Nov. 27, 2008 - Today In History

Today is Thursday, Nov. 27, the 332nd day of 2008. There are 34 days left in the year.

This is Thanksgiving Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White.

On this date:

In 1701, astronomer Anders Celsius, inventor of the Celsius temperature scale, was born in Uppsala, Sweden.

In 1901, the U.S. Army War College was established in Washington, D.C.

In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad began regularly serving New York's Pennsylvania Station.

In 1942, during World War II, the French navy at Toulon scuttled its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of German troops.

In 1953, playwright Eugene O'Neill died in Boston at age 65.

In 1970, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.

In 1973, the Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.

In 1983, 181 people were killed when a Colombian Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crashed near Madrid's Barajas airport.

In 1988, actor John Carradine, known for his roles in horror films, died in Milan, Italy, at age 82.

In 1989, a bomb blamed on drug traffickers destroyed a Colombian Avianca Boeing 727, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground.

Ten years ago:

Answering 81 questions put to him three weeks earlier, President Clinton wrote the House Judiciary Committee that his testimony in the Monica Lewinsky affair was "not false and misleading."

Five years ago:

President Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops and thank them for "defending the American people from danger."

One year ago:

Israeli and Palestinian leaders at a Mideast conference in Annapolis, Md., agreed to formally restart peace talks.

A Somali immigrant, Nuradin Abdi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to blow up an Ohio shopping mall.

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died after being shot in his Florida home by an intruder.

Bill Willis, a Hall of Fame guard with the Cleveland Browns and Ohio State's first black football All-American, died in Columbus, Ohio, at age 86.

Dr. J. Robert Cade, inventor of Gatorade, died at age 80.

Today's Birthdays:

Actor James Avery is 60.

TV host Bill Nye ("Bill Nye, the Science Guy") is 53.

Actor William Fichtner is 52. Caroline Kennedy is 51.

Rock musician Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds) is 49.

Rock musician Charlie Benante (Anthrax) is 46.

Rock musician Mike Bordin (Faith No More) is 46.

Actor Fisher Stevens is 45. Actress Robin Givens is 44.

Actor Michael Vartan is 40. Rapper Skoob (DAS EFX) is 38.

Actor Kirk Acevedo is 37.

Rapper Twista is 36.

Actor Jaleel White is 32.

Actress Alison Pill is 23.

Thought for Today:

"Who does not thank for little will not thank for much." —
Estonian proverb.