This Day in History
1831: Nat Turner is hanged for leading a slave rebellion.
1889: Washington is admitted to the Union as the 42d state.
1918: At 11 A.M. (on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year), hostilities cease in World War I after the Germans sign an armistice at Compiègne, France.
1921: The first American unknown soldier is interred in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.
1965: In Rhodesia, the white government of Ian D. Smith declares independence from Great Britain.
1966: Gemini 12, the last Gemini space mission, is launched.
1975: Angola, a Portuguese colony, becomes independent.
1982: The U.S. space shuttle program's first operational mission takes place when Columbia deploys two commercial communications satellites.
2000: 155 skiers are killed in the Austrian Alps when a cable car catches fire inside Kitzsteinhorn mountain.
2001: Taiwan is formally admitted to the World Trade Organization, which China has officially joined the day before.
Today's Birthdays
1050: Henry IV, Holy Roman emperor (Goslar, Germany; died 1106)
1491: Martin Bucer, ecumenical theologian and Protestant reformer (Schlettstadt--now Sélestat, France; died 1551)
1744: Abigail Adams, first lady of the United States (Weymouth, MA; died 1818)
1821: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, novelist (Moscow, Russia; died 1881)
1885: George S. Patton, general (San Gabriel, CA; died 1945)
1896: Charles "Lucky" Luciano, gangster (Italy; died 1962)
1904: Alger Hiss, government official accused of being a Communist spy (Baltimore, MD; died 1996)
1922: Kurt Vonnegut Jr., novelist (Indianapolis, IN; died 2007)
1925: Jonathan Winters, comedian/actor (Dayton, OH)
1928: Carlos Fuentes, writer (Mexico City, Mexico)
1951: Fuzzy Zoeller, golfer (New Albany, IN)
1962: Demi Moore, actress (Roswell, NM)
1964: Calista Flockhart, actress (Freeport, IL)
1974: Leonardo DiCaprio, actor (Los Angeles, CA)
