Saturday, November 21st
The 325th day of 2009.
There are 40 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Nov. 21, 1964 New York's Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened. (Go to article.)
On Nov. 21, 1904, Coleman Hawkins, the pioneering American jazz saxophonist, was born. Following his death on May 19, 1969, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On November 21, 1903, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1789 North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1877 Inventor Thomas A. Edison unveiled the phonograph.
1922 Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
1969 The Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth.
1973 President Richard Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
1980 A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas killed 87 people.
1985 Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested, accused of spying for Israel. (He later pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.)
1989 The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.
1991 The U.N. Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to be secretary-general.
1995 The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 5,000 for the first time.
2000 The Florida Supreme Court granted Democrat Al Gore's request to keep the presidential election recount going.
2001 Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year-old resident of Oxford, Conn., died of inhalation anthrax. The source of the anthrax has never been determined.
2002 NATO sought to expand its membership into the borders of the former Soviet Union as it invited seven former communist countries to join the alliance: Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.
2004 Donald Trump's casino empire filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2004 The NBA suspended Indiana's Ron Artest for the rest of the season following a brawl in the stands during a game against the Detroit Pistons.
2005 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke away from the hardline Likud with the intention of forming a new party.
2007 Officials announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead.
Current Birthdays
Cherry Jones turns 53 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini Actress Cherry Jones turns 53 years old today.
89 Stan Musial
Baseball Hall of Famer
82 Joseph Campanella
Actor
76 Jean Shepard
Country singer
75 Laurence Luckinbill
Actor
72 Marlo Thomas
Actress ("That Girl")
70 Rick Lenz
Actor
69 Dr. John
Musician
69 Natalia Makarova
Ballet dancer
68 Juliet Mills
Actress
66 Phil Bredesen
Governor of Tennessee
65 Marcy Carsey
TV producer
65 Richard Durbin
U.S. senator, D-Ill.
65 Earl Monroe
Basketball Hall of Famer
65 Harold Ramis
Writer, actor
64 Goldie Hawn
Actress
63 Andrew Davis
Director
61 Lonnie Jordan
Rock musician (War)
59 Livingston Taylor
Singer
57 Lorna Luft
Actress
49 Brian Ritchie
Rock musician (Violent Femmes)
47 Steven Curtis Chapman
Gospel singer
46 Nicollette Sheridan
Actress ("Desperate Housewives")
44 Bjork
Rock singer, actress
43 Troy Aikman
Football Hall of Famer, sportscaster
41 Chauncey Hannibal
R&B singer (BLACKstreet)
41 Alex James
Rock musician (Blur)
40 Ken Griffey Jr.
Baseball player
38 Pretty Lou
Rapper (Lost Boyz)
35 Kelsi Osborn
Country singer (SHeDAISY)
25 Lindsey Haun
Singer, actress
25 Jena Malone
Actress
Historic Birthdays
Coleman Hawkins
11/21/1904 - 5/19/1969
American jazz musician
(Go to obit.)
83 Francois Voltaire
11/21/1694 - 5/30/1778
French writer
67 William Beaumont
11/21/1785 - 4/25/1853
American army surgeon
77 Sir Samuel Cunard
11/21/1787 - 4/28/1865
British shipbuilder
80 Hetty Green
11/21/1834 - 7/3/1916
American financier
81 Sir Harold Nicolson
11/21/1886 - 5/1/1968
English author and diplomat
68 Rene Magritte
11/21/1898 - 8/15/1967
Belgian painter
69 Eleanor Powell
11/21/1912 - 2/11/1982
American dancer
81 Sid Luckman
11/21/1916 - 7/5/1998
American football coach
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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