Today is Friday, Nov. 25, the 329th day of 2005. There are 36 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 25, 1963, the body of President Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
On this date:
In 1758, in the French and Indian War, the British captured Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh.
In 1783, the British evacuated New York, their last military position in the United States during the Revolutionary War.
In 1881, Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Roncalli near Bergamo, Italy.
In 1944, baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis died at age 78.
In 1957, President Eisenhower suffered a slight stroke.
In 1973, Greek President George Papadopoulos was ousted in a bloodless military coup.
In 1974, former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant died in New York at age 65.
In 1985, Ronald W. Pelton, a former employee of the National Security Agency, was arrested on espionage charges. (Pelton was later convicted of selling secrets to Soviet agents.)
In 1999, 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez was rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off Florida, setting off an international custody battle between relatives in Miami and Elian’s father in Cuba.
In 2002, President Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, and appointed Tom Ridge to be its head.
Ten years ago: In his weekly radio address, President Clinton appealed to America’s values and interests as he pleaded for support for the Bosnia peace agreement. Serbs in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo took to the streets by the thousands to protest the peace plan, vowing to fight to the death.
Five years ago: Hundreds of military veterans and retirees, angered by the rejection of overseas absentee ballots in Florida, held a noisy demonstration in Pensacola, one of several rallies Republicans and Democrats staged across Florida.
One year ago: Leading Sunni Muslim politicians in Iraq urged postponement of the Jan. 30, 2005, national elections. (However, the elections ended up taking place as scheduled.) A man with a knife broke into a high school dormitory in Ruzhou, China, killing nine boys as they slept. (Chinese authorities later executed a 21-year-old man who confessed to the attack.)
Today’s Birthdays: Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is 90. Actor Ricardo Montalban is 85. Actress Kathryn Crosby is 72. Actor Matt Clark is 69. Singer Percy Sledge is 65. Actor Tracey Walter is 63. Author, actor and game show host Ben Stein is 61. Singer Bob Lind is 61. Actor John Larroquette is 58. Movie director Jonathan Kaplan is 58. Singer Amy Grant is 45. Rock musician Eric Grossman (K’s Choice) is 41. Rock singer Mark Lanegan is 41. Singer Stacy Lattisaw is 39. Rock musician Rodney Sheppard (Sugar Ray) is 39. Rapper-producer Erick Sermon is 37. Actress Jill Hennessy is 36. Actress Christina Applegate is 34.
Thought for Today: “Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.” — Henry van Dyke, American clergyman (1852-1933).
