On This Day in History - November 18th - Almanac

Today is Friday, Nov. 18, the 323rd day of 2016 with 43 to follow.

The moon is waning. 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 French philosopher and writer Pierre Bayle in 1647; German composer Carl von Weber and English composer Henry Bishop ("Home Sweet Home"), both in 1786; French physicist Louis Daguerre, inventor of daguerreotype photography, in 1787; English playwright W.S. Gilbert, libretto writer for the comic operas of composer Arthur Sullivan, in 1836; Polish composer Ignacy Paderewski in 1860; journalist Dorothy Dix in 1861; conductor Eugene Ormandy in 1899; pollster George Gallup in 1901; comedic actor Imogene Coca in 1908; songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1909; astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, in 1923; actors Brenda Vaccaro in 1939 (age 77), David Hemmings in 1941, Linda Evans in 1942 (age 74), Jameson Parker in 1947 (age 69), Kevin Nealon in 1953 (age 63) and Elizabeth Perkins in 1960 (age 56); writer Alan Dean Foster in 1946 (age 70); football Hall of Fame member Jack Tatum in 1948; actor Owen Wilson in 1968 (age 48); and television news commentator Megyn Kelly in 1970 (age 46).

On this date in history:

In 1883, the United States adopted Standard Time and set up four zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific.

In 1928, Mickey Mouse appeared for the first time, with Walt Disney doing the voice of his soon-to-be-famous creation, in "Steamboat Willie," the first fully synchronized sound cartoon produced.

In 1961, weary of ordering a full-scale deployment of troops, President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisers to South Vietnam.

In 1963, push-button telephones made their debut.

In 1969, Kennedy clan patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, passed away at his Hyannis Port home at the age of 81.

In 1978, more than 900 people died in a mass suicide-murder led by the Rev. Jim Jones at the People's Temple commune in Guyana following the slaying of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, D-Calif. It was the worst tragedy of its kind in modern history.

In 1991, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim faction Islamic Jihad freed Church of England envoy Terry Waite and U.S. professor Thomas Sutherland. Waite had been held for nearly five years, Sutherland for more than six.

In 1999, 12 people died in the collapse of the Aggie Bonfire at Texas A&M University. It was a tradition at the school to construct the bonfire before A&M played Texas in football.

In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, declares the state's ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, guaranteeing gay couple the right to marry.

In 2004, Britain outlawed fox hunting in England and Wales.

In 2006, Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes in a lavish ceremony at a 15th-century castle in Italy. They would have a daughter, Suri, and divorce six years later.

In 2010, a U.N. report said the bill for global food imports would top $1 trillion for the second time, putting the world "dangerously close" to a new food crisis.

In 2013, the Dow Jones industrial average topped 16,000 for the first time.

A thought for the day: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson