Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 20, the 324th day of 2019. There are 41 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 20, 1985, the first version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, was officially released.

On this date:

In 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

In 1910, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 had its beginnings under the Plan of San Luis Potosi issued by Francisco I. Madero.

In 1945, 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.)

In 1947, Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey.

In 1966, the musical play “Cabaret,” set in pre-Nazi Germany, opened on Broadway with Jill Haworth as Sally Bowles and Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies.

In 1967, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock at the Commerce Department ticked past 200 million.

In 1969, the Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phaseout. A group of American Indian activists began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

In 1975, after nearly four decades of absolute rule, Spain’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco died, two weeks before his 83rd birthday.

In 1984, pop star Michael Jackson was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with the unveiling of his star in front of a horde of screaming fans.

In 1998, forty-six states embraced a $206 billion settlement with cigarette makers over health costs for treating sick smokers.

In 2000, lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush battled before the Florida Supreme Court over whether the presidential election recount should be allowed to continue.

In 2003, Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation in Santa Barbara, Calif. (Jackson was later acquitted at trial.) Record producer Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of an actress, Lana Clarkson, at his home in Alhambra (al-HAM'-bruh), California. (Spector’s first trial ended with a hung jury in 2007; he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009 and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.)

Ten years ago: Scientists in Geneva restarted the Large Hadron (HAD'-ruhn) Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, after a year of repairs. A Chinese national killed four people and wounded nine in a shooting rampage on the Pacific island of Saipan before taking his own life. Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience that she would end her talk show in 2011 after a quarter-century on the air.

Five years ago: Spurning furious Republicans, President Barack Obama unveiled expansive executive actions on immigration during a televised address that would spare nearly 5 million people who were in the U.S. illegally from deportation and refocus enforcement efforts on “felons, not families.” MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced that baseball owners had unanimously approved a five-year term for his successor, Rob Manfred.

One year ago: President Donald Trump declared that he would not further punish Saudi Arabia for the murder of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi (jah-MAHL’ khahr-SHOHK'-jee), dismissing reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must have at least known about the plot to kill the writer. Trump said a judge who had ruled against his bid to deny asylum to migrants who enter the county illegally was an “Obama judge” on an appeals court that he said was biased against him. Health officials in the U.S. and Canada told people to stop eating romaine lettuce because of a new E. coli outbreak. Ray Chavez, the oldest U.S. military survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, died in southern California at the age of 106.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Estelle Parsons is 92. Comedian Dick Smothers is 81. Singer Norman Greenbaum is 77. Former Vice President Joe Biden is 77. Actress Veronica Hamel is 76. Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is 73. Actor Samuel E. Wright is 73. Singer Joe Walsh is 72. Actor Richard Masur is 71. Opera singer Barbara Hendricks is 71. Former national security adviser John Bolton is 71. Actress Bo Derek is 63. Former NFL player Mark Gastineau is 63. Reggae musician Jimmy Brown (UB40) is 62. Actress Sean Young is 60. Pianist Jim Brickman is 58. Rock musician Todd Nance (Widespread Panic) is 57. Actress Ming-Na is 56. Actor Ned Vaughn is 55. Rapper Mike D (The Beastie Boys) is 54. Rapper Sen Dog (Cypress Hill) is 54. Actress Callie Thorne is 50. Actress Sabrina Lloyd is 49. Actor Joel McHale is 48. Actress Marisa Ryan is 45. Country singer Dierks (duhkrs) Bentley is 44. Actor Joshua Gomez is 44. Actress Laura Harris is 43. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes is 43. Country singer Josh Turner is 42. Actress Nadine Velazquez (veh-LAHZ'-kehz) is 41. Actor Jacob Pitts is 40. Actress Andrea Riseborough is 38. Actor Jeremy Jordan is 35. Actor Dan Byrd is 34. Actress Ashley Fink is 33. Rock musician Jared Followill (Kings of Leon) is 33. Actress Jaina Lee Ortiz is 33. Actor Cody Linley is 30. Pop musician Michael Clifford (5 Seconds to Summer) is 24.

Thought for Today: “No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.” — Thomas Mann, German author (1875-1955).