2
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November 2 in History
1995
Former South African defence minister General Magnus Malan and 10 other former senior military officers are arrested and charged with murdering 13 black people in 1987, (all the accused are later acquitted).
1988
The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.
1984
Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.
1983
U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
1974
78 die when the Time Go-Go Club in Seoul, South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.
1973
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India forms a 'United Front' in the state of Tripura.
1967
Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and "The Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.
1966
The Cuban Adjustment Act enters force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.
1965
Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.
1964
King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother King Faisal.
1963
South Vietnamese President Ngô Ðình Diệm is assassinated following a military coup.
1960
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' case
1959
The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway
Quiz show scandals: ''Twenty One'' game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
1957
The Levelland UFO Case in Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity, and remains one of the most impressive UFO cases in American history.
1953
The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan names the country The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
1947
In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.
1936
The British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day.
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis Powers.
1930
Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
1920
In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.
1917
The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".
1914
Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1909
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is founded at Boston University.
1899
The Boers begin their 118 day siege of British held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.
1898
Cheerleading is started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team.
1895
The first gasoline-powered race in the United States. First prize: $2,000
1889
North and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
1882
Oulu, Finland was decimated by the Great Oulu Fire of 1882
1868
Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally
1861
American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.
1795
The French Directory succeeds the French National Convention as the government of Revolutionary France.
1783
In Rocky Hill, New Jersey, US General George Washington gives his "Farewell Address to the Army".
1772
American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.
1675
A combined effort by the Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonies attacks the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the Narragansetts during King Philip's War.
1570
A tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1,000 people.
1410
The Peace of Bicêtre between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions is signed.