Today in History

Today in History

Today is Sunday, Nov. 8, the 313th day of 2020. There are 53 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 8, 2016, Republican Donald Trump was elected America's 45th president, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton in an astonishing victory for a celebrity businessman and political novice. Republicans kept their majorities in the Senate and House.

On this date:

In 1793, the Louvre began admitting the public, even though the French museum had been officially open since August.

In 1861, during the Civil War, the USS San Jacinto intercepted a British mail steamer, the Trent, and detained a pair of Confederate diplomats who were enroute to Europe to seek support for the Southern cause. (Although the Trent Affair strained relations between the United States and Britain, the matter was quietly resolved with the release of the diplomats the following January.)

In 1923, Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the "Beer-Hall Putsch."

In 1950, during the Korean War, the first jet-plane battle took place as U.S. Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.

In 1960, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the presidency.

In 1966, Edward W. Brooke, R-Mass., became the first Black candidate to be elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure allowing the merger of the American Football League and the National Football League.

In 1974, a federal judge in Cleveland dismissed charges against eight Ohio National Guardsmen accused of violating the civil rights of students who were killed or wounded in the 1970 Kent State shootings.

In 2000, a statewide recount began in Florida, which emerged as critical in deciding the winner of the 2000 presidential election. Earlier that day, Vice President Al Gore had telephoned Texas Gov. George W. Bush to concede, but called back about an hour later to retract his concession.

In 2002, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 1441, aimed at forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences." President George W. Bush said the new resolution presented the Iraqi regime "with a final test."

In 2017, director Ridley Scott decided to cut Kevin Spacey out of the already-completed movie "All the Money in the World" because of the sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey and reshoot his many scenes using Christopher Plummer, just six weeks ahead of the film's release date.

Ten years ago: On the third and final day of his trip to India, President Barack Obama endorsed the country's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Former kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart took the stand in Salt Lake City on the first day of testimony in the trial of Brian David Mitchell, the man accused of abducting her in June 2002 when she was 14. Talk show host Conan O'Brien made his debut on TBS.

Five years ago: Myanmar's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party lost by a landslide in a general election to the National League for Democracy of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. In his first public comments on the latest scandal rocking the Vatican, Pope Francis told followers in St. Peter's Square the theft of documents describing financial malfeasance inside the Holy See was a "crime" but pledged to continue reforms of its administration. An acoustic guitar that John Lennon used to record and write "Love Me Do," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and other hit songs sold for $2.4 million at auction in Beverly Hills, California.