1619 — America's first Thanksgiving Day (Virginia)
1655 — Middelburg Netherlands forbids building of synagogue
1682 — First General Assembly in Pennsylvania (Chester)
1791 — Britain's Observer, oldest Sunday newspaper in world, first published
1829 — Britain abolished "suttee" in India (widow burning herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre)
1843 — Manila paper (made from sails, canvas & rope) patented, Massachusetts
1851 — President Louis Napolean Boaparte forces crush a coup d'etat in France
1941 — Nazi ordinances places Jews of Poland outside protection of courts
1944 — Germans destroy Rhine dikes, Betuwe flooded
1945 — Senate approves U.S. participation in U.N.
1952 — Killer fogs begin in London England, "Smog" becomes a word
1957 — First edition of "Chase's Annual Events" published
1961 — Museum of Modern Art hangs Matisse's Le Bateau upside down for 47 days
1964 — Baseball approves a free-agent draft
1981 — President Reagan allows CIA to engage in domestic counter-intelligence (No 12333)
1982 — China adopts its constitution
1985 — "Les Miserables" opens at Palace Theatre, London
1997 — "Diary of Anne Frank" opens at Music Box Theater NYC