Today in History - November 9th

1799 - Napoleon became dictator of France, on this day in history.
1851 - Kentucky marshals abducted abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and took him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.
1888 - Today in history, Jack Ripper's fifth and possibly last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, was found on her bed.
1906 - Theodore Roosevelt left for Panama to see the progress on the new canal. It was the first foreign trip by a US president.
1921 - On this day in history, the Partito Nazionalista Fascista was formed in Italy by Mussolini.
1938 - Nazi troops and sympathizers destroyed and looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, burned 267 synagogues, killed 91 Jews, and rounded up over 25,000 Jewish men in an event that became known as "Night of Broken Glass."

1961 - Today in history, Major Robert White flew an X-15 rocket plane at a world record speed of 4,093 mph.
1965 - On this day in history, the great Northeast blackout occurred as several states and parts of Canada were hit by a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours.
1976 - The U.N. General Assembly approved ten resolutions condemning the apartheid government in South Africa.
1979 - Today in history, The United Nations Security Council unanimously called upon Iran to release all American hostages "without delay." Militants, mostly students had taken 63 Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4.
1989 - East Berlin opened its borders.
1998 - On this day in history, brokerage houses were ordered to pay 1.03 billion USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for their price-fixing. This was the largest civil settlement in United States history.
2004 - U.S. First Lady Laura Bush officially reopened Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to pedestrians.

CULTURE, LIFESTYLE - Today in History, November 9th

1857 - The "Atlantic Monthly" first appeared on newsstands and featured the first installment of "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" by Oliver Wendell Holmes.
1858 - Today in history, the first performance of NY Symphony Orchestra was staged.

1904 - On this day in history, the first airplane flight to last more than 5 minutes took place.
1911 - George Claude of Paris, France, applied for a patent on neon advertising signs.
1994 - The chemical element Darmstadtium was discovered.

1982 - Sugar Ray Leonard retired from boxing. In 1984 Leonard came out of retirement to fight one more time before becoming a boxing commentator for NBC.
1961 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) eliminated its "Caucasians only" rule.
1965 - Today in history, Willie Mays was named NL MVP.

1966 - John Lennon met Yoko Ono at an avant-garde art exposition at Indica Gallery in London