There are 31 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 30, 1782, the United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris for ending the Revolutionary War; the Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783.
On this date:
In 1803, Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France, which had sold it to the United States.
In 1874, British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.
In 1981, the United States and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.
In 1982, the motion picture “Gandhi,” starring Ben Kingsley as the Indian nationalist leader, had its world premiere in New Delhi.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.
In 2000, Al Gore’s lawyers battled for his political survival in the Florida and U.S. Supreme Courts; meanwhile, GOP lawmakers in Tallahassee moved to award the presidency to George W. Bush in case the courts did not by appointing their own slate of electors.
In 2004, “Jeopardy!” fans saw Ken Jennings end his 74-game winning streak as he lost to real estate agent Nancy Zerg.
In 2010, the Obama administration announced that all 197 airlines that flew to the U.S. had begun collecting names, genders and birth dates of passengers so the government could check them against terror watch lists before they boarded flights.
In 2011, an Arizona jury sentenced convicted “Baseline Killer” Mark Goudeau (goo-DOH’) to death for killing nine people in the Phoenix area. (He remains on death row.)
In 2013, Paul Walker, 40, the star of the “Fast & Furious” movie series, died with his friend, Roger W. Rodas, who was at the wheel of a Porsche sports car that crashed and burned north of Los Angeles.
In 2018, former President George H.W. Bush, a World War II hero who rose through the political ranks to the nation’s highest office, died at his Houston home at the age of 94; his wife of more than 70 years, Barbara Bush, had died in April.
In 2020, two battleground states, Wisconsin and Arizona, certified their presidential election tallies in favor of Joe Biden, even as President Donald Trump’s legal team continued to dispute the results; Biden’s victory in Wisconsin was certified following a partial recount that only added to his 20,600-vote margin over Trump.