November fifth

Today's Highlight in History:
On November fifth, 1940, President Roosevelt won an uNPRecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.

On this date:
In 1605, the "Gunpowder Plot" failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament.

In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined 100 dollars for attempting to vote for President Grant. (She never paid the fine.)

In 1911, Calbraith P. Rodgers arrived in Pasadena, California, completing the first transcontinental airplane trip in 49 days.

In 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.

In 1946, Republicans captured control of both the Senate and the House in midterm elections.

In 1956, Britain and France started landing forces in Egypt during fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces around the Suez Canal. (A cease-fire was declared two days later.)

In 1968, Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C. Wallace.

In 1974, Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.

In 1989, death claimed pianist Vladimir Horowitz in New York at age 85 and singer-songwriter Barry Sadler in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at age 49.

In 1994, former President Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer's disease.

Ten years ago: Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born Israeli extremist who campaigned to drive Arabs from Israel, was shot to death after a speech at a New York hotel. (Egyptian native El Sayyed Nosair was acquitted of murder and convicted of weapons charges in state court; he was later convicted in connection with the slaying in federal court.)

Five years ago: An endless procession of Israelis filed past the simple wooden coffin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who'd been assassinated the night before.

One year ago: US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declared Microsoft Corporation a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers. Pope John Paul the Second began his first visit to India in 13 years.

"Examine what is said, not him who speaks."

-- Arab proverb.