For the wine moms out there, it’s National Merlot Day. I can’t stand it and don’t drink it, but you ladies do you. Red wine has many health benefits and, allegedly, so does retinol — perhaps that’s why they share a national day.
More my style is National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day. I’d rather have milk chocolate with almonds, but I won’t look a chocolate gift horse in the mouth.
Now let’s get onto today’s history…
In Government…
In 1893, the State of Colorado passed a referendum on allowing women to vote, decades before it passed federally in 1920. This was even before English women gained the right to vote in 1918!
There were other wins for inclusivity on November 7, including Jeannette Rankin becoming the first woman in Congress in 1916, and Arthur L. Mitchell becoming the first black Democrat in Congress in 1934. The first black Republican was elected in 1870. In 2017, Danica Roem became the first transgender person to be elected to a state legislature, Virginia.
Six US Presidents were elected on this day as well:
1820: 5th President James Monroe
1848: 12th President Zachary Taylor
1876: 19th President Rutherford B. Hayes (Contested – Electoral College Disputed)
1944: 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Re-elected - Fourth Term)
1972: 37th President Richard Nixon (Re-elected)
2000: 43rd President George Bush (Contested – Resolved by SCOTUS)
In 1972, Joe Biden was first elected to the Senate on this day, and he would go on to “win” re-election six times before becoming Vice President in 2008. Hillary Clinton was elected to the Senate in 2000, becoming the first and only First Lady to be elected while she was still First Lady. As a reminder, she was elected in NY after moving to Harlem.
It was also on this day 2017 that Ralph Northam became Governor of Virginia. Northam became infamous when, as a physician, he discussed murdering a living human after being born alive. And also for blackface.
In non-election US history, in 1637 Anne Hutchinson was tried as a heretic in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her crime was criticizing puritan ministers for “preaching a covenant of works rather than a covenant of grace.” She was convicted and banished from the colony. The court refused to state the basis of her conviction, probably because she was right from a biblical standpoint. The patriarchy wins again.
In 1837, Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot dead at age 34 while protecting his abolitionist print shop from a pro-slavery mob. This was the third time Lovejoy’s print shop was destroyed due to his support for abolishing slavery.
There were several Civil War battles fought on this day and, in 1864, the second session of the Congress of Confederate States of America reconvened.
In 1942, FDR broadcasted an address in French, becoming the first US President to broadcast in a foreign language, and in 1967, LBJ established a Corporation for Public Broadcasting. State media has only expanded since.
In 1983, a bomb exploded in the US Capitol. There were no injuries but significant damage. Speaking of damage, in 2000 the DEA discovered one of the largest LSD labs in history, in Kansas. The lab was found in a converted military missile silo in Wamego. From the description of a 2023 interview with Leanord Pickard, convicted for the lab, in Oxford Psychedelic:
“Alleged to have produced ‘90% of the world's LSD,’ Leonard Pickard was sentenced to two life sentences without parole. He served 20 years in maximum security federal prisons after being convicted in the largest LSD bust in US history, and was given compassionate release in 2020. In this talk, Leonard explores the major clandestine LSD laboratories of the 60's through 2000's, his experiences while imprisoned, the present medicalization of psychedelics, and the potential outcomes of artificial intelligence applied to these and other psychoactive compounds.”
Pickard is still alive, and the interview linked above was published six months ago.
Finally in US government history, in 2018, President Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and appointed Matthew Whitaker as acting AG.
In World Government History Today:
1512: Medici Family Discharged Machiavelli from Florence
1917: British Captured Palestine from Turks
1918: Kurt Eisner Overthrew Wittelsbach Dynasty (Bavarian Revolution)
1921: Hungary Invalidates the Habsburg Line of Succession
1931: Mao Proclaims Chinese People's Republic
1951: Jordan Adopts Constitution
1956: Suez Crisis Ends with Ceasefire – Instigated by Canadian Lester Pearson
1963: Wunder von Lengede – German Mine Disaster
1982: Turkey Adopts Constitution
2002: Iran Bans Advertising of US Products
In Culture…
In 1492, the Ensisheim Meteorite struck a wheat field in Alsace, France. This is the oldest meteorite with a known date of impact. This is also the day, centuries later in 1800 in France, that women were forbidden from wearing trousers in Paris without a Police permit. The law was not annulled until 2013.
In mysterious occurrences, in 1872 the cargo ship “Mary Celeste” sailed from Staten Island for Genoa — it was found mysteriously abandoned four weeks later. What happened? On the same day in 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition first laid eyes on the Pacific Ocean from the mouth of the Columbia River.
The elephant became the Republican mascot on this day in 1874 from a Thomas Nast cartoon — you will remember Nast’s work from the Tammany Hall affair we covered a few weeks ago.
Moving into the 20th Century, in 1910 the Wright Brothers undertook their first air freight shipment in Ohio, from Dayton to Columbus. In other aviation history, the supersonic Concorde resumed flying after a 15-month hiatus in 2001.
In space history, Robert Goddard demonstrated tube-launched solid propellant rockets in 1918. His name is on the planetarium in Roswell, NM, as we discussed when we covered Goddard’s birth on October 5.
Also on this day, in 1967, Surveyor 6 launched for soft landing on the moon. That’s almost as believable as the 2019 study published on this day that found humans first walked upright 12 million years ago — not 6 million as previously thought. The study was published in “Nature,” and based the findings on a new species of ape found in Bavaria.
In 1918, the press reported that a WWI armistice had been signed — this wasn’t true, and it’s hard to understate the impact of such journalistic malfeasance.
In 1970, there were race riots in Daytona Beach, Florida and, six years later in 1976, "Gone With The Wind" premiered on television to record ratings — 65% of TV viewers. We discussed the 1939 film yesterday as it was Vivien Leigh’s birthday.
In film, "Bean" starring Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean opened in 1997, and in 2018 Prince William declared movie star Emma Thompson a Dame of the British Empire.
Music history has some key moments today, as John met Yoko at an art exposition in 1966. On the same day three years later in 1969, they released their second album, "Wedding Album," in the UK. R. Kelly released his fourth studio album on this day in 2000, entitled "TP-2.com.” It went on to win several awards including Billboard Album of the Year in 2001.
In 2017, Opera soprano Audrey Luna hit the highest note ever recorded at Met Opera in New York — it was A above high C. Perhaps we need more opera as, in 2019, researchers at the University of Exeter published a study in the journal "Evolutionary Human Sciences," which found that song lyrics have gotten sadder over the last 50 years. Can’t imagine why.
Finally in culture, in 1991 Magic Johnson announced that he had HIV on this day and retired from basketball. As a reminder, basketball was invented by a Canadian.
In Death & Destruction…
The death toll is light today, Praise God, and most of the deaths are from natural disasters and accidents. Here is today’s D&D:
1913: 250 killed by "the White Hurricane""
1918: 7,542 killed (20% of population) during influenza in Western Samoa
1944: 500 killed when a train crashed in Spain
2007: 9 killed in Finland school shooting
2012: 48 killed by 7.3 earthquake in Guatemala
2018: 12 killed when ex-marine shot up a bar in Thousand Oaks Shooting
Today’s Birthdays…
1867: Marie Curie (Groundbreaking Scientist)
1879: Leon Trotsky (Groundbreaking Commie)
1903: Grace Stafford (Woody Woodpecker)
1942: Jean Shrimpton (First Supermodel)
1942: Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)
1943: Joni Mitchell (Canadian Singer)
Deaths Today…
1908: Butch Cassidy (Legendary Outlaw)
1962: Eleanor Roosevelt (Barrier Breaking Woman)
1980: Steve McQueen (Not an Animated Race Car)
1992: Alexander Dubček (Groundbreaking Commie)
1994: Carleton Young (Reefer Madness)
On This Day is published Monday through Friday. Watch the Today’s History podcast weekdays at 12PM ET! Don’t forget to visit bootlegproducts.com and use coupon code MYAMERICA!