HISTORY TODAY: November 04, 2017

1979 

At the American Embassy in Teheran,
Iran, 90 people, including 63 Americans, are taken hostage

644		Umar of Arabia is assassinated at Medina and is succeeded as caliph by Uthman.
1493		Christopher Columbus discovers Guadeloupe during his second expedition.
1677		William III and Mary of England wed on William’s birthday.
1760		Following the Russian capture of Berlin, Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Torgau.
1791		General Arthur St. Clair, governor of Northwest Territory, is badly defeated by a large Indian army near Fort Wayne.
1798		Congress agrees to pay a yearly tribute to Tripoli, considering it the only way to protect U.S. shipping.
1842		Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill.
1854		Florence Nightingale and her nurses arrive in the Crimea.
1863		From the main Confederate Army at Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet‘s troops are sent northeast to besiege Knoxville.
1918		Austria signs an armistice with the Allies.
1922		The U.S. Postmaster General orders all homes to get mailboxes or relinquish delivery of mail.
1922		The entrance to King Tut’s tomb is discovered.
1924		Calvin Coolidge is elected the 30th president of the United States.
1924		Nellie Tayloe Ross and Miriam Ferguson are elected the first and second women governors (Wyoming and Texas).
1946		The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is established.
1952		General Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected 34th president of the United States.
1956		Russian troops attack Budapest, Hungary.
1979		At the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran, 90 people, including 63 Americans, are taken hostage by militant student followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. The students demand the return of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who is undergoing medical treatment in New York City.
1980		Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th president of the United States.
1992		Carol Moseley Braun becomes the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
1995		Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
2008		Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is elected the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American to hold that position.
Born on November 4
1650		William III, Prince of Orange, later King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1879		Will Rogers, American actor and writer.
1916		Walter Cronkite, reporter and news anchor for CBS News; dubbed “The Most Trusted Man in America.”
1916		John Basilone, US Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
1916		Ruth Handler, businesswoman, toy designer who co-founded Mattel with her husband and created the Barbie doll.
1918		Art Carney, actor; best known for playing Ed Norton, sidekick to Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden on the TV series The Honeymooners, he received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in the film Harry and Tonto.
1923		Eugene Sledge, US Marine, famous for his memoir of the fighting in the Pacific Theater, With the Old Breed.
1933		Sir Charles Kuen Kao, Chinese-born physicist known as the “Father of Fiber Optics” and the “Godfather of Broadband”; he shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics.
1946		Laura Welch Bush, wife of US President George W. Bush, she served as First Lady from 2001 to 2009; she used her position to champion education and literacy.
1961		Jeff Probst, game show host and executive producer, best known as the host of the US version of the reality show Survivor.
1969		Sean Combs, rapper, record producer, actor; at various times used the stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and Diddy. He won three Grammys and two MTV Video Music Awards.

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