This Day in History – November 20, 2011

1272 – Edward I proclaimed King of England 1780 – Britain declares war on Holland 1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights. 1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick is in part inspired by this story). 1861 – American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky’s Confederate government. 1862 – Confederate army of Tennessee, organizes under Gen Braxton Bragg 1866 – 1st national convention of Grand Army of the Republic (veterans’ organization) 1866 – Pierre Lalemont patents rotary crank bicycle 1888 – William Bundy patents the timecard clock 1910 – Revolution broke out in Mexico, led by Francisco I Madero 1914 – US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports 1919 – 1st municipally owned airport in US opens in Tucson, Az 1931 – Commercial teletype service begins 1945 – Nuremberg Trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg. 1947 – The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London. 1947 – “Meet the Press” makes network TV debut on NBC 1967 – At 11 AM, Census Clock at Department of Commerce ticks past 200 million 1974 – The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System. 1977 – Walter Payton (Bears) rushes for NFL-record 275 yards in a single game 1983 – 100 million watch ABC-TV movie “The Day After,” about nuclear war 1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released. 1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched. 2001 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday. 2003 – After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate. 2008 – After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.]]]]> ]]>