GMT 11/18/2016

This Day In History:

1883 – American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.

1961 – United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

1963 – The first push-button telephone goes into service.

1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.

1988 – War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers.

1993 – In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.

2013 – NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.