Today is Wednesday, Nov. 2, the 307th day of 2016. There are 59 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Nov. 2, 1976, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter became the first candidate from the Deep South since the Civil War to be elected president as he defeated incumbent Gerald R. Ford.
On this date:
In 1795, the 11th president of the United States, James Knox Polk, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
In 1865, the 29th president of the United States, Warren Gamaliel Harding, was born near Marion, Ohio.
In 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states with the signing of proclamations by President Benjamin Harrison.
In 1914, during World War I, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
In 1936, the British Broadcasting Corp. inaugurated "high-definition" television service from Alexandra Palace in London.
In 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (derisively dubbed the "Spruce Goose" by detractors), on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman surprised the experts by winning a narrow upset over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.
In 1950, playwright George Bernard Shaw, 94, died in Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England.
In 1963, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem (noh ding ZEE'-em) was assassinated in a military coup.
In 1986, kidnappers in Lebanon released American hospital administrator David Jacobsen after holding him for 17 months.
In 1994, a jury in Pensacola, Florida, convicted Paul Hill of murder for the shotgun slayings of abortion provider Dr. John Britton and Britton's bodyguard; Hill was executed in Sept. 2003.
In 2000, an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts became the first residents of the international space station, christening it Alpha.
Ten years ago: The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after a man said they'd had sexual trysts together (Haggard later confessed he was guilty of sexual immorality). Gunmen in Iraq killed the Shiite dean of Baghdad University's school of administration and economics.
Five years ago: The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to some 19,000 Japanese-Americans who'd served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service.
One year ago: President Barack Obama toured a drug rehabilitation center and met with former inmates in Newark, New Jersey, where he called on the nation to ensure those regaining their freedom got a second chance instead of a return ticket to prison. NASA and its global partners celebrated the 15th anniversary of continuous residency at the International Space Station, where six U.S., Russian and Japanese crew members held a special dinner. Actor-writer Colin Welland, 81, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay for "Chariots of Fire," died in London. Country singer Tommy Overstreet, 78, died in Hillsboro, Oregon.
