Category Archives: Today in history

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

History fills every day. In 1917, suffragists finally got a foothold in New York when women there won the right to vote. Three years later, women voted nationally for the first time. The US government offered citizenship to Native American veterans.Few of us have heard of Rudolph Anderson, but he was the only US fatality during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And when the Symbionese Liberation Army first struck, we’d never heard that name, either. 

Feminism

Voting Rights

November 6, 1917:  the woman suffrage referendum succeeded in New York. New York was the first eastern state to grant women the vote. (NYT sufferage article) (see Nov 10)

and exactly three years later…
Women vote for first time nationally

November 6, 1920:  following the ratification of the 19th amendment on August 18, 1920, women across entire United States vote for first time. In Yoncalla, Oregon, woman won every council seat. (Women vote for first time) (next Feminism, see November 23, 1921; VR, see February 27, 1922)

Nancy Pelosi

November 6, 2006: mid-term elections resulted in the Democrats gaining control of both houses of Congress; Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. (see January 4, 2007)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

1919 American Indian Citizenship Act

 

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism
Boney Rabbit, Cecil Gallamore, Stacy Sitting Hawk, Hezekiah Chebahtah, Owen Yackeyyonney and Anton Menteg. Camp Mills, Long Island, New York. March 31, 1919. Dixon noted Menteg, an Aleut from Alaska, was known for his bugle skills, being able to play everything from military signals to ragtime. The other men represent several different tribes: Cherokee (Rabbit), Choctaw (Gallamore), Southern Cheyenne (Sitting Hawk) and Comanche (Chebahtah and Yackeyyonney). All were U.S. citizens, not typically the case with Native American servicemen at the time.

Native Americans were not considered citizens of the United States despite the obvious fact that they were born and lived here for thousands of years before there even was a United States. Native Americans fought in support of US troops in every was. On November 6, 1919, Congress enacted the 1919 American Indian Citizenship Act, but it did not grant automatic citizenship to American Indian veterans who had received an honorable discharge. The Act merely authorized those American Indian veterans who wanted to become American citizens to apply for and be granted citizenship. Few Indians actually followed through on the process.

“BE IT ENACTED . . . that every American Indian who served in the Military or Naval Establishments of the United States during the war against the Imperial German Government, and who has received or who shall hereafter receive an honorable discharge, if not now a citizen and if he so desires, shall, on proof of such discharge and after proper identification before a court of competent jurisdiction, and without other examination except as prescribed by said court, be granted full citizenship with all the privileges pertaining thereto, without in any manner impairing or otherwise affecting the property rights, individuals or tribal, of any such Indian or his interest in tribal or other Indian property.”

(click for a longer article on citizenship and Native Americans around this time >>> Daily Kos) (see June 2, 1924)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Spangler, PA explosion

November 6, 1922: a coal mine explosion in Spangler, Pa., killed 79. The mine had been rated gaseous in 1918, but at the insistence of new operators it was rated as non-gaseous even though miners had been burned by gas on at least four occasions (see April 2, 1923)

Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido

November 6, 2018:the US Supreme Court decided in Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido that the Mount Lemmon Arizona Fire District had unlawfully terminated the employment of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs alleged  that their termination as firefighters was in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

The District responded that it was too small to qualify as an “employer.”  The Court noted that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had, for 30 years, interpreted the ADEA to cover political subdivisions regardless of size, and a majority of the states impose age discrimination proscriptions on political subdivisions with no numerical threshold. (see January 14, 2019)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

McCarthyism/the KKK/Kickbacks

November 6, 1946: the Republican Party won a majority in both the House and Senate, ushering in a major revival of institutional anticommunist activity, publicly spearheaded by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Joe McCarthy won election to the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin.

In 1947,the House on Un-American Activities decided not to investigate the Ku Klux Klan’s violent actions. HUAC’s chief counsel, Ernest Adamson, announced: “The committee has decided that it lacks sufficient data on which to base a probe,” HUAC member John Rankin added: “After all, the KKK is an old American institution.”

It was reported that from 1947 – 1949 Senator Joe McCarthy had accepted kickbacks from Pepsi Cola totaling $20,000 in exchange for helping Pepsi to circumvent the post-war sugar rationing.   He also received another $10,000 from entrepreneurs in the pre-fabricated housing industry.  Shortly thereafter, McCarthy joined the Senate Housing Committee and went on the road to speak out against public housing for veterans, extolling the benefits of the pre-fabricated home and offering it as an alternative. (FH, see May 3, 1948: RS, see Feb 17)

Rudolph Anderson

November 6, 1962: during the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 27, US Air Force pilot Rudolph Anderson took off in a U-2F (spy plane) from McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando Florida. 

A few hours into his mission, he was shot down by a Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile near Banes, Cuba. Anderson was killed when shrapnel from the exploding proximity warhead punctured his pressure suit causing it to decompress at high altitude.

Major Rudolph Anderson’s wrecked U-2 jet

On October 31, Acting United Nations Secretary U Thant returned from a visit with Premier Fidel Castro and announced that Anderson was dead.

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

On this date, Rudolph Anderson’s body interred in Greenville, South Carolina at Woodlawn Memorial Park.  (next Cold War, see December 15 – March 8, 1963)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Roland T. Price

November 6, 1947: six white police officers shot an unarmed 25-year-old Black military veteran named Roland T. Price shot 25 times outside of a bar in Rochester, New York. The shooting was deemed “justified” even though evidence showed that Mr. Price did not resist the officers’ demands. [EJI story] (next BH, see  January 12, 1948)

South Africa, Apartheid

November 6, 1962: the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, which condemned Apartheid in South Africa and called on member-nations to boycott the country. The Resolution also set up a Special Committee against Apartheid. [PDF] (see July 11, 1963)

Dee/Moore Murders

November 6, 1964: after an extensive FBI investigation, state authorities arrested James Ford Seale and Charles Marcus Edwards for the kidnapping and murder of Henry Dee and Charles Moore. (see Dee/Moore for expanded story; BH, see Nov 9)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Calvin Graham

November 6, 1950: Graham enlisted in the US Marine Corps. His “birth certificate” indicated he was 17. He was actually 12. (see Calvin Graham for expanded story)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Presidential Elections

Dwight D Eisenhower

November 6, 1956, Dwight D Eisenhower re-elected defeating Adlai Stevenson.

Ronald Reagan

November 6, 1984: Ronald Reagan defeated Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon’s 61% victory in 1972.

Reagan carried 49 states in the electoral college; Mondale won only his home state of Minnesota by a mere 3,761 vote margin and the District of Columbia.

Wilson Goode elected first African American mayor of Philadelphia.

Barak Obama

November 6, 2012, Barak Obama re-elected President. A protest at the University of Mississippi against his re-election grew into crowd of about 400 people with shouted racial slurs. Two people were arrested on minor charges. The university said that the gathering at the student union began late Tuesday night with about 30 to 40 students, but grew within 20 minutes as word spread. Some students chanted political slogans while others used derogatory racial statements and profanity, the statement said.

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

see November 6 Music et al for more

Turn! Turn! Turn!

In 1962, Pete Seeger used verses from the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes to write song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” which promoted peaceful aims. (see Dec 23)

Big Bad John

November 6 – December 10, 1961: “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Rock Venues

November 6, 1965:  promoter Bill Graham put on his first show, a benefit for the radical San Francisco Mime Troupe at the Calliope Warehouse in San Francisco. He did it to raise money for a legal defense fund for a member of the troupe who been arrested a few days earlier. The troupe’s offices were in the warehouse and they figured they could hold about 400 – 500 people. The donation to get in was “at least $1.00”. About 4000 people showed up.

For entertainment, Bill hired a band who also rehearsed in the same warehouse. The band was the Jefferson Airplane. They played 3 songs. Also on the bill were The Fugs and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. (see Dec 10)

Get Off My Cloud

November 6 – 19, 1965, “Get Off My Cloud” by the Rolling Stones #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

see Raccoon Creek Rock Festival for more

November 6 – 8, 1969: Livingston Gym, Denison University (Granville, OH). The Who. The Spirit and Johnny Winter. Supporting acts: Owen B, The Dust

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

 Draft Card Burning

November 6, 1965: at a peace demonstration in Union Square, NYC, Thomas Cornell (teacher) Marc Edelman (cabinetmaker), Roy Lisker (novelist and teacher), and James Watson (on staff of Catholic Worker Pacifist Movement) burn their draft cards, [Dorothy Day speech that day(Vietnam, see Nov 9; DCB, see Dec 21)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

November 6, 1973:  after several months of weapons training, the S.L.A. committed its first revolutionary act. They ambush and murder black Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster and seriously wound his deputy, Robert Blackburn. (Marcus Foster article) [see SLA for more] (see February 4, 1974)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Massachusetts

November 6, 2012: Massachusetts became the 18th state to approve medical marijuana. (see July 23, 2013)

2018 Mid-term elections

November 6, 2018:  on election day four states had a marijuana-related propositions. Here were the results:

  • Michigan approved adult-use recreational marijuana.
  • Missouri approved one of three medical-marijuana use propositions.
  • Utah approved medical marijuana use.
  • North Dakota voted down voted down recreational-marijuana use. (next Marijuana, see March 25, 2019)
November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

November 6, 2013: Burt Neuborne, a law professor at New York University, filed a legal brief in the federal appeals court in Manhattan on behalf of Judge Scheindlin, asking that he and a team of four other prominent lawyers be allowed to challenge the order disqualifying her from the stop-and-frisk case. The motion called the order removing her from the case procedurally deficient, inaccurate and unwarranted, and asked that it be vacated or reviewed by the full appeals court.  (NYT article) (see Nov 13)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Bans struck down

November 6, 2014: in a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed lower court rulings in Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky that struck down same-sex marriage bans, allowing four states to prohibit same-sex unions. (NYT article) (see Nov 12)

Jared Polis

November 6, 2018:  Colorado voters made history election night by choosing Jared Polis to become the state’s next governor. Polis became the nation’s first openly gay governor.

Kim Davis

November 6, 2018:  Kim Davis lost her bid for re-election. Davis, who switched to the Republican Party before the election, faced Democrat Elwood Caudill. Caudill won 54% of the approximately 7,800 votes cast in the race. [LGBTQ Nation article] (next Kim Davis, see October 5, 2020)

Native American

November 6, 2018: Sharice Davids beat Kevin Yoder in the Kansas 3rd District race, becoming the first lesbian Native American congresswoman.

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual abuse of children

November 6, 2014:  the Archdiocese of Chicago released thousands of internal documents showing how it hid the sexual abuse of children by 36 priests, adding to similar disclosures made earlier this year and fulfilling a pledge by Cardinal Francis George to release the files before he retired.

“We cannot change the past but we hope we can rebuild trust through honest and open dialogue,” George said in a statement. “Child abuse is a crime and a sin.”

In January, the archdiocese had released 6,000 documents on 30 abusive priests as part of a legal settlement with victims, and on this day posted online 15,000 more records related to 36 others and involving abuse allegations dating to the early 1950s. The files only covered cases in which the archdiocese substantiated the abuse, and did not include those against priests who died before their accusers came forward or those who served in religious orders. [AP News article]  (see April 21, 2015)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

November 6, 2015: President Barack Obama rejected the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada in a victory for environmentalists who campaigned against the project for more than seven years.

The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy,” Obama told a press conference. He said it would not reduce gasoline prices, and shipping “dirtier” crude from Canada would not increase U.S. energy security. [Reuters article] (see Dec 12)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

November 6, 2016: Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall decided to stand during the anthem again. Before the Broncos’ Sunday Night Football matchup against the Raiders, Marshall explained in an Instagram post why he would no longer kneel during the national anthem.

I’m encouraged with the many productive discussions and progress that has taken place as the Denver Police department has decided to review its use of force policy, ” Marshall wrote. “I’m proud to have joined so many of my peers throughout sports who’ve also made their own statements.”   [Denver Post article](CK, see March 1, 2017; FS, see March 2, 2017)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

TPS

November 6, 2017:  the Trump administration gave 2,500 Nicaraguans with provisional residency 14 months to leave the United States, announcing that it would not renew the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation that has allowed them to remain in the country for nearly two decades.

Trump officials deferred a decision for the much larger group of 57,000 Hondurans who had been living in the United States with the same designation, saying the Department of Homeland Security needed more time to consider their fate. [Washington Post article]  (IH, see Nov 13; Hondurans, see May 4, 2018)

Mental Health Services

November 6, 2019: Judge John Kronstadt ruled that the U.S. government must provide mental health services to thousands of migrant parents and children who were separated under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy,.

Kronstadt found that the government had taken “affirmative steps to implement the zero-tolerance policy” which subsequently caused “severe mental trauma to parents and their children.” Kronstadt issued a preliminary injunction that would require the government to immediately make mental health resources available to migrants who experienced the forced separation—which includes screenings, counseling, and other services.

The judge also said the Trump administration could be held accountable for the psychological harm that the family separation policy caused. [NYT story] (see Nov 13)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Vernon Madison

November 6, 2017: the Supreme Court allowed the execution of  Vernon Madison, an  Alabama inmate who, after several strokes, could not remember the 1985 murder that sent him to death row.

The court’s opinion was unanimous, and there were no noted dissents, but three of the court’s more liberal justices filed concurring opinions saying the case presented a substantial legal question to which the court should return. [AL article] (see January 8, 2018)

Benjamin Schreiber

November 6, 2019: Benjamin Schreiber was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1997 and sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

According to court records , he was hospitalized in March 2015 after large kidney stones caused him to develop septic poisoning. He was rushed from the Iowa State Penitentiary to the hospital in 2015, where his heart was restarted five times. He had signed a “do not resuscitate” agreement years earlier and claimed after recovering that his life sentence was fulfilled in his short-lived death. 

A district court denied Schreiber’s request, writing that it found his claim “unpersuasive and without merit,” and on this date Judge Amanda Potterfield affirmed that district court’s decision.

Potterfield wrote, “Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot” and that Schreiber’s sentence isn’t up until a medical examiner declares he is deceased. (see Nov 20)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

November 6, 2019: federal Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled in New York struck down a May 2, 2019 rule  letting health care clinicians object to providing abortions and other services on moral or religious grounds.

Engelmayer’s ruling came after health organizations and others sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Others opposing the rule include women’s groups, organizations and states.

The had rule let clinicians object to providing abortions and other services that conflict with their moral and religious beliefs. [PBS story] (next WH, see Dec 9)

November 6 Peace Love Art Activism

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

Voting Rights
November 5 Peace Love Art Activism
Susan B Anthony

November 5, 1872:  to test the argument advanced by many feminists that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments guarantee women the right to vote, Susan B. Anthony attempted to vote in the 1872 presidential election. Anthony had consulted Judge Henry R. Selden before attempting voter registration in Rochester, New York. He concurred with Francis Minor’s [a lawyer and the husband of Virginia Minor (the president of the Woman Suffrage Association]  reading of the Fourteenth Amendment and provided a written opinion saying so. Anthony took the written opinion with her and threatened the registrars with a lawsuit if she were turned away. Anthony and 14 other women registered, and they voted in the presidential election. (F & VR, see Nov 28)

 Alice Paul and Rose Winslow
November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

November 5, 1917: jailed for picketing in front of the White House and demanding the vote,  Alice Paul and Rose Winslow began hunger strike when demands for political prisoner status rejected.

One week later, authorities subjected Paul to force-feeding three times a day and then separated her from other suffrage prisoners by transferring her to the psychiatric ward at District jail for “evaluation” in effort to intimidate and discredit her. (see Nov 6)

Shirley Chisholm

November 5, 1968: Shirley Chisholm, educator, author, and Democrat from New York, becomes the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1972 she would become the first African American to enter a presidential bid. next F, see Nov 14)

Fair housing

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism
Newspaper headline from April 1917 when case was argued in Supreme Court

November 5, 1917: Buchanan v. Warley, the Supreme Court case addressed civil government instituted racial segregation in residential areas. The Court held that a Louisville, Kentucky city ordinance prohibiting the sale of real property to African Americans violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which protected freedom of contract, reversing the ruling of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. (see June 13, 1933)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Isaac Woodard

November 5, 1946: the trial of those who attack Isaac Woodward ended. By all accounts, the trial was a travesty. The local U.S. Attorney charged with handling the case failed to interview anyone except the bus driver, a decision that Judge Waring, a civil rights proponent, believed was a gross dereliction of duty. Waring later wrote of being disgusted at the way the case was handled at the local level, commenting, “I was shocked by the hypocrisy of my government…in submitting that disgraceful case….”

The defense did not perform better. When the defense attorney began to shout racial epithets at Woodard, Waring stopped him immediately. During the trial, the defense attorney stated to the all-white jury that “if you rule against Shull, then let this South Carolina secede again.” After Woodard gave his account of the events, Shull firmly denied it. He claimed that Woodard had threatened him with a gun, and that Shull had used his nightclub to defend himself. During this testimony, Shull admitted that he repeatedly struck Woodard in the eyes.

On this date after thirty minutes of deliberation, the jury found Shull not guilty on all charges, despite his admission that he had blinded Woodard. The courtroom broke into applause upon hearing the verdict. (see Woodard for expanded story)

see George Whitmore, Jr for expanded chronology

November 5, 1968: Eugene Gold was elected Brooklyn District Attorney to succeed Aaron Koota. (next BH, see Nov 22; see Whitmore for expanded story)

Harper Lee

November 5, 2007: President George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harper Lee. In his remarks, Bush stated, “One reason To Kill a Mockingbird succeeded is the wise and kind heart of the author, which comes through on every page… To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the better. It’s been a gift to the entire world. As a model of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and studied forever.” Lee died on February 19, 2016.

Church Burning

November 5, 2008:  in Springfield, Mass., the Macedonia Church of God in Christ, a predominantly black church, which was under construction, was set on fire shortly after the election of President Obama.

Of the three white men charged, two pleaded guilty and a third was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison. (BH, see April 2, 2009; CB, see June 22, 2015)

BLACK & SHOT

November 5, 2018: Judge Domenica Stephenson, the judge presiding over the Laquan McDonald case, denied a motion to dismiss the charges  meaning that the trial of David March, Joseph Walsh, and Thomas Gaffney, three Chicago police officers charged in an alleged conspiracy to cover for Jason Van Dyke after he shot and killed McDonald, was expected to begin on Nov. 26.

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Vietnam Leadership

November 5, 1964: South Vietnam’s generals decided on a two-tier government structure with a military committee overseen by Duong Van Minh presiding over a regular cabinet that would be predominantly civilian with Thơ as Prime Minister. Minh was named President and Chief of the Military Committee; Thơ was listed as Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, and Minister of Finance. (see Nov 8)

Walk for Peace

November 5, 1966: Walk for Love and Peace and Freedom: 10,000 + in New York City. (see Nov 7)

Richard Nixon elected

November 5, 1968: Richard Nixon elected President, defeating Hubert Humphrey by only seven-tenths of a percentage point. Nixon claims 301 electoral votes to Humphrey’s 191. Independent candidate George Wallace receives 46. (Nixon’s speech) (see Nov 13)

Candidate Popular vote % popular vote Electoral vote % electoral vote
Richard Nixon 31,783,783 43.42% 301 55.9%
Hubert Humphrey 31,271,839

(-511,944)

42.72% 191 35.5%
George Wallace 9,901,118 13.53% 46 8.6%
November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

Ralph Nader

November 5 Peace Love Art ActivismNovember 5, 1965, Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed, was published.  The hardback edition by Grossman was 305 pages long and had a photo of a mangled auto wreck on its cover.  On the back cover, the book’s chapters were listed accompanied by a red-ink headline that stated: “The Complete Story That Has Never Been Told Before About Why The American Automobile Is Unnecessarily Dangerous.”(CP, see January 12, 1966; Nader, see February 10, 1966)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

 November 5 Music et al

Monkees

November 5 – 11, 1966: “Last Train to Clarkesville” by the Monkees #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dr Zhivago

November 5 – 11, 1966: the soundtrack to Dr Zhivago is the Billboard #1 album.

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Medical Marijuana

Proposition P

November 5, 1991: the first medical marijuana initiative appeared in the city of San Francisco as Proposition P, which passed with an overwhelming 79% of the vote. Proposition P called on the State of California and the California Medical Association to ‘restore hemp medical preparations to the list of available medicines in California,’ and not to penalize physicians ‘from prescribing hemp preparations for medical purposes.'”

Five years later…

November 5, 1996: California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Voters passed the state medical marijuana initiative known as Proposition 215. It permitted patients and their primary caregivers, with a physician’ s recommendation, to possess and cultivate marijuana for the treatment of AIDS, cancer, muscular spasticity, migraines, and several other disorders; it also protected them from punishment if they recommend marijuana to their patients. (AIDS, see April 20, 1998)

Seven years later…

November 5, 2013: Portland, Maine, voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana for residents 21 and older. The measure, Question 1, passed with about 70 percent of the vote, making Portland the first East Coast city to legalize recreational pot. Adult residents of Portland — Maine’s largest city — may possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana under the referendum. The new measure does not permit the recreational purchase or sale of marijuana, nor does it permit its use in public spaces like parks. (see Nov 12)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

November 5 – 8, 1993: Kevorkian fasted in Detroit jail after refusing to post $20,000 bond in case involving Hyde’s death. (see JK for expanded chronology)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Bill Clinton

Re-election

November 5, 1996: Bill Clinton re-elected. [victory speech]

IMPEACHMENT

November 5, 1998: Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde sent a list of questions to President Clinton, asking him to “admit or deny” the major facts outlined in Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s report to Congress. (see Clinton for expanded story)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

November 5, 2006:  Iraq’s High Tribunal found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to hang for the 1982 killing of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail. (NYT article on Hussain verdict) (see Nov 8)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

November 5, 2007: some 12,000 television and movie writers began what was to become a 3-month strike against producers over demands for an increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD and for a bigger share of the revenue from work delivered over the Internet  [NYT article] (see February 7, 2008)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

November 5, 2013: the Illinois legislature gave same-sex couples the freedom to marry, making Illinois the 15th state (plus the District of Columbia) to do so, and the 9th new marriage state in just the last 12 months. With Illinois, over 37% of the American population lives in a freedom-to-marry state, up from 11% in 2012. [HP article] (see Nov 7)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

Gordon D. Sondland/Quid pro quo

November 5, 2019: in four new pages of sworn testimony released on this date, Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union offered Congress substantial new testimony revealing that he told Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, that the country likely would not receive American military aid unless it publicly committed to investigations President Trump wanted.

Sondland’s disclosure confirmed his involvement in essentially laying out a quid pro quo to Ukraine that he had previously not acknowledged. [NYT story]

On November 13, 2019, the impeachment inquiry began its public hearings. See TII for fuller coverage of continued initial inquiry.

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

November 5, 2021: the University of Florida abruptly reversed course to allow three professors to testify as paid, subject-matter experts in a voting rights lawsuit against the state.

The university initially denied requests by political science professors Sharon Austin, Michael McDonald and Daniel Smith. The decision deviated from precedent, contradicting previous work UF has approved. Five other professors in law and medicine have also come forward to say they were barred from speaking as experts in their fields in litigation against the state.

University’s president, Kent Fuchs, said in a campus-wide email that he was asking the school’s conflict-of-interest office to reverse its decision and permit the testimony. At least one of the professors confirmed that he was subsequently approved to testify.

“While the University of Florida reversed course and allowed our clients to testify in this particular case, the fact remains that the university curtailed their First Amendment rights and academic freedoms, and as long as the university’s policy remains, those rights and freedoms are at risk,” read a statement from the professors’ attorneys, David A. O’Neil and Paul Donnelly. [NPR story] (next FS, see January 21, 2022)

November 5 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

November 5, 2024: ten states considered adding language guaranteeing abortion rights in their state constitutions .

Voters in seven of the states—Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada (needs a second approval), Maryland, Montana, and New York–approved the ballot questions. Three rejected them—Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

The results meant a dramatic redrawing of the map for abortion access in parts of the country. Half of the measures cement existing abortion protections that were already outlined in state law. [NPR article] (next WH, see February 24, 2025 )

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

November 4 Peace Love Activism

November 4, 1646:  the Massachusetts General Court approved a law requiring all members of the colony to recognize the Bible as the Word of God, under penalty of death. (DP, see May 27, 1647; Separation, see April 21, 1649)

Rose Bird defeated

November 4, 1986: California Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other ‘liberal’ members of the state supreme court were ousted in a retention election. The election followed a bitter campaign that centered on the three justices’ records in death penalty cases.  [NYT article] (see November 1987)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Benjamin Ryan Tillman

November 4, 1890: Benjamin Ryan Tillman was elected governor of South Carolina. An outspoken white supremacist, Tillman advocated for violence against African American voters and staunchly opposed educational access for black people.

Tillman’s political career catapulted to success after his involvement in the 1876 Hamburg Massacre, where white men rioted and killed nine people in a predominantly African American town in South Carolina. In his gubernatorial campaign, Tillman promised to keep the state’s African American population in a position of permanent inferiority. In his inaugural address and throughout his administration, he emphasized white supremacy and the necessity to revoke African Americans’ rights. Concerning the education of African Americans, Tillman argued, “when you educate a Negro, you educate a candidate for the penitentiary or spoil a good field hand.”

He served two terms as governor and played a critical role in the 1895 South Carolina Constitutional Convention. In order to vote under the revised constitution, a man had to own property, pay a poll tax, pass a literacy test, and meet certain educational standards. The 1895 constitution disenfranchised African American voters and served as a model for other southern states.

Tillman was elected United States Senator for South Carolina in 1895, and he served in this capacity for twenty-four years. Throughout his tenure, he opposed African American equality, women’s suffrage, and any federal interference in state government. Tillman’s philosophy helped shape the era of oppression and abuse of African Americans throughout the South. A statue honoring Tillman still stands on the grounds of South Carolina’s State Capitol and as with many statues today, there are many who feel that such recognition is undeserved. (Charleston City Paper article) (see September 1, 1891)

National Equal Rights League

November 4, 1922: the National Equal Rights League presented a petition signed by thousands of people from fifteen States calling for Congress to consider the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. [Black Past article] (see Nov 28)

Statue of Liberty plot

November 4, 1965: Federal Judge William Herlands sentenced Robert Collier to 5 years in prison; Walter Bowe received a three-year sentence; and Khaleel Sayyed received an 18-month sentence for their conspiracy to blow up the Statue of Liberty on June 14, 1965.  [NYT article] (next BH, see Nov 8; next Terrorism, see September 5 – 6, 1972)

George Whitmore, Jr

November 4, 1988: Richard Robles, who had served 24 years in the famous ”career girls” murder case, was denied parole for a second time.  Robles, 45 years old, was given a life sentence for the killing of Janice Wylie, a Newsweek researcher, and Emily Hoffert, an elementary-school teacher, in an East Side apartment on Aug 28, 1963. ( see Whitmore for expanded story)

Autherine Lucy Foster

In 1989: Autherine Lucy Foster again enrolled at the University of Alabama. Her daughter Grazia also was a student at the time. (BH, see Feb 10; U of A, see May 9, 1992)

Barak Obama

November 4, 2008:  Barack Obama elected President. First Black American elected President of the US. (click for transcript of Obama’s victory speech >>> Victory speech) (see Nov 5)

Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

November 4, 2013: the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Edgar Ray Killen, convicted of manslaughter in 2005 for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in what became known as the “Mississippi Burning” case. The decision means the justices won’t review lower-court rulings that found no violations of Killen’s constitutional rights during his trial in Mississippi. [CBS News article] (see January 4, 2014)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

 November 4 Music et al

Bob Dylan/Carnegie Chapter Hall

November 4 Peace Love ActivismNovember 4, 1961: Dylan played a concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall, a smaller room than the famous bigger room. There are varying reports on how many people attended the concert. The number ranges between 47 and 53, pretty much all friends and family. (see Nov 20)

Newsweek/Dylan

November 4, 1963: Newsweek magazine carried an article that mocked Dylan’s self made image and pointed out that he had grown up in a middle class family in Hibbing, MN.

The article showed him as a vain and self-promoting.

Why Dylan—he picked the name in admiration for Dylan Thomas—should bother to deny his past is a mystery. Perhaps he feels it would spoil the image he works so hard to cultivate—with his dress, with his talk, with the deliberately atrocious grammar and pronunciation in his songs” (see Dec 13)

The Beatles/Royal Variety Show
November 4 Peace Love Art Activism
The Beatles greet the Queen Mother

November 4, 1963: The Beatles performed their legendary Royal Command Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Technically The Beatles were 7th on a 19-act bill, but there was no doubt that they were, in fact, the main attraction. The Beatles called upon their masterful showmanship to put on a stunning four-song performance. They began playing their first song, “From Me to You”, before the curtain opened. John and Paul, at the end of the first song, moved their microphones nearer to the audience. After playing their second song, “She Loves You”, The Beatles bowed to the audience. A nervous Paul cracked a joke about Sophie Tucker being The Beatles’ favorite American group, then they performed “Till There Was You”.

At the end of that song, Paul and John moved their microphone stands back to their original position. After waiting for the applause to die down, John introduced “Twist and Shout”, requesting that persons in the cheaper seats join in by clapping their hands, while everyone else should just “rattle your jewelry”. At the end of “Twist and Shout”, Ringo came down from his drum kit and joined the others; as the curtain closed behind them, they bowed to the audience, then they bowed to the royal box, and then they ran off the stage to thunderous applause.

The show was taped for later broadcast on both television and radio. Their entire performance was broadcast on television, by ATV, on November 10. BBC radio broadcast all but “She Loves You”, also on November 10. The Beatles were a sensation all across Britain, the Royal Command Performance brought a huge triumph for them. (see Nov 11 – 12)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvBCmY7wAAU

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

November 4, 1964:  NYC police arrested comedian Lenny Bruce  for obscenity. He was arrested many times in his career on charges of obscenity (October 4, 1961). His style of humor, radical for its time, savagely attacked American hypocrisy on sex, religion and race. Many believe that his arrests were provoked more by his attacks on the Catholic Church than for the dirty words in his routines. (see Dec 2)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

November 4, 1968: the Christian Science Monitor asked the White House to confirm or deny a story from their Saigon correspondent that said “political encouragement from the Richard Nixon camp: had been “a significant factor” in President Thieus”s sudden decision to stay home.

LBJ did not know of the October 22 messages between Nixon and Haldeman and decided not to confirm the story despite his strong suspicion that Nixon had tried to undermine the negations. (see Nov 5)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran hostage crisis

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism
Iranian students climb over the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4,

November 4, 1979, : Iran hostage crisis begins: 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial. (click >>> NYT article re Students invade embassy) (see Nov 12)

USS Cole

November 4, 2002: Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a suspected al-Qaeda operative, who was believed to have planned the Cole attack, was killed by the CIA using an AGM-114 Hellfire missile launched from an MQ-1 Predator drone. (NYT article) (see Nov 25)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Ronald Reagan elected President

November 4, 1980: Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter, exactly 1 year after the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis. (click >>> After the celebrations over Ronald Reagan’s spectacular victory, come the hangovers.”)

Jack Kevorkian

November 4, 1996: Kevorkian’s lawyer announced a previously unreported assisted suicide of a 54-year-old woman. This brings the total number of his assisted suicides, since 1990, to 46. (see JK for expanded story)

LGBTQ

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

November 4, 2008: California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage called Proposition 8. The attorney general of California, Jerry Brown, asked the state’s Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

The ban threw into question the validity of the more than 18,000 marriages already performed, but Attorney General Brown reiterated in a news release that he believed the same-sex marriages performed in California before November 4 should remain valid and the California Supreme Court, which upheld the ban in May 2009, agreed, allowing those couples married under the old law to remain that way; also, voters in Arizona, and Florida approved the passage of measures that ban same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure intended to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting children. (click for article re day before California vote >>> Rush to marry) (see Nov 12)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Michigan

November 4, 2008: “Sixty-three percent of Michigan voters approved Proposal 1 (the law took effect on December 4, 2008). It removed state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients who possess written documentation from their physicians authorizing the medical use of marijuana.” (see February 25, 2009)

November 4, 2014
  • Oregon voters approved Measure 91, a proposal which would legalize the possession of up to eight ounces of cannabis, a limit that was eight times higher than that of Washington and Colorado. The initiative would also allow everyone 21 and older to cultivate up to four plants, and purchase cannabis from state-licensed outlets, which would open by 2016.
  • In Alaska, Ballot Measure 2 was approved with 52% of the vote. This initiative legalized the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis, as well as the private cultivation of up to six plants. The proposal also allowed for cannabis retail outlets. (see February 24, 2015)
  • In Washington D.C voters approved Initiative 71. Once it takes effect – after a 30-day congressional review period – the proposal would legalize the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis for those 21 and older, in addition to allowing for the private cultivation of up to six plants. Although the initiative did not allow for cannabis retail outlets, the district’s Council was considering legislation to change that.
  • In Florida, Amendment 2 (legalization of medical cannabis ) was defeated, failing to garner the 60% required to be passed into law.
  • In Maine, voters in South Portland passed an initiative to legalize up to an ounce of cannabis, joining Portland which approved a similar initiative last year. A legalization initiative was rejected in Lewiston (see Dec 13
November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

November 4, 2013:  the US Supreme Court left intact a state court decision invalidating an Oklahoma law that effectively banned the so-called abortion pill RU-486. [Reuters article] (see Nov 26)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

November 4, 2019:  four top White House officials who were supposed to testify for the House’s impeachment inquiry declined to appear. John Eisenberg, the top lawyer at the National Security Council, failed to show up on Capitol Hill for his scheduled deposition time. He is believed to have made the call to lock down records of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a special system.

Eisenberg’s deputy, Michael Ellis, Rob Blair, who served as an adviser to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on national security issues, and Brian McCormack, an energy official at the White House Office of Management and Budget, also did not testify.

The inquiry also hundreds of pages of transcripts from Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who testified on Oct. 11, and Michael McKinley, a former adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who testified Oct. 16. [NPR story] (see TII for expanded chronology)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Paris Climate Accord announcement

November 4, 2019: the Trump administration announced that it would begin formally withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, the first step in a year-long process to leave the landmark agreement to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases.

“Today the United States began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States submitted formal notification of its withdrawal to the United Nations. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification.” [CNN story] (next EI, see Nov 7)

Paris Climate Accord exit

November 4, 2020: the US became the first country to officially exit the Paris climate accord , but depending on the result of the presidential election, the US could swiftly rejoin with Democratic candidate Joe Biden pledging to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the accord which was ratified by 189 countries.

After a year that’s seen record-breaking wildfires and a seemingly unending stream of hurricanes strike the Gulf Coast, the US became  the only country to formally pull out of the deal since it was adopted in 2015.

Under the rules of the agreement, a country couldt officially leave for one full year after notifying the UN of its intent to withdraw. The countdown to the US’ exit began on November 4, 2019, when the US sent notice of its plans to leave. [CNN story] (next EI, see Nov 21)

November 4 Peace Love Art Activism