https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/november-6/6 November
1528 – A Spanish barge under Don Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca landed in East Texas. The survivors of 2 barges spent the winter on an island they named Isla de Malhado, “The Island of Misfortune.” By the spring of 1529 there were 15 castaways left and half the native population was dead from disease.
1827 – Marines prepared to fight pirates at Andros, Greece.1850 – The San Francisco Bay Yerba Buena and Angel islands were reserved for military use.
1851 – U.S. Navy expedition under command of LT William Lewis Herndon, on a mission to explore the valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, reaches Iquitos in the jungle region of the upper Amazon after their departure from Lima, Peru.
1854 – John Philip Sousa, “The March Master,” American bandmaster, composer and the king of American march music, was born in Washington, D.C. He later wrote 5 novels. Among his 140 marches are “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Semper Fidelis.” 1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois. Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and former Whig representative to Congress, first gained national stature during his campaign against Stephen Douglas of Illinois for a U.S. Senate seat in 1858. The senatorial campaign featured a remarkable series of public encounters on the slavery issue, known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery, while Douglas maintained that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or slave. Lincoln lost the Senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party. In 1860, Lincoln won the party’s presidential nomination. In the November 1860 election, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who represented the Northern faction of a heavily divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell. The announcement of Lincoln’s victory signaled the secession of the Southern states, which since the beginning of the year had been publicly threatening secession if the Republicans gained the White House. By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. One month later, the American Civil War began when Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In 1863, as the tide turned against the Confederacy, Lincoln emancipated the slaves and in 1864 won reelection. In April 1865, he was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after the American Civil War effectively ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. For preserving the Union and bringing an end to slavery, and for his unique character and powerful oratory, Lincoln is hailed as one of the greatest American presidents.
1861 – Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America. He ran without opposition, and the election simply confirmed the decision that had been made by the Confederate Congress earlier in the year. Like his Union counterpart, Abraham Lincoln, Davis was a native of Kentucky, born in 1808. He attended West Point and graduated in 1828. After serving in the Black Hawk War of 1832, Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of General (and future President) Zachary Taylor, and the couple settled on the Brierfield plantation in Mississippi. Tragically, Sarah contracted malaria and died within two months of their marriage. Davis then married Varina Howells in 1845, but he maintained close ties to his former father-in-law. Davis was a close advisor to Taylor during the Mexican War, during which he was seriously wounded. After the war, he was appointed to fill a vacant U.S. senate seat from Mississippi, and he served as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. When the Southern states began seceding after the election of Abraham Lincoln in the winter of 1860 and 1861, Davis suspected that he might be the choice of his fellow Southerners to be their interim president. When the newly seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1861, they decided just that. He expressed great fear about what lay ahead. “Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.” On November 6, Davis was elected to a six-year term as established by the Confederate constitution.
1863 – Battle of Droop Mountain, in West Virginia. In early November, Brig. Gens. W.W. Averell and Alfred Napoleon Alexander Duffié embarked on a raid into southwestern Virginia to disrupt the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. While Duffié’s column destroyed military property en route, Averell encountered and defeated a Confederate brigade under Brig. Gen. John Echols at Droop Mountain. The Union columns reunited at Lewisburg the next day but were in no condition to continue their raid. After this battle, Confederate resistance in West Virginia collapsed. Droop Mountain Battlefield is the site of the last significant Civil War battle in West Virginia. The battle was fought November 6, 1863, between the Federal army of General William Averell and the Confederate army of General John Echols. After eight hours of fighting and 275 casualties, Echol’s Confederate army was driven South into Virginia and was never able to regain control in West Virginia. Federal Casualties were 119.
1863 – Faced with the problem of passing through the maze of complicated Confederate obstructions near Fort Sumter if the capture of Charleston was to be effected from the sea, the North experimented with another innovation by John Ericsson, celebrated builder of U.S.S. Monitor. U.S.S. Patapsco, Commander Stevens, tested Ericsson’s anti-obstruction torpedo. The device, which was a cast-iron, shell some 23 feet long and 10 inches in diameter containing 600 pounds of powder, was suspended from a raft which was attached to the ironclad’s bow and held in position by two long booms. The demonstration was favorable, for the shock of the explosion was “hardly perceptible” on board Patapsco and, though a “really fearful” column of water was thrown 40 or 50 feet into the air, little of the water fell on the ironclad’s deck. Even in the calm water in which the test was conducted, however, the raft seriously interfered with the ship’s maneuverability. Rear Admiral Dahlgren noted significantly that “perfectly smooth water” was “a miracle here. . . .” Stevens expressed the view that the torpedo was useful only against fixed objects but that for operations against ironclads “the arrangement and attachment are too complicated” and that “something in the way of a torpedo which can be managed with facility” was needed.
1888 – Benjamin Harrison of Indiana won the presidential election, beating incumbent Grover Cleveland on electoral votes, 233-168, although Cleveland led in the popular vote. Tammany Hall helped carry New York for the GOP. The Republicans in 1888 sensed an opportunity to regain the White House because President Cleveland had offended so many sectors of the electorate. James G. Blaine, the unsuccessful candidate in 1884, refused to run again. Benjamin Harrison, a former senator from Indiana and grandson of the hero of Tippecanoe, became the nominee. His prime assets were his famous name, a sterling record in the Civil War, popularity among former Union soldiers and his strength in the swing states of Indiana and Ohio. The Democrats renominated the incumbent, whose principled actions had upset many voters, including: The Democratic professional politicians who opposed civil service reform: Union war veterans, represented by the G.A.R., who resented the veto of pension legislation; Industrial leaders who opposed the president’s call for tariff reduction; Farmers and debtors who disliked Cleveland’s adherence to the gold standard. As if these weren’t sufficient to ruin his chances, Cleveland further destroyed his support in pivotal swing states by returning captured Confederate battle flags to the Southern states; Union veterans were incensed. The campaign in 1888 set a new standard for corruption. Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania used large sums of money to buy votes, which may have provided the margin for the Harrison victory. Cleveland won a majority of the popular votes, but failed to carry either Pennsylvania or his home state of New York.
1891 – Comanche, the only 7th Cavalry horse to survive George Armstrong Custer’s “Last Stand” at the Little Bighorn, died at Fort Riley, Kan.
1900 – President McKinley was re-elected, beating Democrat William Jennings Bryan. The election in 1900 was strikingly similar to its predecessor; the major candidates, issues and results were much the same. William McKinley, the incumbent, was easily renominated. A new vice-presidential nominee was needed: Garret Hobart had died. McKinley expressed no preference and left the matter in the convention’s hands. Theodore Roosevelt, governor of New York and hero of the Spanish-American War, was selected, bringing youth and vigor to the ticket. The Republicans portrayed themselves as the party of the “full dinner pail,” an appeal to working men in a time of prosperity. Not all in the Democratic Party were anxious to provide a second opportunity for William Jennings Bryan. These conservatives contacted Cmd. George Dewey, another hero of the recent war, who initially declined in the grounds of insufficient background. He changed his mind and thoughtlessly wrote to his backers, “I am convinced that the office of the president is not such a very difficult one to fill.” Word of Dewey’s statement became public and his support evaporated. Bryan was easily nominated by the convention. During the campaign, the Democrats ran primarily on anti-imperialism and opposition to the gold standard. Unfortunately, the silver issue was exhausted by 1900 and did little to increase Democratic popularity. Bryan probably had a valid point earlier in his career when he argued that there were insufficient supplies of gold to conduct the world’s business. However, this was not the case following gold strikes in the Klondike, South Africa and Australia. Bryan was undeterred and conducted another demanding campaign, traveling throughout the country and delivering more than 600 speeches. Once again, McKinley did not campaign actively. The strong economy spoke volumes about Republican leadership and their victory was more convincing than four years previously. Bryan was unable to broaden his appeal; anti-imperialism and silver failed to move the voters.
1913 – After days of rioting and the declaration of martial law, an angry crowd surrounded the Indiana Statehouse, listed their grievances, demanded the military leave the city, and threatened more violence if their demands were not met. Ralston addressed the crowd to promise concessions if the workers would return to work. His speech was credited by the press with ending the strike. After three days of peace, the military withdrew from the city. The Indiana General Assembly met later that month and enacted Indiana’s first minimum wage laws, regular working hours, workplace safety requirements, and began projects to improve the city’s tenement slums. Arbitration between the company and its employees by the Indiana Public Service Commission resulted in a decision mostly favoring the company. The employees were permitted to unionize, guaranteed wage increases, a minimum monthly salary, and certain days off work. The company, however, was permitted to continue hiring non-union employees and to bar union membership solicitation on the company’s property.
1917 – Bolshevik “October Revolution” (October 25 on the old Russian calendar), led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, seized power in Petrograd. Led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin, leftist revolutionaries launch a nearly bloodless coup d’ýtat against Russia’s ineffectual Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and within two days had formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia, later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world’s first Marxist state. Born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870, Lenin was drawn to the revolutionary cause after his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate Czar Alexander III. He studied law and took up practice in Petrograd, where he associated with revolutionary Marxist circles. In 1895, he helped organize Marxist groups in the capital into the “Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class,” which attempted to enlist workers to the Marxist cause. In December 1895, Lenin and the other leaders of the Union were arrested. Lenin was jailed for a year and then exiled to Siberia for a term of three years. After the end of his exile, in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym Lenin. In 1902, he published a pamphlet titled What Is to Be Done? which argued that only a disciplined party of professional revolutionaries could bring socialism to Russia. In 1903, he met with other Russian Marxists in London and established the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDWP). However, from the start there was a split between Lenin’s Bolsheviks (Majoritarians), who advocated militarism, and the Mensheviks (Minoritarians), who advocated a democratic movement toward socialism. These two groups increasingly opposed each other within the framework of the RSDWP, and Lenin made the split official at a 1912 conference of the Bolshevik Party. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. The revolution, which consisted mainly of strikes throughout the Russian empire, came to an end when Nicholas II promised reforms, including the adoption of a Russian constitution and the establishment of an elected legislature. However, once order was restored, the czar nullified most of these reforms, and in 1907 Lenin was again forced into exile. Lenin opposed World War I, which began in 1914, as an imperialistic conflict and called on proletariat soldiers to turn their guns on the capitalist leaders who sent them down into the murderous trenches. For Russia, World War I was an unprecedented disaster: Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any nation in any previous war. Meanwhile, the Russian economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort, and in March 1917 riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd over the scarcity of food. Demoralized army troops joined the strikers, and on March 15, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, ending centuries of czarist rule. In the aftermath of the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar), power was shared between the weak Provisional Government and the soviets, or “councils,” of soldiers’ and workers’ committees. After the outbreak of the February Revolution, German authorities allowed Lenin and his lieutenants to cross Germany en route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. Berlin hoped (correctly) that the return of the anti-war Socialists to Russia would undermine the Russian war effort, which was continuing under the Provisional Government. Lenin called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the soviets, and he was condemned as a “German agent” by the government’s leaders. In July, he was forced to flee to Finland, but his call for “peace, land, and bread” met with increasing popular support, and the Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd soviet. In October, Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd, and on November 6-8 the Bolshevik-led Red Guards deposed the Provisional Government and proclaimed soviet rule. Lenin became the virtual dictator of the first Marxist state in the world. His government made peace with Germany, nationalized industry, and distributed land, but beginning in 1918 had to fight a devastating civil war against czarist forces. In 1920, the czarists were defeated, and in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established. Upon Lenin’s death, in early 1924, his body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum near the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor. After a struggle for succession, fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.
1918 – Sedan, France falls to the advancing US forces in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Further progress will be made in the next five days and end with the signing of the armistice on the 11th.
1918 – U.S.A. promises to exercise influence to secure for Romania political and territorial rights.
1928 – In a first, presidential election results were flashed on an electronic sign outside the New York Times building; Herbert Hoover beat Alfred E. Smith. Norman Thomas was the presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. In August 1927, incumbent President Calvin Coolidge announced to the nation: “I do not choose to run for president in 1928.” That blunt statement opened the doors to a number of Republican hopefuls, but none approached the public esteem enjoyed by Herbert Hoover, the current secretary of commerce and possessor of a long record of humanitarian service. The Republicans assembled in Kansas City the following June and easily nominated Hoover on the first ballot. The vice-presidential nod went to Senator Charles Curtis of Nebraska to soothe feelings of disappointed Midwesterners who backed the presidential ambitions of Frank Lowden, the former governor of Illinois. The platform of 1928 was devoted largely to self-congratulation as the Republicans claimed full credit for the nation’s prosperity and pledged to: continue opposition to the McNary-Haugen farm bill, favoring instead the creation of farmer-owned stabilization corporations as a means to increase farm prices; support the strict enforcement of the 18th Amendment (prohibition); maintain a high protective tariff for the benefit of American farmers and manufacturers; carry on Coolidge-era foreign policy initiatives. Later in June, the Democrats began their convention in Houston, meeting in a Southern city for the first time since the Civil War. Alfred E. Smith, governor of New York, was also nominated on the first ballot. Smith was the product of the Tammany Hall machine, a Roman Catholic and an avowed “wet” (backing repeal) on prohibition. An effort was made to balance the ticket by nominating Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, a Protestant and a “dry,” for vice president. The Democratic platform called for the following: a farm policy that would give American farmers government support commensurate with that provided to other industries, but avoided an endorsement of the contentious McNary-Haugen bill; enforcement of prohibition laws, but it was clear to all observers that the Democratic nominee was opposed to this position; this effort to take both sides of a nettlesome issue would cost the party heavily in the Bible Belt; opposition to the blanket use of injunctions and support for collective bargaining rights for American workers; a change in the heavy-handed Coolidge foreign policy and, in particular, the granting of immediate independence to the Philippines; a transformation in government to escape the scandals of Republican leadership; the Democrats deftly avoided reference to the nation’s prosperity and instead tried to dredge up memories of Harding’s corrupt cronies. The Democrats, for once, chose not to include a strong plank opposing the protective tariff, a move made in deference to strong farm support for those measures. The campaign of 1928 marked a change from the staid front-porch efforts of earlier years to a more active style. Radio played a surprisingly important role. Hoover, who was not an impressive public speaker, came across to listeners as measured and thoughtful. Smith, however, was an inspiring speaker, but his New York accent and regional pronunciation of words grated on the ears of many Westerners and Southerners. In late October, Hoover delivered what came to be known as his “rugged individualism” speech to an audience in New York. He criticized the Democrats for their socialistic policies and preached the virtues of open competition and private enterprise. Capitalizing on a continuing strong economy, Hoover promised the voters “a chicken for every pot and a car in every garage.” Many Americans came to regard Hoover, who had never previously run for elective office, as a new type of politician — a highly successful businessman, but with the added attribute of a social conscience. Huge numbers of voters turned out on November 6 and handed Hoover and the Republicans a resounding victory. The Democrats lost by more than six million votes, but carried a dozen of the nation’s largest cities. Their hold on the so-called “Solid South” was broken, however; Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Texas voted Republican. In a nutshell, the nation did not feel a compelling need to make a change in leadership in 1928. The fact that Smith was a Catholic, a wet, a machine politician and sounded strange when he spoke made the decision of many voters an easy one.
1935 – Edwin Armstrong presents his paper “A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation” to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
1939 – The American cargo ship, City of Flint, is returned to her captain, Joseph H. Gainard in Haugesund. Since October 9th, the ship has journeyed under the command of a German prize crew from the Deutschland.1941 – USA lent Soviet Union $1 million.
1941 – On Neutrality Patrol, USS Omaha (CL-4) and USS Somers (DD-381) intercept the German blockade runner Odenwald. The smuggler is carrying a cargo of rubber from Japan, disguised as U.S. freighter, board her after the German crew abandoned the ship, and brought the ship to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the boarding party was awarded salvage shares.
1944 – Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility and subsequently used in the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
1945 – The first landing of a jet on a carrier took place on the USS Wake Island when an FR-1 Fireball touched down.
1950 – A Chinese offensive was halted at Chongchon River, North Korea. General Douglas MacArthur charged the Chinese with unlawful aggression.
1956 – The Eisenhower-Nixon Republican ticket won the presidential elections beating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson. The Democrats won a majority in both houses of Congress. Eisenhower was immediately nominated for re-election by the Republicans in San Francisco. The only question was whether Nixon would remain on the ticket. Eisenhower decided in favor of keeping him on the ticket. Adlai Stevenson was renominated by the Democrats in Chicago. Stevenson faced almost insurmountable odds in opposing the very popular President. He attempted to contrast his vigor with Eisenhower’s health problems. Stevenson made proposals on senior citiznes, health, education, natural resources, and ecnonomic policies. He also called for the end of the draft with the creation of a professional army, He further called for a test ban treaty on Atomic weapons with the Soviet efforts. Stevenson’s efforts were totally unsuccessful and Eisenhower won a landslide victory.
1956 – Pressure from the US and USSR effected a cease-fire in the Middle-East. The UN created an emergency force (UNEF) to supervise a cease fire.
1963 – In the aftermath of the November 1 coup that resulted in the murder of President Ngo Dinh Diem, Gen. Duong Van Minh, leading the Revolutionary Military Committee of the dissident generals who had conducted the coup, takes over leadership of South Vietnam. U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge cabled President Kennedy, “We could neither manage nor stop [the coup] once it got started…It is equally certain that the ground in which the coup seed grew into a robust plant was prepared by us, and that the coup would not have happened [as] it did without our permission.” Lodge’s words were more than a little disingenuous since he had long been a proponent of removing Diem from power. Following Diem’s death, a Buddhist named Nguyen Ngoc Tho became premier, but the real power was held by the Revolutionary Military Committee headed by General Minh. The new government earned U.S. approval in part by pledging not to become a dictatorship and announcing, “The best weapon to fight communism is democracy and liberty.” However, Minh was unable to form a viable government and he himself was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Gen. Nguyen Khanh in January 1964.
1968 – Richard Nixon was elected 37th pres of US, defeating Hubert Humphrey. Richard Nixon entered the Republican convention as the front runner. He won the nomination on the first ballot. In his acceptance speech he stated:” When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war in Vietnam with no end in sight, when the richest nation in the world cannot manage its economy, when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented racial violence, when the President of the United States cannot travel abroad, or to any major city at home, then itäs time for new leadership for the United States.” The Democrats went through a grueling primary campaign. Eugene McCarthy, an early opponent of the war in Vietnam, almost upset President Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. This convinced Johnson not to run for re-election. At that point Vice President Humphrey announced his candidacy for the nomination. A primary battle followed, with Robert Kennedy pulling in the lead until his assassination. At this point Humphrey was able to sew up the nomination. He was nominated on the first ballot at a tumultuous convention in Chicago. The rioting and the police actions outside the convention hall dominated the news coverage and did not get the Humphrey campaign off to a good start. Nixon began the campaign as the front runner, with a clear lead. He campaigned against rising crime and claimed he would restore “law and order”. Nixon also instituted the Southern policy, taking advantage of Southern voters resentments at civil rigths legislation passed by the Johnson administration it successful received support from what had been a solidly democratic south. Toward the end of the campaign as Humphrey became more critical of Johnson’s handling of the war, the lead narrowed. It did not narrow enough to stop a Nixon victory however.
1970 – South Vietnamese forces launch a new offensive into Cambodia, advancing across a 100-mile-wide front in southeastern Cambodia. The new offensive was aimed at cleaning out border sanctuaries and blocking North Vietnamese forces from moving through Cambodia into South Vietnam. The 6,000-man South Vietnamese task force pulled out on November 11 after failing to find new Communist troop sanctuaries. Forty-one enemy soldiers were reportedly killed in the operation.
1971 – The US Atomic Energy Commission exploded a 5-megaton bomb beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska, just 87 miles from the Petropavlovsk Russian naval base. It registered as a magnitude-7 earthquake.
1973 – The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) assassinated Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster and wounded Robert Blackburn, his assistant. The SLA warned against a proposed student ID program. Russell Little and Joseph Remiro were arrested following a shootout in Jan, 1974. Little’s eventual conviction was reversed Feb 28, 1979, due to errant jury instructions. Remiro was sentenced to life in prison.
1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini took over in Iran.
1984 – President Ronald Reagan was re-elected. President Reagan faced no opposition to his renomination as the Republican nomination for President. Senator Walter Mondale Jimmy Carter’s Vice President was the front runner throughout the election campaign. His most serious opposition was Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, who ran on a theme of new ideas. Other opponents included Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, and Reverand Jesse Jackson, the first serious Black candidate for President. Mondale was nominated on the first ballot at the Democratic convention in San Francisco. He selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate. Ferraro became the first women to be nominated by a major party. The election campaign revolved mostly around the issues of deficit and tariff barriers. The traditional role of the Democratic and Republican party were reversed, with the Democrats attacking the Republicans for budget deficits, and the Democrats also calling for more tariff protection. On the personal level Reagan won his debates with Mondale by using humor to successfully pary one of Mondale crtiticisms- that he was too old, by stating during the debate that he would not use age as issue- he would not criticize Mondale’s youth and inexperience. Reagan won the election with an 18 point margin.
1984 – The Coast Guard accepted operational control from the Navy of the SES-200, a Surface Effect Ship, for five months of operations evaluations.
1991 – Kuwait celebrated the dousing of the last oil fires ignited by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. Iraqi forces had blown up an estimated 732 Kuwaiti oil wells.
1995 – The US Air Force launched the most powerful unmanned rocket, Titan 4, with a $1 bil. Milstar communications satellite for the defense dept.
1997 – The Clinton administration warned Iraq it could face military action or economic sanctions if it continued to bar U.N. weapons inspections.
1997 – In Belgrade former Serb soldier and convict, Slobodan Misic, was arrested after he told reporters that he had killed up to 80 Croats and Muslims near Vukovar in eastern Croatia and in the Bratunac-Shrebrenica area of eastern Bosnia in 1991.
1998 – Pres. Clinton decided to lift most of the sanctions against India and Pakistan for their nuclear tests in May, as a reward for steps taken toward nuclear control agreements.
2001 – Pres. Bush met with France’s Pres. Chirac and addressed an anti-terrorism meeting in Poland via satellite.
2002 – A new U.S. draft resolution on Iraq set off a final diplomatic push for tough new weapons inspections, backed by threats of force if Saddam Hussein continues to skirt his disarmament obligations.
2003 – Pres. Bush signed the $87.5 billion Iraq spending bill.
2003 – Two American soldiers were killed near Baghdad and along the Syrian border. Polish forces suffered their first combat death when a Polish major was fatally wounded in an ambush south of the capital.
2004 – Insurgents set off at least two car bombs and attacked a police station in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40. Over 50 people were killed across central Iraq including nearly 2 dozen Americans.
2004 – In an open letter to the Iraqi people and posted on the Internet, 26 Saudi scholars and religious preachers stressed that armed attacks launched by militant Iraqi groups on U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq were “legitimate” resistance.
2009 – Ambassador Eikenberry wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “Sending additional forces will delay the day when Afghans will take over, and make it difficult, if not impossible, to bring our people home on a reasonable timetable. An increased U.S. and foreign role in security and governance will increase Afghan dependence, at least in the short-term.”
2012 – The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico votes for a non-binding resolution to become a U.S. state. If previous procedure is followed, Congress will now request that Puerto Rico establish a state constitution. Then, Congress would vote to approve it as a state, which it usually does. However, Congress is not obligated to follow this procedure, and by its vote, it ultimately must decide, which is not yet certain. Obama and Romney had both pledged to support the result of the referendum and to work with Congress on the issue.
Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*LEONARD, TURNEY W.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company C, 893d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Place and date: Kommerscheidt, Germany, 4-6 November 1944. Entered service at: Dallas, Tex. Birth: Dallas, Tex. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945. Citation: He displayed extraordinary heroism while commanding a platoon of mobile weapons at Kommerscheidt, Germany, on 4, 5, and 6 November 1944. During the fierce 3-day engagement, he repeatedly braved overwhelming enemy fire in advance of his platoon to direct the fire of his tank destroyer from exposed, dismounted positions. He went on lone reconnaissance missions to discover what opposition his men faced, and on 1 occasion, when fired upon by a hostile machinegun, advanced alone and eliminated the enemy emplacement with a hand grenade. When a strong German attack threatened to overrun friendly positions, he moved through withering artillery, mortar, and small arms fire, reorganized confused infantry units whose leaders had become casualties, and exhorted them to hold firm. Although wounded early in battle, he continued to direct fire from his advanced position until he was disabled by a high-explosive shell which shattered his arm, forcing him to withdraw. He was last seen at a medical aid station which was subsequently captured by the enemy. By his superb courage, inspiring leadership, and indomitable fighting spirit, 1st Lt. Leonard enabled our forces to hold off the enemy attack and was personally responsible for the direction of fire which destroyed 6 German tanks.
*REEM, ROBERT DALE
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company H, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity Chinhung-ni, Korea, 6 November 1950. Entered service at: Elizabethtown, Pa. Born: 20 October 1925, Lancaster, Pa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a platoon commander in Company H, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Grimly determined to dislodge a group of heavy enemy infantry units occupying well-concealed and strongly fortified positions on commanding ground overlooking unprotected terrain. 2d Lt. Reem moved slowly forward up the side of the ridge with his platoon in the face of a veritable hail of shattering hostile machine gun, grenade, and rifle fire. Three times repulsed by a resolute enemy force in achieving his objective, and pinned down by the continuing fury of hostile fire, he rallied and regrouped the heroic men in his depleted and disorganized platoon in preparation for a fourth attack. Issuing last-minute orders to his noncommissioned officers when an enemy grenade landed in a depression of the rocky ground in which the group was standing, 2d Lt. Reem unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and, springing upon the deadly missile, absorbed the full impact of the explosion in his body, thus protecting others from serious injury and possible death. Stouthearted and indomitable, he readily yielded his own chance of survival that his subordinate leaders might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. His superb courage, cool decisiveness, and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon 2d Lt. Reem and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
