2 November

Events

• 676 - Donus becomes Pope.
• 1772 - American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.
• 1783 - In Rocky Hill, New Jersey, US General George Washington gives his "Farewell Address to the Army".
• 1861 - American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.
• 1889 - North and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
• 1917 - Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
• 1920 - In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast was the results of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.
• 1930 - Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1947 - In California, Designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built (flight lasted only eight minutes).
• 1948 - U.S. presidential election, 1948: Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey for the US presidency.
• 1959 - Quiz show scandals: "Twenty-One" game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
• 1960 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case
• 1963 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem is assassinated following a military coup.
• 1966 - The Cuban Adjustment Act enters force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson holds a secret meeting with a group of the nation's most prestigious leaders ("the Wise Men") and asks them to suggest ways to unite the American people behind the war effort. They conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.
• 1976 - U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbant Gerald Ford to become first candidate from deep south to win since the Civil War.
• 1988 - The Morris Worm is released over the Internet.
• 1983 - Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
• 1984 - Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.
• 2000 - The first crew arrives at the International Space Station
• 2001 - Monsters, Inc. debuts with the best ticket sales ever for an animated film and the 6th best of all time.

Births

• 1667 - James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland († 1737)
• 1699 - Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter († 1779)
• 1734 - Daniel Boone, frontiersman († 1820)
• 1739 - Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, composer († 1799)
• 1755 - Marie Antoinette, Queen of France († 1793)
• 1795 - James Knox Polk, 11th President of the United States († 1849)
• 1815 - George Boole, mathematician and philosopher
• 1844 - Mehmed V, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire († 1918)
• 1865 - Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States († 1923)
• 1894 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist († 1976)
• 1913 - Burt Lancaster, actor († 1994)
• 1914 - Ray Walston, actor († 2001)
• 1927 - Steve Ditko, artist
• 1929 - Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, former President of Pakistan
• 1938 - Pat Buchanan, journalist, politician
• 1942 - Shere Hite, author
• 1942 - Stefanie Powers, actress
• 1946 - Giuseppe Sinopoli († 2001)
• 1961 - k. d. lang, singer
• 1965 - Shah Rukh Khan, actor

Deaths

• 1944 - Thomas Midgley, chemist and inventor
• 1950 - George Bernard Shaw, playwright
• 1960 - Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor
• 1963 - Ngo Dihn Diem, president of South Vietnam
• 1966 - Peter Debye, chemist
• 1975 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, film director
• 1986 - Desi Arnaz, musician, actor
• 1986 - Paul Frees, voice actor
• 1992 - Hal Roach, director, producer, dies at 100
• 2002 - Tonio Selwart, actor and Broadway star, dies at 106

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - All Souls Day
• Ancient Latvia - Dveselu Diena held
• Rastafarianism - The coronation of Haile Selassie celebrated

See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By