On This Day in History - November 4th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, Nov. 4, the 308th day of 2018 with 57 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mars, Neptune, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include humorist Will Rogers in 1879; journalist Walter Cronkite in 1916; actor Doris Roberts in 1925; actor Loretta Swit in 1937 (age 81); former U.S. first lady Laura Bush in 1946 (age 72); photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in 1946; novelist Charles Frazier in 1950 (age 68); actor Markie Post in 1950 (age 68); comedian Kathy Griffin in 1960 (age 58); actor Ralph Macchio in 1961 (age 57); television personality Jeff Probst in 1961 (age 57); actor Matthew McConaughey in 1969 (age 49); actor Samantha Smith in 1969 (age 49); singer/actor/songwriter Sean "Puffy" Combs in 1969 (age 49); actor Steven Ogg in 1973 (age 45); actor Jean-Luc Bilodeau in 1990 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1879, James and John Ritty of Dayton, Ohio, patented the first cash register, known as "Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier."

In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the steps leading to the tomb of Tutankhamen, ancient Egypt's child-king. Unlike other burial places in the Valley of the Kings, King Tut's tomb was largely untouched by looters.

In 1924, Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected the first female governor in the United States.

In 1924, voters overwhelmingly re-elected Calvin Coolidge president of the United States over Charles Davis.

In 1952, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president, ending 20 years of Democratic administrations.

In 1956, Soviet forces entered Budapest to crush an anti-communist revolt in Hungary. UPI correspondent Russell Jones described the conflict as "the murder of a people."

In 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking about 90 people hostage, 63 of them Americans.

In 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th president of the United States in a landslide victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter.

In 1991, Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, returned home, ending more than five years of exile in the United States.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 73, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist following a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

In 2002, Roman Catholic Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston apologized for assigning priests who may have been sexually abusive to parishes where they continued to have access to children.

In 2003, the elevation of a gay Episcopal priest to bishop prompted worldwide opposition, a Kenyan cleric said, "The devil has clearly entered our church."

In 2006, Katharine Jefferts Schori was installed as the first female presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church.

In 2008, Barack Obama, a Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois, was the first African American elected president of the United States, taking 338 electoral votes to 161 for Republican John McCain.

In 2015, Justin Trudeau, 43, was sworn in as Canada's prime minister representing the Liberal Party.

In 2016, the Paris Agreement on climate change officially went into effect. One hundred and ninety-seven countries signed the accord promising to keep the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels.

In 2017, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri unexpectedly resigned during a television broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Hariri said he feared he would be assassinated like his father, but later suspended his resignation.

A thought for the day: "Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open." -- Laura Bush