November 4, 1979:  About 500 young Iranian militants storm the US Embassy in Teheran, Iran, taking 90 hostages, including 52 Americans; they are held captive for 444 days.

November 7, 1944:  President Franklin D. Roosevelt elected to an unprecedented fourth term, defeating Thomas E. Dewey. Roosevelt died less than a year, April 12, 1945.

November 7, 1989:  L. Douglas Wilder become the first African American governor in US history, elected in VIRGNIA.

November 9-10, 1938:  Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) occurs in Germany as Nazi mobs burn synagogues and vandalize Jewish shops and homes.

November 9, 1965:  At 5:16 pm, the Great Blackout of the Northeast begins as a tripped circuit breaker at a power plant on the Niagara River causes a chain reaction sending power surges knocking out interconnected power companies down the East Coast. The blackout affects over 30 million people, one-sixth of the entire US population. Electricity also fails in Ontario and Quebec.

November 9, 1989:  The Berlin Wall is opened after standing for 28 years as a symbol of the Cold War. The 27.9 mile wall had been constructed in 1961.

Categories: Issues