Today in History for Nov. 15:
On this date:
In 1280, German theologian and music theorist Albertus Magnus died. Magnus taught famed philosopher Thomas Aquinas.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus noted in his journal the use of tobacco among the Indians. It was the first recorded reference to tobacco.
In 1708, British statesman William Pitt (the Elder) was born in London.
In 1765, the first Presbyterian church in Canada was established at Quebec by Rev. George Henry.
In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, a precursor to the Constitution of the United States.
In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike sighted the mountaintop now known as "Pikes Peak" in present-day Colorado.
In 1877, the Northwest Council passed laws to conserve the bison. However, by 1880, the bison had practically disappeared from the plains of Canada, destroying the traditional way of life of First Nations and Metis living on the Prairies.
In 1880, Canadian Edward "Ned" Hanlan won the world's sculling championships.
In 1889, Brazil's monarchy was overthrown. A republic was proclaimed following the ouster of Dom Pedro II, the country's second and last emperor.
In 1926, the National Broadcasting Company made its debut with a radio network of 24 U.S. stations. NBC had been formed by General Electric, Westinghouse and RCA, with David Sarnoff as its leading organizer. NBC was the first of the major radio networks, with the Columbia Broadcasting System following in 1927 and the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1934.
In 1939, U.S. President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1948, William Lyon Mackenzie King resigned as prime minister after holding the job longer than anyone -- more than 21 years since 1921. He was succeeded by Louis St. Laurent.
In 1960, in Toronto, a four-member panel of experts decided that D.H. Lawrence's novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was not obscene within the meaning of the Criminal Code.
In 1960, the United States launched its first nuclear-powered Polaris missile submarine, "George Washington," into the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1963, Canada and India agreed to co-operate in building a nuclear power station at Rana Pratrap Sagar, India.
In 1966, the flight of "Gemini 12" ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Junior splashed down safely in the Atlantic.
In 1967, Secretary of State Judy LaMarsh opened the new Museum of Science and Technology of the National Museums of Canada.
In 1969, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.
In 1974, an agreement signed in Montreal gave aboriginals about $150 million as compensation for land lost to the James Bay hydroelectric project.
In 1976, the Canadian political landscape underwent a major upheaval. Rene Levesque led the separatist Parti Quebecois to a stunning victory in a Quebec general election. The PQ won 69 of 110 seats in the National Assembly, ousting Robert Bourassa's Liberals after six years in power.
In 1979, the British government publicly identified art historian Sir Anthony Blunt as the fourth man of a high-level Soviet spy ring that included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Kim Philby.
In 1983, Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash proclaimed an independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, after a unanimous vote in favour of the move by the Turkish Cypriot elected assembly. Turkey officially recognized the new state.
In 1984, the Church of England's General Synod meeting in London voted to allow the ordination of women into the Anglican priesthood.
In 1984, Baby Fae, the month-old baby who received a baboon heart transplant on Oct. 26, died. She was the longest-surviving recipient of an animal heart transplant, an operation performed only four times previously and never before on an infant.
In 1985, Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing the troubled British-ruled province of Northern Ireland.
In 1988, the Soviet Union launched its first space shuttle, "Buran," on an unmanned, three-and-a-half hour flight.
In 1989, Liberal Hazen Argue became the first Canadian senator to face criminal charges for the misuse of Senate funds. Argue, who was accused of using office funds to help his wife's political career, died before the case went to trial.
In 1990, figure-skating great Robert McCall of Dartmouth, N.S., died of AIDS at age 33. McCall and partner Tracy Wilson won seven straight Canadian championships from 1982-88. They also won a bronze medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
In 1990, U.S. President George H. Bush ended a decade of Canadian frustration by signing into law a revised Clean Air Act. The act called for reductions in acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide emissions.
In 1995, Mike Harcourt resigned as B.C. premier and NDP leader, saying his political career had been dragged down by revelations the party had received money stolen from charity. His resignation came hours after a rumour surfaced of a back-room plot to sack him over the so-called “bingogate” scandal. An auditor's report three weeks earlier said the provincial party had run a crooked lottery in the 1980s and funnelled charity money into NDP coffers.
In 1999, Team Canada of the 1972 Summit Series was named the greatest team of the century in The Canadian Press survey of Canada's sports journalists.
In 1999, the United States signed a historic deal with China to bring it into the World Trade Organization. All WTO members must agree to a new member entering the Geneva-based body.
In 2002, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf took the oath of office for another five years, secured through a referendum held in April that year.
In 2002, Jiang Zemin resigned as leader of China's Communist Party at the end of a week-long congress, and was replaced by Hu Jintao. Jiang remained President and chairman of the military commission.
In 2004, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds won a record seventh N.L. MVP award, and at 40, became the oldest player to win one.
In 2006, a major storm knocked out power and caused flooding in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and boil-water advisory for about two million people in the Vancouver area.
In 2007, a video recording of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski dying after being stunned with a Taser by RCMP at Vancouver International Airport generated outrage. The B.C. government ordered a public inquiry few days later.
In 2011, hundreds of police in riot gear raided the New York City park where the Occupy Wall Street protests began, evicting and arresting hundreds from what became the epicentre of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality.
In 2012, Xi Jinping succeeded Hu Jintao as China's leader, assuming the top posts in the Communist Party and the powerful military in a once-a-decade political transition.
In 2012, oil giant BP agreed to pay US$4.5 billion, including a record US$1.3 billion in criminal fines, in a wide-ranging settlement with the U.S. government over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It also agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges including 11 felony counts of misconduct related to the deaths of 11 men in the rig explosion that triggered the U.S.'s largest offshore oil spill.
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(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
