Today in History

1493	Christopher Columbus arrives at the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition.
1507	Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini ("Mona Lisa").
1529	The first parliament for five years opens in England and the Commons put forward bills against abuses amongst the clergy and in the church courts.
1794	Thomas Paine is released from a Parisian jail with help from the American ambassador James Monroe. He was arrested for having offended the Robespierre faction.
1813	American troops destroy the Indian village of Tallushatchee in the Mississippi Valley.
1868	Ulysses S. Grant elected the 18th president of the United States.
1883	A poorly trained Egyptian army, led by British General William Hicks, marches toward El Obeid in the Sudan–straight into a Mahdist ambush and massacre.
1883	The U.S. Supreme Court declares American Indians to be "dependent aliens."
1892	First automatic telephone exchange goes into operation in La Porte, Indiana.
1896	William McKinley is elected 25th president of the United States.
1912	The first all-metal plane flies near Issy, France, piloted by Ponche and Prinard.
1918	The German fleet at Kiel mutinies. This is the first act leading to Germany’s capitulation in World War I.
1921	Milk drivers on strike dump thousands of gallons of milk onto New York City’s streets.
1935	Left-wing groups in France form the Socialist and Republican Union.
1957	The Soviet Union launches Sputnik II with the dog Laika, the first animal in space, aboard.
1964	For the first time residents of Washington, D.C., are allowed to vote in a presidential election.
1964	Lyndon B. Johnson is elected the 36th president of the United States.
1964	Robert Kennedy, brother of the slain president, is elected as a senator from New York.
1967	The Battle of Dak To begins in Vietnam’s Central Highlands; actually a series of engagements, the battle would continue through Nov. 22.
1969	US President Richard Nixon, speaking on TV and radio, asks the "silent majority" of the American people to support his policies and the continuing war effort in Vietnam.
1973	NASA launches Mariner 10, which will become the first probe to reach Mercury.
1979	Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis kill 5 and wound 7 members of the Communist Workers Party during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, NC; the incident becomes known as the Greensboro Massacre.
1983	Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the office of president of the United States.
1986	The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports the US has secretly been selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages being held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
1992	Arkansas Governor Bill (William Jefferson) Clinton is elected 42nd president of the United States.
1997	US imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to human rights abuses and support of Islamic extremist groups.