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Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 7, the 311th day of 2017. There are 54 days left in the year. This is Election Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 7, 1917, Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

On this date:

In 1861, former U.S. President John Tyler was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives (however, Tyler died before he could take his seat).

In 1867, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Curie was born in Warsaw.

In 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1940, Washington state’s original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed “Galloping Gertie,” collapsed into Puget Sound during a windstorm just four months after opening to traffic.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1954, the CBS News program “Face the Nation” premiered with Ted Koop as host; the guest was Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis.

In 1962, Republican Richard Nixon, having lost California’s gubernatorial race, held what he called his “last press conference,” telling reporters, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, 78, died in New York City.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.

In 1973, Congress overrode President Richard Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive’s power to wage war without congressional approval.

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the governor’s race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history; David N. Dinkins was elected New York City’s first black mayor.

In 1991, basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for HIV, and was retiring. (Despite his HIV status, Johnson has been able to sustain himself with medication.)

In 1996, the U.S. liquor industry voted to drop its decades-old voluntary ban on broadcast advertising.

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