Today in History

Today is Saturday, Nov. 21, the 326th day of 2020. There are 40 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Nov. 21, 1980, 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On this date:

In 1920, the Irish Republican Army killed 12 British intelligence officers and two auxiliary policemen in the Dublin area; British forces responded by raiding a soccer match, killing 14 civilians.

In 1922, Rebecca L. Felton, a Georgia Democrat, was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate; her term, the result of an interim appointment, ended the following day as Walter F. George, the winner of a special election, took office.

In 1931, the Universal horror film “Frankenstein,” starring Boris Karloff as the monster and Colin Clive as his creator, was first released.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Air Quality Act.

In 1969, the Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth, 55-45, the first such rejection since 1930.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt (buh-ZAHRDT’), revealed the existence of an 18-1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.

In 1979, a mob attacked the U-S Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing two Americans.

In 1985, U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested accused of spying for Israel. (Pollard later pleaded guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison; he was released on parole on Nov. 20, 2015.)

In 1992, a three-day tornado outbreak that struck 13 states began in the Houston area before spreading to the Midwest and eastern U.S.; 26 people were killed. Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., issued an apology but refused to discuss allegations that he’d made unwelcome sexual advances toward ten women over the years. (Faced with a threat of expulsion, Packwood ended up resigning from the Senate in 1995.)

In 1995, Balkan leaders meeting in Dayton, Ohio, initialed a peace plan to end three and a-half years of ethnic fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In 2018, President Donald Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts publicly clashed over the independence of America’s judiciary, with Roberts rebuking the president for denouncing a judge hearing a migrant asylum challenge as an “Obama judge.”

Ten years ago: Debt-struck Ireland formally applied for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks, joining Greece in a step unthinkable only a few years earlier when Ireland was a booming Celtic Tiger and the economic envy of Europe. Justin Bieber received four American Music Awards, becoming at age 16 the youngest performer to win artist of the year.

Five years ago: Belgian authorities closed down Brussels’ subway system and flooded the streets with armed police and soldiers in response to what they said was a threat of Paris-style attacks.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Laurence Luckinbill is 86. Actor Marlo Thomas is 83. Actor Rick Lenz is 81. Actor Juliet Mills is 79. Basketball Hall of Famer Earl Monroe is 76. Television producer Marcy Carsey is 76. Actor Goldie Hawn is 75. Movie director Andrew Davis is 74. Rock musician Lonnie Jordan (War) is 72. Singer Livingston Taylor is 70. Actor-singer Lorna Luft is 68. Actor Cherry Jones is 64