Today in history, Nov 18th!

Some of the great historical events that happened today in history, on November 18th!

1477	William Claxton publishes the first dated book printed in England. It is a translation from the French of The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosopers by Earl Rivers.
1626	St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome is officially dedicated.
1861	The first provisional meeting of the Confederate Congress is held in Richmond, Virginia.
1865	Mark Twain’s first story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is published in the New York Saturday Press.
1883	The United States and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.
1886	Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, died in New York at age 56.
1901	The second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty is signed. The United States is given extensive rights by Britain for building and operating a canal through Central America.
1905	The Norwegian Parliament elects Prince Charles of Denmark to be the next King of Norway. Prince Charles takes the name Haakon VII.
1906	Anarchists bomb St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
1912	Cholera breaks out in Constantinople, in the Ottoman Empire.
1921	New York City considers varying work hours to avoid long traffic jams.
1923	Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American in space, was born in East Derry, N.H.
1928	Mickey Mouse makes his film debut in Steamboat Willie, the first animated talking picture.
1936	The main span of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is joined.
1936	Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.
1939	The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus.
1949	The U.S. Air Force grounds B-29s after two crashes and 23 deaths in three days.
1950	The Bureau of Mines discloses its first production of oil from coal in practical amounts.
1966	U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.
1968	Soviets recover the Zond 6 spacecraft after a flight around the moon.
1969	Financier and diplomat Joseph P. Kennedy died in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 81.
1976	Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.
1978	Congressman Leo Ryan is announced missing on a visit to Jonestown, Guyana.
1983	Argentina announces its ability to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
1984	The Soviet Union helps deliver American wheat during the Ethiopian famine.
1987	The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides.
1988	President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a Cabinet-level drug czar and providing the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.
2002	U.N. arms inspectors returned to Iraq after a four-year hiatus, calling on Saddam Hussein’s government to cooperate with their search for weapons of mass destruction.
2003	The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry.
2006	Actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes were married in Italy. (The couple divorced in 2012.)
2009	Two days before turning 92, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., became the longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history, at 56 years, 320 days.

Today’s historical facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, HistoryOrb.com, and On This Day blogs from my blogroll.

http://hankeringforhistory.com/2012/11/18/today-in-history-nov-18th/