Today is Thursday, Nov. 24, the 328th day of 2005. There are 37 days left in the year. This is Thanksgiving Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 24, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.
On this date:
In 1784, Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange County, Va.
In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution.
In 1864, French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi.
In 1871, the National Rifle Association was incorporated.
In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers based on Saipan attacked Tokyo in the first raid against the Japanese capital by land-based planes.
In 1969, Apollo 12 splashed down safely in the Pacific.
In 1971, hijacker “D.B. Cooper” parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom — his fate remains unknown.
In 1985, the hijacking of an Egyptair jetliner parked on the ground in Malta ended violently as Egyptian commandos stormed the plane. Fifty-eight people died in the raid, in addition to two others killed by the hijackers.
In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles.
In 1989, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu was unanimously re-elected Communist Party chief. (Within a month, he was overthrown in a popular uprising and executed along with his wife, Elena, on Christmas Day.)
Ten years ago: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic promised during a televised address to accept a U.S.-brokered peace plan. Voters in Ireland narrowly approved a constitutional amendment legalizing divorce.
Five years ago: The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the bitter, overtime struggle for the White House, agreeing to consider George W. Bush’s appeal against the hand recounting of ballots in Florida.
One year ago: Ukraine’s election officials declared that Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had won Ukraine’s bitterly disputed presidential runoff balloting; thousands of opposition supporters demonstrated in Kiev. Popular author Arthur Hailey died on New Providence island, Bahamas, at age 84.
Today’s Birthdays: Columnist William F. Buckley is 80. Country singer Johnny Carver is 65. Rock-’n’-roll drummer Pete Best is 64. Rock musician Donald “Duck” Dunn (Booker T. & the MG’s) is 64. Actor-comedian Billy Connolly is 63. Former White House news secretary Marlin Fitzwater is 63. Motion Picture Association of America President Dan Glickman is 61. Singer Lee Michaels is 60. Actor Dwight Schultz is 58. Actor Stanley Livingston is 55. Rock musician Clem Burke (Blondie; The Romantics) is 50. Record producer Terry Lewis is 49. Actress Denise Crosby is 48. Actress Shae D’Lyn is 43. Rock musician John Squire (The Stone Roses) is 43. Rock musician Gary Stonadge (Big Audio) is 43. Rock musician Chad Taylor (Live) is 35. Actress Lola Glaudini is 34. Actor Colin Hanks is 28. Actress Katherine Heigl is 27.
Thought for Today: “Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold.” — Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, American writer (1900-1948).