Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., USN along with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot/radioman Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, make their historic first-flight over the South Pole, in 18 hours, 41 minutes in a Ford Tri-Motor airplane named the Floyd Bennett. More
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What Happened in November?
Tafari Makonnen is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia following the death of Empress Zewditu, on November 2, 1930, taking the name Haile Selassie I, which means "Power of the Trinity". His full title was "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God".
His official title reflected his dynastic lineage, which traces back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Haile Selassie was considered a descendant of King Solomon through Ethiopia's Solomonic Dynasty. According to the tradition, this lineage traces back to Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Makeda), who are said to have had a son named Menelik I, the founder of the dynasty.
Sinclair Lewis wins the 1930 Nobel Prize for Literature, the first American to receive the honor. More
The U.S. Supreme Court (Chief Justice, Charles Evans Hughes) rules on the Scottsboro Boys Trial with a 7-2 decision; that in capital cases, defendants are denied due process if they are not given reasonable time and opportunity to secure counsel, reversing the convictions of the nine young African American men who had been convicted and sentenced to death for raping two white women in 1931, ordering new trials.
The reversal was based on the ground that the due process clause of the United States Constitution guarantees the effective assistance of counsel at a criminal trial. In an opinion written by Associate Justice George Sutherland, the Supreme Court found the defendants had been denied effective counsel. During the retrials, one of the alleged victims admitted to fabricating the rape story and asserted that none of the Scottsboro Boys touched either of the white women. More
The FBI Criminology Laboratory officially opens. During its first year, the Lab performed nearly 1,000 examinations. More
The Flying boat "China Clipper" lifts off the waters of San Francisco Bay, California, carrying 58 mailbags, weighing 1,837 lbs. containing 110,865 specially stamped letters on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight. More
The Anti-Comintern Pact is signed between Germany and Japan, laying the groundwork for the Axis Powers during World War II. More
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, a massive, coordinated attack on Jews throughout Greater Germany takes place. The German authorities looked on without intervening as Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked and buildings were demolished. The name Kristallnacht (literally 'Crystal Night') comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the attack. More
The Soviet Union invades Finland starting what is sometimes call the "Winter War". Though small and under-resourced, the Finnish Army was resilient, well-led and was able to use knowledge of the terrain to good effect.
Despite the overwhelming odds, Finland resisted for three months with little outside assistance. However, it was only a matter of time before the balance of power tipped in the Soviet Union’s favor. Finland was forced to sign the Treaty of Moscow on 12 March 1940, which ceded 11 per cent of its territory to the Soviet Union. More
Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected as President of the United States for an unprecedented third term. More
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State collapses on November 7, 1940. The bridge had been opened to traffic only four months earlier on July 1, 1940. The bridge's main span collapsed in 40-mile-per-hour winds as the deck oscillated in an alternating twisting motion that gradually increased in amplitude until the deck tore apart. More
Efforts to replace the bridge were delayed by US involvement in World War II, as well as engineering and finance issues, but in 1950, a new Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened in the same location.
Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa during World War II, begins.
Operation Uranus: Soviet Marshal Georgi Zhukov’s trap for the German Army at Stalingrad is ready and a devastating attack is unleashed. More
The Tehran Conference, a four day meeting between U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin begins on November 28, 1943, in Tehran, Iran. The three leaders coordinated their military strategy against Germany and Japan and made a number of important decisions concerning the post World War II era. More
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented fourth term by defeating Thomas Dewey by more than three and a half million votes and a 333 Electoral College vote margin. FDR would die on April 12, 1945, at the age of 63 from complications of high blood pressure. More
The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals begin in Germany. More
UNESCO, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is officially established on November 4, 1946, when its Constitution came into force after being ratified by 20 countries.
The organization was founded on November 16, 1945, in London with the purpose to build peace and security through international collaboration in education, science, and culture.
The Haiphong Incident occurred on November 23, 1946, when The French Cruiser, Suffren and several smaller ships bombard the Vietnamese coastal city of Haiphong, killing between 2,000 and 6,000 Vietnamese people.
The incident, also known as the Haiphong Massacre is thought of as the first armed clash in a series of events that would lead to the Battle of Hanoi on December 19, 1946, and the official outbreak of the First Indochina War. More
Howard Hughes flies the H-4 Hercules nicknamed the Spruce Goose. It was the largest, heaviest and most expensive plane ever built. Yet aside from a one-mile test flight at 70ft (20m), it never flew again.
The plane was designed under an Air Force contract to carry 750 troops or one Sherman tank up to 5,000 miles and at a cruising speed above 250 mph at up to 21,000ft (6,400m) across the Atlantic, thus avoiding Nazi U-boats.. Shortages of materials and in-fighting with business partner Henry Kaiser meant that the only prototype ever built was not completed until 1947, two years after the war ended. More
On Nov. 24, 1947, Congress votes to hold the “Hollywood 10” in contempt. The following day the Motion Picture Association of America announced that the “Hollywood 10” directors, producers, and writers who had refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) would be fired or suspended.
The ten men refused to state whether they were or had ever been members of the Communist Party, arguing that the questions violated their First Amendment rights. They were convicted in federal court in 1948 and received sentences of six months to one year in prison.