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Almanac

Today is Monday, Nov. 7, the 312th day of 2016. There are 54 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

in History:

On Nov. 7, 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

On this date:

In 1861, former U.S. President John Tyler was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives (however, Tyler died before he could take his seat).

In 1940, Washington state’s original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed “Galloping Gertie,” collapsed into Puget Sound during a windstorm just four months after opening to traffic.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1962, Republican Richard Nixon, having lost California’s gubernatorial race, held what he called his “last press conference,” telling reporters, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, 78, died in New York City.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.

In 1973, Congress overrode President Richard Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive’s power to wage war without congressional approval.

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the governor’s race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history; David N. Dinkins was elected New York City’s first black mayor.

In 1996, the U.S. liquor industry voted to drop its decades-old voluntary ban on broadcast advertising.

Ten years ago: Democrats won control of the House and Senate, riding a wave of anger over the Iraq war and congressional scandals; Keith Ellison, a Democratic state lawmaker from Minnesota, became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Panama won a seat on the U.N. Security Council after Guatemala and Venezuela dropped out to end a deadlock.

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