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Today in History: November 9

1313
Louis the Bavarian defeats his cousin Frederick I of Austria at the Battle of Gammelsdorf

1799
Napoleon Bonaparte participates in a coup and declares himself dictator of France.

1848
The first U.S. Post Office in California opens in San Francisco at Clay and Pike streets. At the time there are only about 15,000 European settlers living in the state.

1906
President Theodore Roosevelt leaves Washington, D.C., for a 17-day trip to Panama and Puerto Rico, becoming the first president to make an official visit outside of the United States.

1914
The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney wrecks the German cruiser Emden, forcing her to beach on a reef on North Keeling Island in the Indian Ocean.


1918
Germany is proclaimed a republic as the kaiser abdicates and flees to the Netherlands.

1935
Japanese troops invade Shanghai, China.

1938
Nazis kill 35 Jews, arrest thousands and destroy Jewish synagogues, homes and stores throughout Germany. The event becomes known as Kristallnacht, the night of the shattered glass.


1965
Nine Northeastern states and parts of Canada go dark in the worst power failure in history, when a switch at a station near Niagara Falls fails.

1972
Bones discovered by the Leakeys push human origins back 1 million years.

1983
Alfred Heineken, beer brewer from Amsterdam, is kidnapped and held for a ransom of more than $10 million.

1989
The Berlin Wall is opened after dividing the city for 28 years.

1993
Stari Most, a 427-year-old bridge in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is destroyed, believed to be caused by artillery fire from Bosnian Croat forces.

1994
The chemical element Darmstadtium, a radioactive synthetic element, discovered by scientists in Darmstadt, Germany.

1998
Largest civil settlement in US history: 37 brokerage houses are ordered to pay $1.3 billion to NASDAQ investors to compensate for price fixing.

2020
Drugmakers BioNTech and Pfizer announce their COVID-19 vaccine to be over 90% effective in a first look at the results from their phase 3 trial involving nearly 44,000 people

Today in History: Born on November 9

1918
Spiro Agnew, vice president to Richard Nixon.

1936
Mary Travers, singer, songwriter; member of Vocal Group folk group Peter, Paul and Mary ("Puff the Magic Dragon," "If I Had a Hammer").

1941
Tom Fogerty, musician; guitarist with Creedence Clearwater Revival.

JOTD
The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent, but had not phoned in.

Needing to have an urgent work problem resolved, he dialed the employee’s home phone number and was greeted by a child’s whispered, “Hello.”

“Is your Daddy home?” he asked.

“Yes,” whispered the small voice.

“May I talk with him?”

The child whispered, “No.”

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, “Is your Mommy there?”

“Yes.”

“May I talk with her?”

Again the small voice whispered, “No.”

Hoping there was someone with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, “Is anyone else there?”

“Yes,” whispered the child, “a policeman.”

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, “May I speak with the policeman?”

“No, he’s busy,” whispered the child.

“Busy doing what?”

“Talking to Mommy and Daddy and the Fireman,” came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, “What is that noise?”

“A helicopter,” answered the whispering voice.

“What is going on there?” demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, “The search team just landed a helicopter.”

Alarmed, confused, and a little frustrated, the boss asked, “What are they searching for?”

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle…”Me!”