Today is Sunday, Nov. 3, the 308th day of 2024. There are 58 days left in the year. Daylight saving time ends today.
Today in history:
On Nov. 3, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the spacecraft Sputnik 2, carrying the first animal into orbit, a dog named Laika.
Also on this date:
In 1908, Republican William Howard Taft was elected president, outpolling Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
In 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Car Co. was founded in Detroit by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant.
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt easily won reelection, losing just two states to the Republican candidate, Kansas Gov. Alf Landon.
In 1961, diplomat U Thant of Burma (now Myanmar) was elected secretary-general of the United Nations following the death of his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjold, in an airplane crash.
In 1979, five Communist Workers Party members were killed in a clash with heavily armed Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis during an anti-Klan protest in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd president of the United States, defeating President George H.W. Bush.
In 2012, the lights went back on in lower Manhattan to the relief of residents who had been plunged into darkness for nearly five days by Hurricane Sandy.
In 2014, 13 years after the 9/11 attack, a new 1,776-foot skyscraper at the World Trade Center site opened for business, marking an emotional milestone for both New Yorkers and the nation.
In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won the presidency, though his victory would not be known for more than three days as counting continued in battleground states; Republican President Donald Trump would refuse to concede, falsely claiming that he was a victim of widespread voter fraud.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is 91.
- Economist and Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen is 91.
- Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is 77.
- Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is 75.
- Boxing Hall of Famer Larry Holmes is 75.
- Scientist David Ho is 72.
- Comedian-actor Roseanne Barr is 72.
- Actor Kate Capshaw is 71.
- Comedian Dennis Miller is 71.
- Singer Adam Ant is 70.
- Actor Dolph Lundgren is 67.
- Olympic gold medal figure skater Evgeni Plushenko is 42.
- Actor Antonia Thomas (TV: “The Good Doctor”) is 38.
- Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is 37.
- TV personality-model Kendall Jenner is 29.