Category: Today

On November 9, 1960, Robert McNamara was named president of the Ford Motor Company, becoming the first non-​Ford family member to serve in that post — only to resign a month later to join the newly elected John F. Kennedy administration.

Montana was admitted into the United States federal union as the 41st state on November 8, 1889. On the same date in 1960, John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the 20th century, becoming the 35th president of the United States.

1492: The oldest meteorite with a known date of impact struck a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France.

1504: Christopher Columbus returned from his fourth and final voyage.

1775: John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, started the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by offering freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight on the British side during the Revolution.

1940: The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in a windstorm a mere four months after completion.

On November 6, 1913, Mohandes K. Gandhi was arrested for participating in a march of Indian miners in South Africa.

On November 5, 1781, the second session of the United States in Congress Assembled began, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This “Second Confederation Congress,” as it is popularly known, ended on November 2, 1782.

And on that Fifth of November, 1781, John Hanson of Maryland (pictured above) was elected to serve as president of the United States in Congress Assembled. He would become the first president of Congress to serve a full one-​year term as specified under the Articles of Confederation, for the second session of the Confederation Congress. Of course, this presidency was nothing like the presidencies under the Constitution. Hanson merely presided over Congress.

On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony defied the law to vote, and was later fined $100.

On November 4, 1879, American humorist Will Rogers was born. Aside from his cowboy act, and his work as an actor in Hollywood, he gained much fame for being a topical comedian “just reporting what’s in the papers.” 

Among his most famous quips? 

“Be thankful we’re not getting all the
government we’re paying for.”