What Happened on November 28?

  • The key leaders of the Allied forces during World War II met for the first time in Tehran, Iran. (1943) The Tehran Conference was a meeting between Allied leaders US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Soviet leader Josef Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss strategies to end the war with Nazi Germany and the Axis powers. It was the first of only two times the three leaders would meet during the war — the second would occur in Yalta in 1945. The meeting, among other things, set details for "Operation Overlord" which was an Allied military operation to invade western Europe.

  • The national 55-mile-per-hour (roughly 88-kilometer-per-hour) speed limit in the US came to an end. (1995) US President Bill Clinton signed a bill that repealed the National Maximum Speed Law that limited highway speeds on a federal level; the bill returned speed regulations to the state level.

  • The first auto race in the US took place. (1895) The course of the race was originally set to run about 92 miles (148 kilometers) from Chicago to Waukegan, Illinois, but a blizzard forced a shorter course: 50 miles (about 80 kilometers) round trip between Chicago and Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea won the race in a gas-powered carriage he had built with his brother; he completed the race in about 10 hours and won $2,000 US Dollars.

  • The Grand Ole Opry debuted its radio show in its first ever broadcast. (1925) The show that now is listened to around the world on radio and Internet broadcasts, was originally called the WSM Barn Dance. It was initially aired on station WSM in Nashville. It is one of the longest-running radio shows in US history and is largely credited with making country music as popular as it is today.

  • The London newspaper The Times was printed on a steam-powered press for the first time. (1814) The revolutionary press, created by Andreas Friedrich Bauer and Friedrich Koenig in Germany, was a product of the Industrial Revolution. It allowed newspapers to be mass produced for the first time.

  • NASA launched the Mariner 4 space probe. (1964) The probe's mission was to achieve the first flyby of Mars, which it successfully completed. It also sent back the first photos of the planet's surface, which also were the first photos successfully taken in deep space.

  • The deadliest nightclub fire in the history of the US took place at the Cocoanut Grove club in Boston. (1942) The fire started in a fake palm tree next to the stage and spread rapidly. There were about 1,000 people in the club that night — more than twice the number allowed by fire safety capacity regulations. The ensuing panic and the fact the club had one revolving door prevented people from escaping, and nearly 500 people were killed.

  • US soap operas The Edge of Night and As The World Turns aired live for the last time. (1975) The two shows were against converting to taped broadcasts and were the last soap operas to switch to the new format.

  • US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered in prison. (1994) Dahmer had been sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences for murder. He was beaten to death by a fellow inmate, who also was in prison for murder. The inmate claimed he killed Dahmer as part of God's work.

  • The Kingdom of Hawaii's independence was recognized by France and the United Kingdom. (1843) Hawaii remained independent until its government was overthrown in 1893; it ultimately was annexed by the US in 1898, in what some call the first case of American Imperialism. Hawaii became a US state in 1959.

Discussion Comments

anon356848

In 1863, the nation observed the first Thanksgiving set aside by national proclamation.(President Lincoln had asked Americans on October 3 to celebrate the last Thursday in November as a day of general thanksgiving.)

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