Saturday, November 08, 2008

November 8th in History

(adapted from PR-Inside.com)

Today is Saturday, November 8, the 313th day of 2008. There are 53 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1519 - Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortez reaches Mexico City with his small Spanish force and 1,000 Tlaxcaltec allies. The Aztecs, believing he is an incarnation of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, receive him with great honor.

1793 - The Louvre Museum in Paris opens to the public.

1892 - Former U.S. President Grover Cleveland beats incumbent Benjamin Harrison and becomes the first U.S. president to win nonconsecutive terms in the White House.

1895 - Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, German physicist, discovers X-rays.

1960 - Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the U.S. presidency.

1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin approves a draft constitution that will give him increased powers at the parliament's expense.

1997 - Chinese engineers divert the Yangtze River from its natural course, clearing way for the construction of the enormous Three Gorges dam.

Today's Birthdays:

Edmund Halley, British astronomer (1656-1742)
John Milton, English poet (1608-1674)
Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist (1884-1922)
Margaret Mitchell, U.S. author (1900-1949)
Katharine Hepburn, U.S. actress (1907-2003)
Alain Delon, French actor (1932--)
Mary Hart, U.S. television host (1950--)
Parker Posey, U.S. actress (1968--)

Thought For Today:
"Man is born to live, not to prepare for life." -Boris Pasternak, Russian author (1890-1960).

2 comments:

aimee said...

I have to give you an interesting tidbit of info:

When William McKinley shot, he could have been saved if doctors knew where the bullet was lodged. Since he was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY there was an interesting new invention on display only a few yards from where McKinley lay -- the X-Ray machine! If they had carried him those few yards to this exhibit, doctors could have determined the exact location of the bullet, and would have probably been able to save his life. But as fate would have it, they did not consider the possibility and he died some days later from his wounds. That was in 1901. (I got this info from a site a presidents and their causes of death when I looked up something for Rhett)

H Noble said...

How interesting! Thanks for sharing!