Associated Press
On Nov. 2, 1948, President Harry S. Truman narrowly won re-election over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.
1783- Gen. George Washington issued his farewell address to the Army near Princeton, N.J.
1795- James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C.
1865- Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, was born near Corsica, Ohio.
1889- North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.
1917- British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressed support for a national home for the Jews of Palestine in what became known as the Balfour Declaration.
1947- Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.
1959- Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he had the questions and answers in advance of his appearances on the TV game show “Twenty-One.”
1963- South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was assassinated in a military coup.
1976- Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter defeated Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford, becoming the first U.S. president from the Deep South since the Civil War.
1983- President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
2004- President George W. Bush was elected to a second term.
2006- The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after a man said they had had sexual trysts together.
2009- Afghanistan’s election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country’s tumultuous ballot, canceling a planned runoff.
2010- Republicans won control of the House of Representatives, picking up 63 seats in midterm elections, while Democrats retained a majority in the Senate; Republican governors outnumbered Democrats after gaining six states.
2010- Californians rejected a ballot measure that would have made their state the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Today’s Birthdays:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker turns 48 years old today.
Patrick J. Buchanan, Political commentator, 77
Stefanie Powers, Actress (“Hart to Hart”), 73
Shere Hite, Author, 73
Keith Emerson, Rock musician (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), 71
J.D. Souther, Country singer, songwriter, 70
k.d. lang, Singer, 54
Lynn Nottage, Playwright (“Ruined”), 51
Nelly, Rapper, 41
Chris Walla Rock musician (Death Cab for Cutie) 40