2004: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat dies in Paris at 75. He had led the Palestine Liberation Organization since 1969, headed the Fatah movement, and served as the first president of the Palestinian Authority from 1996. He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, and Mahmoud Abbas succeeded him as PLO chairman.
1992: The Church of England votes to let women become priests. The decision came from the church's General Synod after years of debate. The first women were ordained as Anglican priests in England two years later, in 1994.
1975: Angola declares independence from Portugal. Independence followed the Portuguese withdrawal after centuries of colonial rule. Rival independence movements were already fighting one another, and the civil war that followed lasted until 2002.
1966: NASA launches Gemini 12, the final Gemini mission. Astronauts Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin flew the mission, and Aldrin's spacewalks showed that astronauts could work effectively outside a spacecraft. It was also the first flight to make a fully automatic reentry into Earth's atmosphere, paving the way for the Apollo program.
1920: Unknown soldiers from World War I are laid to rest in Paris and London. The burials marked the first anniversary of the armistice, honoring the many dead who could never be identified. The United States held a similar ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia the following year.
1918: World War I ends as Germany signs an armistice with the Allies. The agreement was signed around 5 a.m. in the railway carriage of Allied commander Ferdinand Foch in the Compiègne Forest, and the fighting stopped six hours later at 11 a.m. The date became Armistice Day, now observed in the United States as Veterans Day.
1889: Washington becomes the 42nd U.S. state. President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed its admission, with Olympia as the capital. North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana had joined the Union earlier that same month.
1880: Australian outlaw Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne. The bushranger and his gang had been captured after a last stand at Glenrowan, where Kelly wore homemade iron armor. He was 25 and remains one of Australia's most famous folk figures.
1865: Mary Edwards Walker becomes the first woman awarded the Medal of Honor. She served as a surgeon with Union forces during the Civil War and was held for months as a prisoner of war. Her medal was taken away in 1917 when the rules were tightened, then restored in 1977, and she remains the only woman to receive it.
1831: Nat Turner is hanged in Virginia for leading a slave rebellion. The August uprising in Southampton County killed about 60 white people. In the aftermath, many innocent enslaved people were killed, and Southern states passed harsher laws restricting enslaved and free Black people.
1813: British forces win the Battle of Crysler's Farm in the War of 1812. Troops under Col. Joseph Morrison defeated a larger American force under Gen. John Boyd along the St. Lawrence River in Upper Canada. The loss led the Americans to abandon their campaign against Montreal.
1778: Loyalists and Iroquois warriors attack Cherry Valley, New York. The raid on the frontier settlement during the American Revolution was retaliation for colonial attacks on two Native villages. Dozens of people were killed, many of them civilians, and the attack hardened American resolve to strike back at the Iroquois.
1493: Christopher Columbus sights the Caribbean island of St. Martin. The sighting came during his second voyage to the Americas. The island is traditionally said to be named for St. Martin of Tours, whose feast day falls on November 11.
1417: Martin V is elected pope, ending the Great Schism. He was chosen unanimously at the Council of Constance. His election ended decades in which rival popes had competed for control of the Catholic Church.
Born on This Day
1989: Adam Rippon, American figure skater Won a team bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and later won Dancing with the Stars.
1987: Vinny Guadagnino, American reality TV personality Turns 39. Best known as a cast member of Jersey Shore.
1986: Jon Batiste, American singer and pianist Grammy Album of the Year winner and former bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
1986: Mark Sanchez, American football player Quarterback who led the New York Jets to two straight AFC Championship Games.
1986: Victor Cruz, American football player New York Giants receiver famous for his salsa touchdown dance and a Super Bowl title.
1974: Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor and producer Turns 52. Starred in Titanic and won an Oscar for The Revenant.
1964: Calista Flockhart, American actress Turns 62. Played the title role in Ally McBeal and later starred in Brothers & Sisters.
1962: Demi Moore, American actress Turns 64. Starred in Ghost, A Few Good Men, and The Substance.
1960: Stanley Tucci, American actor and director Turns 66. Known for The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones, and his food travel shows.
1951: Marc Summers, American TV host Hosted Nickelodeon's Double Dare and Food Network's Unwrapped.
1951: Fuzzy Zoeller, American golfer Won the 1979 Masters and the 1984 U.S. Open.
1950: Jim Peterik, American singer and songwriter Co-wrote Survivor's “Eye of the Tiger” and sang the Ides of March hit “Vehicle.”
1948: Robert John “Mutt” Lange, South African-born record producer and songwriter Produced blockbuster albums for AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Shania Twain.
1940: Barbara Boxer, American politician Represented California in the U.S. Senate for 24 years.
1925: Jonathan Winters, American comedian and actor Improvisational comedy legend who influenced Robin Williams and appeared on Mork and Mindy.
1922: Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist Author of Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle.
1896: Lucky Luciano, American crime boss Organized the modern American Mafia and its ruling Commission.
1885: George S. Patton, U.S. Army general Led the Third Army across France and Germany in World War II.
1821: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist Wrote Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.
