 | Cyclone Sidr strikes Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people. | |
Born on November 15
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| 1708 | William Pitt the Elder, secretary of state of England whose strategies helped win the Seven Years War. | |
| 1738 | Sir William Hershel, British astronomer who discovered Uranus. | |
| 1887 | Georgia O’Keefe, American artist. | |
| 1891 | Erwin Rommel, German field marshal in World War II. | |
| 1906 | Curtis LeMay, general in US Army Air Corps and later US Air Force; vice presidential running mate of George Wallace in 1968; credited with planning the strategic bombing campaign against Imperial Japan during WWII. | |
| 1907 | Claus von Stauffenberg, German army officer; a leader in the failed July 20, 1944, assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. | |
| 1913 | Guy Green, English film director, screenwriter, cinematographer; won Academy Award for cinematography for Great Expectations (1946); received Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA (2002) and named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (2004). | |
| 1925 | Howard Baker, Ameican politician; Senate Majority Leader (1981-85), White House Chief of Staff under Ronald Reagan (1987-88), Ambassador to Japan (2001-05). | |
| 1939 | W. C. Clark, blues musician known as the "Godfather of Austin Blues.". | |
| 1940 | Sam Waterston, actor, producer, director (The Killing Fields; TV movieLincoln; Jack McCoy, Law & Order TV series). | |
| 1941 | Daniel Pinkwater, author best known for his children’s books and Young Adult fiction (The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death). | |
| 1942 | Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist and conductor. | |
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