8 November

Events

• 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlan and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great pomp as would befit a returning god.
• 1520 - Stockholm Bloodbath begins: A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under the command of Christian II of Denmark results in the execution of around 100 persons (mostly nobility and clergy involved in the previous Swedish war effort).
• 1576 - Eighty Years' War: Pacification of Ghent - The States-General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.
• 1793 - In Paris, the French Revolutionary government opens the Louvre to the public as a museum.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mailship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
• 1864 - U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George McClellan.
• 1889 - Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.
• 1892 - U.S. presidential election, 1892: Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.
• 1895 - While experimenting with electricity Wilhelm Röntgen discovers x-rays.
• 1923 - Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.
• 1932 - U.S. presidential election, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory.
• 1933 - Great Depression: New Deal - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.
• 1935 - A dozen labor leaders come together to announce the creation of the Congress for Industrial Organization (CIO), an organization charged with pushing the cause for industrial unionism.
• 1935 Fernand Bouisson becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1939 - Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
• 1939 - In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
• 1942 - World War II: Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
• 1950 - Korean War: While in an F-80, United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown intercepts two North Korean MiG-15s near the Yalu River and shots them down in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.
• 1960 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man to hold that office.
• 1965 - The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands (on June 23, 1976 Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches were returned to Seychelles).
• 1965 - The soap opera Days of Our Lives debuts.
• 1966 - Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African-American elected to the United States Senate.
• 1974 - In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy.
• 1987 - Enniskillen massacre: In Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, an Irish Republican Army bomb explodes, at a ceremony honoring Britain's war dead, killing eleven people.
• 1988 - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.
• 1994 - Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections: the first time in 40 years the Republicans secured control of both houses of Congress).
• 2002 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".

Births

• 35- Nerva, Roman emperor
• 1622 - Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden
• 1656 - Edmond Halley, British astronomer, mathematician
• 1836 - Milton Bradley, manufacturer, lithographer, game maker († 1911)
• 1847 - Bram Stoker, Irish novelist ("Dracula") († 1912)
• 1848 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician
• 1866 - Herbert Austin, automobile pioneer (Austin-Healey)
• 1868 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician
• 1883 - Arnold Bax, composer
• 1884 - Hermann Rorschach, psychiatrist
• 1893 - Clarence Williams, American Jazz pianist and composer
• 1898 - Marie Prevost, actress († 1937)
• 1900 - Margaret Mitchell, American author († 1949)
• 1900 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete
• 1914 - Norman Lloyd, actor
• 1918 - Hermann Zapf, German designer
• 1919 - P.L. Deshpande, Indian author
• 1920 - Esther Rolle, actress († 1998)
• 1922 - Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon
• 1927 - Patti Page, singer
• 1927 - Nguyen Khanh, Prime Minister of South Vietnam
• 1931 - Morley Safer, journalist
• 1931 - Darla Hood, actress († 1979)
• 1935 - Alain Delon, actor
• 1949 - Bonnie Raitt, American singer
• 1953 - Alfre Woodard, actress
• 1954 - Jeanette McGruder, musician (P Funk)
• 1954 - Rickie Lee Jones, singer, composer
• 1968 - Parker Posey, actress
• 2003 - Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

Deaths

• 911 - Louis the Child, last Carolingian ruler of the East Franks
• 955 - Pope Agapetus II
• 1226 - Louis VIII of France
• 1674 - John Milton, English poet
• 1887 - Doc Holliday, dentist, gunfighter
• 1890 - César Franck, composer and organist
• 1953 - John van Melle, Dutch/South African author
• 1978 - Norman Rockwell, American illustrator
• 1986 - Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician
• 1990 - Anya Seton, American author
• 1998 - Rumer Godden, novelist
• 1998 - Jean Marais, actor
• 2002 - James Coburn, actor
• 2002 - Rudolf Noelte, theatre director
• 2002 - Jost Schillemeit, literature researcher

Holidays and observances

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

Referenced By