Today in history, Nov 21st!

Some of the great historical events that happened today in history, on November 21st!

1620	Leaders of the Mayflower expedition frame the “Mayflower Compact,” designed to bolster unity among the settlers.
1783	Jean de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes make the first free-flight ascent in a balloon to over 500 feet in Paris.
1789	North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1855	Franklin Colman, a pro-slavery Missourian, guns down Charles Dow, a Free Stater from Ohio, near Lawrence, Kansas.
1864	From Georgia, Confederate General John B. Hood launches the Franklin-Nashville Campaign into Tennessee.
1904	Motorized omnibuses replace horse-drawn cars in Paris.
1906	In San Juan, President Theodore Roosevelt pledges citizenship for Puerto Rican people.
1907	Cunard liner Mauritania sets a new speed record for steamship travel, 624 nautical miles in a one day run.
1911	Suffragettes storm Parliament in London. All are arrested and all choose prison terms.
1917	German ace Rudolf von Eschwege is killed over Macedonia when he attacks a booby-trapped observation balloon packed with explosives.
1918	The last German troops leave Alsace-Lorraine, France.
1922	Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
1927	Police turn machine guns on striking Colorado mine workers, killing five and wounding 20.
1934	A New York court rules Gloria Vanderbilt unfit for custody of her daughter.
1934	Cole Porter’s musical Anything Goes premieres at New York’s Alvin Theatre.
1949	The United Nations grants Libya its independence by 1952.
1967	President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the air quality act, allotting $428 million for the fight against pollution.
1969	The Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth.
1970	U.S. planes conduct widespread bombing raids in North Vietnam.
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.
1980	A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas killed 87 people.
1985	Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested, accused of spying for Israel. (He later pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.)
1986	The Justice Department begins an inquiry into the National Security Council into what will become known as the Iran-Contra scandal.
1989	The proceedings of Britain’s House of Commons were televised live for the first time.
1991	The U.N. Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to be secretary-general.
1995	The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 5,000 for the first time.
2000	The Florida Supreme Court granted Democrat Al Gore’s request to keep the presidential election recount going.
2001	A 94-year-old Connecticut woman died of inhalation anthrax, the last of five people killed in the anthrax attacks.
2002	NATO invited seven former communist countries to join the alliance: Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.
2004	The NBA suspended Indiana’s Ron Artest for the rest of the season following a brawl in the stands during a game against the Detroit Pistons.
2005	Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke away from the hardline Likud with the intention of forming a new party.
2007	Officials announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children’s jewelry contaminated with lead.
2010	Debt-struck Ireland applied for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks.

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/2012/11/21/today-in-history-nov-21st/