TODAY IN HISTORY – Nov. 22

Published 8:20 am Sunday, November 22, 2020

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Today is Sunday, Nov. 22, the 327th day of 2020. There are 39 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was shot to death during a motorcade in Dallas; Texas Gov. John B. Connally, riding in the same car as Kennedy, was seriously wounded; suspected gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president.

On this date:

In 1935, a flying boat, the China Clipper, took off from Alameda, California, carrying more than 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek (chang ky-shehk) met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan. Lyricist Lorenz Hart died in New York at age 48.

In 1961, Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds was named Most Valuable Player of the National League.

In 1965, the musical “Man of La Mancha” opened on Broadway.

In 1967, the U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured the previous June, and implicitly called on adversaries to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

In 1977, regular passenger service between New York and Europe on the supersonic Concorde began on a trial basis.

In 1980, death claimed film star Mae West at her Hollywood residence at age 87 and former House Speaker John W. McCormack in Dedham, Mass. at age 88.

In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win re-election of the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced she would resign.

In 1995, acting swiftly to boost the Balkan peace accord, the U-N Security Council suspended economic sanctions against Serbia and eased the arms embargo against the states of the former Yugoslavia.

In 2003, thousands of mourners gathered in downtown Dallas along the street where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 40 years earlier.

In 2005, Angela Merkel (AHN’-geh-lah MEHR’-kuhl) took power as Germany’s first female chancellor. Ted Koppel hosted his final edition of ABC News’ “Nightline.”

In 2014, a 12-year-old Black boy, Tamir (tuh-MEER’) Rice, was shot and mortally wounded by police outside a Cleveland recreation center after brandishing what turned out to be a pellet gun. (A grand jury declined to indict either the patrolman who fired the fatal shot or a training officer.)

Ten years ago: Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, leaving some 350 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country’s biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge. Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was overwhelmingly elected the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

Five years ago: Trying to reassure a nation on edge, President Barack Obama said in Malaysia that the Islamic State group “cannot strike a mortal blow” against the U.S., and he warned that overreacting to the Paris attacks would play into extremists’ hands. Opposition candidate Mauricio Macri won Argentina’s presidential election, marking an end to the left-leaning era of President Cristina Fernandez. Former South Korean President Kim Young-sam, 87, who led the country’s transition to democracy, died in Seoul. Novak Djokovic won his fourth straight title at the season-ending ATP finals by beating six-time champion Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4. Kyle Busch won his first career Sprint Cup title claiming the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. One Direction won artist of the year at the American Music Awards.

One year ago: After five long days of public impeachment hearings, President Donald Trump brushed off the probe as “total nonsense” and bad-mouthed a number of the U.S. diplomats who testified to Congress about his Ukraine pressure campaign. A Pennsylvania judge dashed the hopes of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky for a shorter prison term, sentencing him to the same 30 to 60 years that had been imposed in 2012 for sexually abusing children. The unveiling of Tesla’s electric pickup near Los Angeles went off-script when its supposedly unbreakable window glass splintered twice when hit with a large metal ball.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Michael Callan is 85. Animator and movie director Terry Gilliam is 80. Actor Tom Conti is 79. Singer Jesse Colin Young is 79. Astronaut Guion (GEYE’-uhn) Bluford is 78. International Tennis Hall of Famer Billie Jean King is 77. Rock musician-actor Steve Van Zandt (a.k.a. Little Steven) is 70. Rock musician Tina Weymouth (The Heads; Talking Heads; The Tom Tom Club) is 70. Retired MLB All-Star Greg Luzinski is 70. Rock musician Lawrence Gowan is 64. Actor Richard Kind is 64. Actor Jamie Lee Curtis is 62. Alt-country singer Jason Ringenberg (Jason & the Scorchers) is 62. Actor Mariel Hemingway is 59. Actor Winsor Harmon is 57. Actor-turned-producer Brian Robbins is 57. Actor Stephen Geoffreys is 56. Rock musician Charlie Colin is 54. Actor Nicholas Rowe is 54. Actor Michael Kenneth Williams is 54. Actor Mark Ruffalo is 53. International Tennis Hall of Famer Boris Becker is 53. Actor Sidse (SIH’-sa) Babett Knudsen is 52. Country musician Chris Fryar (Zac Brown Band) is 50. Actor Josh Cooke is 41. Actor-singer Tyler Hilton is 37. Actor Scarlett Johansson is 36. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower is 32. Singer Candice Glover (TV: “American Idol”) is 31. Actor Alden Ehrenreich is 31. Actor Dacre Montgomery is 26. Actor Mackenzie Lintz is 24.