November 4
is the 308th day of the year (309th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining.
*
1576 -
Eighty Years' War: In
Belgium,
Spain captures
Antwerp (after three days the city was nearly destroyed).
*
1677 - The future
Mary II of England marries
William, Prince of Orange. They would later be known as
William and Mary.
*
1842 -
Abraham Lincoln, future US President, marries
Mary Todd in
Springfield, Illinois.
*
1852 -
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour became the
prime minister of
Piedmont-
Sardinia, which soon expanded to become
Italy.
*
1861 - The
University of Washington opens in
Seattle,
Washington as the Territorial University
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Johnsonville -
Confederate troops bombard a
Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in material.
*
1869 - The first issue of the scientific journal
Nature is published.
*
1884 -
U.S. presidential election, 1884:
Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats
Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his two non-consecutive terms.
*
1889 -
Menelek of Shoa obtains the allegiance of a large majority of the
Ethiopian nobility, paving the way for him to be crowned
emperor.
*
1890 -
City & South London Railway:
London's first deep-level
tube railway opens between
King William Street and
Stockwell.
*
1899 -
Sigmund Freud's
The Interpretation of Dreams is published.
*
1918 -
World War I:
Austria-Hungary surrenders to
Italy.
* 1918 - The
German Revolution begins when 40,000
sailors take over the
port in
Kiel.
*
1921 - The
Sturmabteilung or SA is formally formed by
Adolf Hitler* 1921 -
Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi assassinated in
Tokyo.
*
1922 - In
Egypt,
British archaeologist
Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to King
Tutankhamen's tomb in the
Valley of the Kings.
*
1924 -
Nellie Tayloe Ross of
Wyoming elected as the first woman governor in the
United States.
*
1928 -
Arnold Rothstein,
New York City's most notorious gambler, is shot dead over a
poker game.
*
1939 -
World War II: U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the
United States Customs Service to implement the
Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of
weapons by belligerents.
*
1942 - World War II:
Second Battle of El Alamein - Disobeying a direct order by
Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.
*
1948 -
T.S. Eliot wins the
Nobel Prize in Literature.
*
1952 -
U.S. presidential election, 1952:
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats
Democrat Adlai Stevenson.
*
1955 - The rebuilt
Vienna State Opera reopens with
Ludwig van Beethoven's
Fidelio after it was totally destroyed in
World War II.
*
1956 -
Soviet troops enter
Hungary to end the
Hungarian revolution that started on
October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.
*
1960 - Filming wraps on
The Misfits, starring
Marilyn Monroe and
Clark Gable -- the last film for both.
*
1966 - Two-thirds of
Florence,
Italy is submerged as the
Arno and
Po rivers flood; 113 people die, 30,000 are rendered homeless, and countless
Renaissance artworks and books are destroyed.
*
1970 -
Vietnam War:
Vietnamization - The
United States turns control of the
Binh Thuy Air Base in the
Mekong Delta over to
South Vietnam.
* 1970 -
Genie, a 13 year old
feral child was found in
Los Angeles having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.
*
1979 -
Iran hostage crisis begins:
Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the
United States embassy in
Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American).
*
1980 -
U.S. presidential election, 1980:
Republican challenger
Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent
Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin.
*
1986 - Chief Justice
Rose Bird and two colleagues are removed by the electorate from the
Supreme Court of California for their opposition to
capital punishment.
*
1989 - The congress of the
Solidarity Party is inaugurated in
Sweden. The congress decides, contrary to the proposal of the central committee, not to disband the party.
*
1993 -
Jean Chrétien takes office as
Prime Minister of Canada.
* 1993 -
Bolivia becomes a member of the
Berne Convention copyright treaty.
* 1993 - A series of fires destroy 1000 homes in southern
California, causing between 500 million and 1 billion
USD of damage. Half of the fires turn out to be
arson.
* 1993 - A
China Airlines Boeing 747 overran Runway 13 at
Hong Kong's
Kai Tak International Airport while landing during a
typhoon, injuring 22 people.
*
1994 -
San Francisco: First conference that focused exlusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the
World Wide Web.
*
1995 -
Israeli prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by an extreme right-wing Israeli.
*
2001 -
Hurricane Michelle hits
Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.
* 2001 - The
Police Service of Northern Ireland is established.
*
2002 - Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident
He Depu for signing pro-democracy letter to the 16th
Communist Party Congress*
2003 - The most powerful
solar flare as observed by satellite instrumentation is recorded.
* 2003 - Former
HealthSouth CEO
Richard Scrushy becomes the first person indicted under the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act. He was eventually acquitted.
*
1448 - King
Alphonso II of Naples (d.
1495)
*
1470 - King
Edward V of England, one of the two princes in the Tower
*
1575 -
Guido Reni, Italian painter (d.
1642)
*
1631 -
Mary of Orange, eldest daughter of
Charles I of England and mother of
William III of England (d.
1660)
*
1661 -
Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (d.
1742)
*
1740 -
Augustus Montague Toplady, author of hymn, "Rock of Ages"
*
1765 -
Pierre Girard, French mathematician (d.
1836)
*
1836 -
Henry J. Lutcher, Business leader (d.
1912)
*
1845 -
Vasudeo Balwant Phadke,
Indian revolutionary
*
1874 -
Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak, Russian military commander (d.
1920)
*
1879 -
Will Rogers, American humorist and entertainer (d.
1935)
*
1883 -
Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician (d.
1953)
*
1899 -
Nicolas Frantz, Luxembourgish cyclist (d.
1985)
*
1901 - Princess
Bang-ja of Korea (d.
1989)
*
1908 -
Józef Rotblat, Polish physicist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
2005)
*
1909 -
Skeeter Webb, baseball player (d.
1986)
*
1912 -
Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (d.
1978)
*
1913 -
Gig Young, American actor (d.
1978)
*
1914 -
Martin Balsam, American actor (d.
1996)
*
1916 -
Walter Cronkite, American news broadcaster
*
1918 -
Art Carney, American actor (d.
2003)
*
1922 -
Benno Besson, Swiss actor and film director (d.
2006)
*
1923 -
Freddy Heineken, Dutch businessman (d.
2002)
*
1929 -
Doris Roberts, American actress
*
1930 -
Dick Groat, baseball player
*
1932 -
Thomas Klestil,
President of Austria (d.
2004)
*
1933 -
Tito Francona, baseball player (d.
2004)
*
1937 -
Loretta Swit, American actress
* 1937 -
Michael Wilson, Canadian politician and diplomat
*
1944 -
Scherrie Payne, American singer (
The Supremes)
*
1946 -
Laura Bush,
First Lady of the United States* 1946 -
Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer (d.
1989)
*
1951 -
Traian Băsescu,
President of Romania*
1953 -
Carlos Gutierrez, American politician
*
1955 -
Matti Vanhanen,
Prime Minister of Finland*
1956 -
Jordan Rudess, Keyboard player (
Dream Theater)
*
1961 -
Kathy Griffin, American comedienne and actress
*
1961 -
Edward Knight, American composer
*
1961 -
Daron Hagen, American composer, conductor, and collaborative pianist
*
1961 -
Ralph Macchio, American actor
*
1961 -
Les Sampou, American musician
*
1961 -
Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
*
1962 -
Jeff Probst, American TV show's host "
Survivor"
*
1965 -
Wayne Static, American singer and guitarist (
Static-X)
*
1965 -
Jeff Scott Soto, American singer (
Yngwie Malmsteen Band,
Journey)
*
1967 -
Eric Karros, Baseball player
*
1968 -
Carlos Baerga, Baseball player
*
1969 -
Matthew McConaughey, American actor
*
1969 -
Sean Jean "Diddy" Combs, American rapper
*
1972 -
LuÃs Figo, Portuguese footballer
*
1972 -
Tabassum Hashmi, Indian actress
*
1974 -
Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Vocalist of
At the Drive-in and
The Mars Volta*
1975 -
Eduard Kokcharov, Russian handball player
*
1976 -
Mario Melchiot, Dutch footballer
*
1977 -
Larry Bigbie, Baseball player
*
1978 -
Carmen Cali, Professional baseball player for the
St. Louis Cardinals*
1978 -
John Grabow, Professional baseball player
*
1979 -
Audrey Hollander, American pornographic actress
*
1985 -
Marcell Jansen, German footballer
*
1986 -
Alexz Johnson, Canadian singer
*
1254 -
John III Ducas Vatatzes, Emperor of the
Empire of Nicaea (b. circa
1192).
*
1411 -
Khalil Sultan, ruler of Transoxonia (b.
1384)
*
1584 -
Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal (b.
1538)
*
1652 -
Jean-Charles de la Faille, Belgian mathematician (b.
1597)
*
1669 -
Johannes Cocceius, Dutch theologian (b.
1603)
*
1698 -
Rasmus Bartholin, Danish physician and mathematician (b.
1625)
*
1702 -
John Benbow, English admiral (b.
1653)
*
1704 -
Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (b.
1654)
*
1781 -
Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (b.
1721)
*
1801 -
William Shippen, American physician and delegate to the Continental Congress (b.
1712)
*
1847 -
Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (b.
1809)
*
1856 -
Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (b.
1797)
*
1893 -
Pierre Tirard, French politician (b.
1827)
*
1918 -
Wilfred Owen, English poet (b.
1893)
*
1924 -
Gabriel Fauré, French composer (b.
1845)
*
1928 -
Arnold Rothstein, American gambler (b.
1882)
*
1930 -
Buddy Bolden, American musician (b.
1877)
*
1950 -
Grover Cleveland Alexander, Baseball player (b.
1887)
*
1955 -
Cy Young, baseball player (b.
1867)
*
1957 -
Shoghi Effendi, Guarduan of the
Bahá'à Faith (b.
1897)
*
1968 -
Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b.
1892)
*
1980 -
Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (b.
1905)
*
1982 -
Dominique Dunne, American actress (b.
1959)
*
1986 -
Kurt Hirsch, German mathematician (b.
1906)
*
1995 -
Yitzhak Rabin,
Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b.
1922)
* 1995 -
Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher (suicide) (b.
1925)
*
1999 -
Malcolm Marshall, West Indian cricketer (b.
1958)
*
2003 -
Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (b.
1923)
*
2005 -
Nadia Anjuman, Afghan poet & journalist (b.
1980)
*
Panama's Flag Day
*
Roman festivals - start of the
Ludi Plebeii*
Roman Catholic Saints -
Feast day of the following
Roman Catholic saints:
**
Saint Charles Borromeo**
St. Birrstan**
St. Clarus**
St. Emeric**
St. Joannicus**
St. Modesta**
St. Nicander and Hermas**
St. Philologus and Patrobas**
St. Pierius**
St. Vitalis* Also see
November 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
Bahá'à Faith - Feast of Qudrat (Power) - First day of the 13th month of the
Bahá'à calendar*
Italy - celebration of victory in
World War I, the date of the Armed Forces
*
Russia - Day of People's Unity (or National Unity Day)
*
BBC: On This DayNovember 3 -
November 5 -
October 4 -
December 4 - more
historical anniversaries
