1716 - The first lion to be exhibited in America went on display in Boston, MA.
1731 - English poet William Cowper was born. He is best known for "The Poplar Trees" and "The Task."
1789 - U.S. President Washington set aside this day to observe the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.
1825 - The first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, NY.
1832 - Public streetcar service began in New York City.
1867 - J.B. Sutherland patented the refrigerated railroad car.
1917 - The National Hockey League (NHL) was officially formed in Montreal, Canada.
1922 - In Egypt, Howard Carter peered into the tomb of King Tutankhamen.
1940 - The Nazis forced 500,000 Jews of Warsaw, Poland to live within a walled ghetto.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1939 Roosevelt had signed a bill that changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November.
1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing to begin December 1.
1942 - The motion picture "Casablanca" had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
1943 - The HMS Rohna became the first ship to be sunk by a guided missile. The German missile attack led to the death of 1,015 U.S. troops.
1949 - India's Constituent Assembly adopted the country's constitution The country became republic within the British Commonwealth two months later.
1950 - China entered the Korean conflict forcing UN forces to retreat.
1958 - Maurice Richard (Montreal Canadiens) scored his 600th NHL career goal.
1965 - France became the third country to enter space when it launched its first satellite the Diamant-A.
1973 - Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she was responsible for the 18-1/2 minute gap in a key Watergate tape. Woods was U.S. President Nixon's personal secretary.
1975 - Lynette"Squeaky" Fromme was found guilty by a federal jury in Sacramento, CA, for trying to assassinate U.S. President Ford on September 5.
1979 - The International Olympic Committee voted to re-admit China after a 21-year absence.
1983 - A Brinks Mat Ltd. vault at London's Heathrow Airport was robbed by gunmen. The men made off with 6,800 gold bars worth nearly $40 million. Only a fraction of the gold has ever been recovered and only two men were convicted in the heist.
1985 - The rights to Richard Nixon's autobiography were acquired by Random House for $3,000,000.
1986 - U.S. President Reagan appointed a commission headed by former Sen. John Tower to investigate his National Security Council staff after the Iran-Contra affair.
1988 - The U.S. denied an entry visa to PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, who was seeking permission to travel to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly.
1990 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz at the Kremlin to demand that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait.
1990 - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. agreed to acquire MCA Inc. for $6.6 billion.
1992 - The British government announced that Queen Elizabeth II had volunteered to start paying taxes on her personal income. She also took her children off the public payroll.
1995 - Two men set fire to a subway token booth in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The clerk inside was fatally burned.
1997 - The U.S. and North Korea held high-level discussions at the State Department for the first time.
1998 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a speech to the Irish Parliament. It was a first time event for a British Prime Minister.
1998 - Hulk Hogan announced that he was retiring from pro wrestling and would run for president in 2000.
2003 - The U.N. atomic agency adopted a resolution that censured Iran for past nuclear cover-ups and warning that it would be policed to put to rest suspicions that the country had a weapons agenda.
2011 - The Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. The Mars rover Curiosity landed on the floor of Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.