News, Events, Birthdays, History - November 6 - November 13
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Birthdays
Edmund Halley, November 8, 1656  Astronomer and mathematician born at London, England. He observed the great comet of 1682 (now named for him), and wrote "Imay venture to foretell that this Comet will return again in the year 1758." It did, and Edmund Halley's memory is kept alive by the once-every-generation appearance of Halley's Comet. There have been 28 recorded appearances of this comet since 240 BC. Average time between appearances is 76 years. Halley's Comet is next expected to be visible in 2061.Spiro T. Agnew, November 9, 1918 39th vice president of the US, Agnew was twice elected vice president (1968 and 1972). He became the second person to resign that office Oct 10, 1973, after entering a plea of no contest to a charge of income tax evasion (on contract kickbacks received while he was governor of Maryland and after he became vice president). Joseph McCarthy - November 14, 1908 Controversial politician born near Appleton, WI. As a Republican senator, McCarthy became a household name when he began making sweeping statements about the prevalence of secret Communists in the US. In this period of postwar uncertainty and fear of the Soviets, Americans responded to his claims with fear and indignation. He soon spread his attacks, accusing politicians, State Department employees, journalists and members of the armed forces of being secret Communists. He held congressional hearings to uncover "traitors," using sensational methods that uncovered nothing of substance. After failing to prove any of his allegations, he soon fell out of favor and was censured by Congress for unbecoming conduct in December of 1954. Events Nov 7, 1944 - Roosevelt elected to fourth term Defeating Thomas Dewey, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first, and only, person elected to four terms as president of the US. Roosevelt was inaugurated the following Jan 20 but died in office Apr 12, 1945, serving only 53 days of his fourth term. Nixon's "Last" Press Conference - November 7, 1962 Richard M. Nixon, having been narrowly defeated in his bid for the presidency by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, returned to politics two years later as a candidate for governor of California in the election of Nov 6, 1962.
Defeated again (this time by incumbent governor Edmund G. Brown), Nixon held his "last" press conference with assembled reporters in Los Angeles at midmorning the next day, at which he said: "Just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." Microsoft releases "Windows" - November 10, 1983 In 1980 Microsoft signed a contract with IBM to design an operating system, MS-DOS, for a personal computer that IBM was developing. On Nov 10, 1983, Microsoft released Windows, an extension of MS-DOS with a graphical user interface. Bill Gates somehow managed to craft a contract with Windows that let him retain the license over his work product. And the rest is...well....history. |