Today in History

Today is Sunday, Nov. 21, the 325th day of 2021. There are 40 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 21, 1995, Balkan leaders meeting in Dayton, Ohio, initialed a peace plan to end 3 1/2 years of ethnic fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BAHZ’-nee-ah HEHR’-tsuh-goh-vee-nah).

On this date:

In 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1920, the Irish Republican Army killed 12 British intelligence officers and two auxiliary policemen in the Dublin area; British forces responded by raiding a soccer match, killing 14 civilians.

In 1942, the Alaska Highway, also known as the Alcan Highway, was formally opened at Soldier’s Summit in the Yukon Territory.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Air Quality Act.

In 1969, the Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth, 55-45, the first such rejection since 1930.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18-1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.

In 1979, a mob attacked the U-S Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing two Americans.

In 1980, 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 1985, U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested and accused of spying for Israel. (Pollard later pleaded guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison; he was released on parole on Nov. 20, 2015, and moved to Israel five years later.)

In 1990, junk-bond financier Michael R. Milken, who had pleaded guilty to six felony counts, was sentenced by a federal judge in New York to 10 years in prison. (Milken served two.)

In 2001, Ottilie (AH’-tih-lee) Lundgren, a 94-year-old resident of Oxford, Conn., died of inhalation anthrax; she was the apparent last victim of a series of anthrax attacks carried out through the mail system.

In 2018, President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts publicly clashed over the independence of America’s judiciary, with Roberts rebuking the president for denouncing a judge hearing a migrant asylum challenge as an “Obama judge.”

Ten years ago: Congress’ bipartisan deficit reduction “supercommittee,” tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in cuts over a decade, failed to do so. Detroit’s Justin Verlander became the first starting pitcher in a quarter-century to be voted Most Valuable Player.

Five years ago: President-elect Donald Trump held court from his perch high above Manhattan, receiving a line of former rivals, longtime allies and TV executives while overseeing his White House transition.

One year ago: A federal judge in Pennsylvania tossed out a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the state; in a scathing order, the judge said Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani presented only “speculative accusations.” The Trump campaign requested a recount of votes in the Georgia presidential race, a day after state officials certified results showing that Democrat Joe Biden won the state. (After the recount, the state’s top elections official recertified Biden’s victory.) U.S. health officials agreed to allow emergency use of a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19; the drug from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was an experimental medicine that Trump was given when he was sickened in October 2020.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Laurence Luckinbill is 87. Actor Marlo Thomas is 84. Actor Rick Lenz is 82. Actor Juliet Mills is 80. Basketball Hall of Famer Earl Monroe is 77. Television producer Marcy Carsey is 77. Actor Goldie Hawn is 76. Movie director Andrew Davis is 75. Rock musician Lonnie Jordan (War) is 73. Singer Livingston Taylor is 71. Actor-singer Lorna Luft is 69. Actor Cherry Jones is 65. Rock musician Brian Ritchie (The Violent Femmes) is 61. Gospel singer Steven Curtis Chapman is 59. Actor Nicollette Sheridan is 58. Singer-actor Bjork (byork) is 56. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman is 55. R&B singer Chauncey Hannibal (BLACKstreet) is 53. Rock musician Alex James (Blur) is 53. Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. is 52. TV personality Rib Hillis is 51. Football player-turned-TV personality Michael Strahan (STRAY’-han) is 50. Actor Rain Phoenix is 49. Actor Marina de Tavira is 48. Country singer Kelsi Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 47. Actor Jimmi Simpson is 46. Singer-actor Lindsey Haun is 37. Actor Jena Malone is 37. Pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen is 36. Actor-singer Sam Palladio is 35.