On Nov. 26, 1916, T.E. Lawrence, a junior member of the Britain’s Arab Bureau during World War I, published a detailed report praising Arab leader Sherif Hussein, while criticizing the effectiveness of his revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Within weeks, Lawrence joined Arab troops in the field and spent the rest of the war organizing various groups of tribesmen to fight the Turks, earning the name “Lawrence of Arabia.”
On Nov. 25, 1783, three months after the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution, the last British soldiers left New York City, the last British military position in the United States. The city had been in British hands since its capture in September 1776.
On Nov. 24, 1947, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt against the “Hollywood 10” for refusing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee about their alleged Communist Party ties. These ten writers, directors, and movie producers were sentenced to a year in jail. In a joint statement, the Hollywood 10 argued, “The United States can keep its constitutional liberties or it can keep the Thomas committee. It can’t keep both.”
On Nov. 23, 1876, “Boss” Tweed, the leader of New York City’s corrupt Tammany Hall political organization during the 1860s and early 1870s, was delivered to New York City authorities after his capture in Spain. Tweed had escaped from prison in 1875, where he was serving time for forgery, larceny and other charges. He died in prison in 1878.
On Nov. 22, 2004, in what became known as the Orange Revolution, massive protests erupted across the Ukraine after charges that the Nov. 21 presidential run-off election between candidates Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych was rigged by the authorities in favor of the latter. Ultimately, Ukraine’s highest court annulled the election and a new vote reversed the result.
On Nov. 21, 1911, British suffragettes stormed Parliament in London. Two hundred and twenty women and three men were arrested and received prison sentences.
On Nov. 20 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. New Jersey’s action was followed by the other states making the first 10 amendments to the Constitution the law of the land and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence.
On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a 272 word speech to dedicate a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His “Gettysburg Address” ended with the hopeful appeal “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
On Nov. 18, 1976, Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.
On Nov. 17, 1939, following student demonstrations in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Nazis executed nine students and professors, arrested and sent more than 1,000 students to concentration camps, and shut down universities. In 1989, on the 50th anniversary, student protests broke out against Soviet occupiers, touching off national strikes that soon led to the end of Soviet rule.