Today in history:
On November 23, 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia, becoming Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state. She led her country through recovery after emerging from a decade-long civil war.
Also on this date:
In 1863, thousands of Union soldiers led by General Ulysses S. Grant marched from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and fought against Confederate forces through November 25, forcing their retreat into Georgia in a significant blow to the South in the American Civil War.
In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, the British armed merchant ship HMS Rawalpindi was on patrol when it was shelled and sunk in a battle with two German warships southeast of Iceland, leaving more than 200 dead on board the Rawalpindi and only a few dozen survivors.In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared November 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In 1971, the People’s Republic of China became part of the United Nations Security Council.
In 1980, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.
In 1984, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie completed one of the most famous passes in college football history, connecting with Gerald Phelan for a 48-yard touchdown with no time on the clock as Boston College defeated the Miami Hurricanes 47–45.
In 1996, a hijacked Syrian Airlines Boeing 767 ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.
In 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko (leet-vee-NYEN’-koh) died in London of radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 2008, the US government unveiled a bold plan to bail out Citigroup, injecting a new $20 billion into the troubled company and guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in risky assets.
In 2011, Yemen’s authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh (AH’-lee ahb-DUH’-luh sah-LEH’) agreed to resign amid a fierce uprising to oust him after 33 years in power. (After formally relinquishing power in February 2012, he was assassinated in 2017 by Houthi rebels who were once his allies.)
In 2024, Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut killed at least twenty people and injured dozens of others. These are the latest attacks in renewed fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants. (A US-brokered ceasefire would be reached on November 27, with sporadic violations of that truce for months afterwards.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Franco Nero (“Django”) is 84.
- Singer Bruce Hornsby is 71.
- TV journalist Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 65.
- Composer Nicolas Bacri is 64.
- Poet and author Jennifer Michael Hecht is 60.
- Olympic gold medal sprinter Asafa Powell is 43.
- Ice hockey player Nicklas Bäckström is 38.
- Singer-actor Miley Cyrus is 33.
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