What Happened in November?

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.  Expand +

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. Expand +

The United Nations General Assembly adopts Resolution 181 calling for the partition of Palestine into two separate states—an Arab and a Jewish one (Map) that would retain an economic union with an internationalized Jerusalem. In the 1910s, both groups, the Zionist Jews, recent emigrants from Russia and Europe who came to the ancient homeland of the Jews to establish a Jewish national state. and the native Palestinians had claimed the British-controlled territory. More

The trial of 11 U.S. Communist Party leaders begins in New York City on November 1, 1948 for initial appearances, with the substantive proceedings beginning in 1949. It was a highly publicized event during the anti-communist fervor.  Expand +

The Polaroid Land Camera Model 95 was introduced on November 26, 1948. Invented by Edwin H. Land, it was the first to offer a one-step process that produced a finished photograph in about a minute, and it sold out almost immediately. It was sold to the public at a Boston department store, costing $89.75, becoming available for purchase the day after Thanksgiving, 1948 Expand +

Two Puerto Rican nationalists fail in an attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman who was staying at the Blair House in Washington D.C. while the White House was being renovated. by force their way into Blair House in Washington, D.C. One of the attackers was killed, along with a White House police officer. More

“The Great Appalachian Storm of 1950,” system blanketed areas from western Pennsylvania southward deep into West Virginia with over 30 inches of snow for several days. Some locations received more than 50 inches of snow, and Coburn Creek, West Virginia, reported a staggering 62 inches of snow fall. More

President Truman refuses to rule out the use of atomic weapons in support of the United Nations troops, including U.S. soldiers, who were trying to prevent communist expansion into South Korea. Truman's announcement came at a time when communist China had joined North Korean forces in their attacks on South Korea.

The United States conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test, code-named "Ivy Mike." The detonation occurred at 7:15 AM local time on the island of Elugelab in the Enewetak Atoll, which corresponds to the evening of October 31st in the continental United States. More

Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president. A popular World War II general who ran on the slogan “I Like Ike,” Eisenhower easily defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson becoming the the 34th president of the United States.

Mrs. Thomas J. White of the Indiana Textbook Commission calls for a ban of the "Robin Hood" book and references to it, for promoting communism because "he stole from the rich to give to the poor".  Expand +

The Ellis Island Immigration Gateway is officially closed. The processing center began receiving arriving immigrants on January 1, 1892. Over the next 62 years, more than 12 million, mostly working class immigrants, would arrive in the United States via Ellis Island. Expand +

A meteorite crashes through the roof of a home near Sylacauga, Talladega County, Alabama, striking resident Ann E. Hodges. Hodges was the first person in modern history to have reportedly been injured by a meteorite.  Expand +

The Suez Crisis begins as Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula, leading to international tensions and intervention. More

Soviet troops move against Budapest with great force to crush a nascent rebellion in the capital of the Soviet satellite state of Hungary. Over the course of the next several days, thousands of Hungarians were killed by Red Army troops. Hundreds of thousands more fled to the West, seeking asylum. More

The U.S. Supreme Court ( Chief Justice Earl Warren), rules on November 13, 1956, hat racial segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. The decision effectively ends the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott that began with Rosa Parks' arrest. The official order to desegregate the Montgomery buses was delivered on December 20.

The Soviet Union launches a dog into space aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. The dog, named Laika, was the first animal in Orbit. More

The obscenity trial of Penguin Books for publishing DH Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover ends with their acquittal. The verdict is seen as a major victory for freedom of expression in Britain and liberalizing the cultural landscape. Expand +

John F. Kennedy is elected president of the United States, becoming the 35th President of the nation. He was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas; the fourth American president to be assassinated.

Six -year old Ruby Bridges, accompanied by federal marshals, walks through a mob of angry protesters to attend her first-grade on November 14, 1960 and becomes the first Black child to integrate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Expand +