On This Day in History - November 7th - Almanac

Today is Monday, Nov. 7, the 312th day of 2016 with 54 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning star is Jupiter. The evening stars are Mercury, Saturn, Venus, Mars, Neptune and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include British explorer Capt. James Cook in 1728; Marie Curie, discoverer of radium, in 1867; Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in 1879; bandleader Phil Spitalny (known for his all-female orchestra) in 1890; writer and film director Herman Mankiewicz in 1897; actor Dean Jagger in 1903; musician/comic Red Ingle in 1906; French novelist Albert Camus in 1913; evangelist Billy Graham in 1918 (age 98); jazz trumpeter Al Hirt in 1922; Australian opera star Joan Sutherland in 1926; and singers Johnny Rivers in 1942 (age 74), Joni Mitchell in 1943 (age 73) and Lorde in 1996 (age 20).

On this date in history:

In 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition sighted the Pacific Ocean for the first time. They would arrive two weeks later.

In 1874, the first cartoon depicting the elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party was printed in Harper's Weekly.

In 1916, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected and Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1917, the Bolshevik revolution began in Russia. Because it took place under the old czarist calendar, it is known as the October Revolution.

In 1918, the global influenza epidemic arrives in Western Samoa, killing roughly 20 percent of the population in the final two months of the year.

In 1919, on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the first Palmer Raid results in the roundup of more than 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists across twenty-three U.S. cities.

In 1929, New York City's Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.

In 1940, only four months after its completion, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state, the third longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, collapsed. No one was injured.

In 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected to a fourth term during World War II. (Roosevelt, the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms, died the following April and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman.)

In 1972, Republican Richard Nixon was re-elected as president of the United States, defeating Democrat George McGovern. The following year, Congress would override Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits the president's ability to wage war without congressional approval.

In 1983, a bomb exploded in the U.S. Capitol, causing heavy damage just outside the Senate chamber. There were no injuries.

In 1989, "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles, was formally sentenced to die in the gas chamber for 13 killings. (Ramirez died of lymphoma in prison June 7, 2013.)

In 1991, basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson disclosed he was HIV-positive and announced he was retiring from the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

In 2000, in one of the closest U.S. presidential elections, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore wound up in almost a dead heat. (Bush was eventually declared the winner following turmoil over Florida results that ultimately involved the U.S. Supreme Court.)

In 2008, authorities said about 90 people, mostly students, were killed when a church-run school collapsed on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

In 2009, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Care for American Act (colloquially known as Obamacare) on a 220-21 vote. President Obama would sign it into law five months later.

In 2013, the U.S.Food and Drug Administration said companies that produce food would be required to gradually phase out trans fats, a major contributor to heart disease. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said getting artery-clogging trans fats -- used to increase shelf life and improve taste and texture -- out of the food supply could potentially prevent 20,000 heart attacks and thousands of deaths each year.

A thought for the day: "When the rich wage war it's the poor who die." -- Jean-Paul Sartre