15 November
November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining.
Events
- 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
- 1777 - American Revolutionary War: After 16 months of debate the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.
- 1806 - Pike expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sees a distant mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains (it was later named Pikes Peak).
- 1864 - American Civil War: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia and starts Sherman's March to the Sea.
- 1889 - Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.
- 1920 - In Geneva, the first assembly of the League of Nations is held.
- 1926 - The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations.
- 1939 - In Washington, DC, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal ends.
- 1943 - German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps." (see Porajmos)
- 1948 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent succeeds William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada. King had the longest combined time (3 terms, 22 years in total) in the Prime Minister position in British Commonwealth history.
- 1956 - The first film starring Elvis Presley (Love Me Tender) opens.
- 1960 - The Polaris missile is test launched.
- 1966 - Gemini program: Gemini 12splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
- 1969 - Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
- 1969 - Vietnam War: In Washington, DC, 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war.
- 1971 - Intel releases world's first microprocessor, the 4004.
- 1976 - René Lévesque & the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favor of independence.
- 1978 - A chartered DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka killing 183
- 1988 - In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran is launched on her first and last space flight.
- 1988 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.
- 1989 - Sachin Tendulkar makes his Test Cricket debut playing for India against Pakistan.
- 1990 - Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches with flight STS-38.
- 2000 - A chartered Antonov AN-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola killing more than 40 people
- 2001 - Halo: Combat Evolved, a now legendary Microsoft XBox video game, is released in North America.
- 2002 - Hu Jintao becomes general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
Births
- 1397 - Pope Nicholas V
- 1708 - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English politician (d. 1778)
- 1738 - William Herschel, astronomer (d. 1822)
- 1741 - Johann Kaspar Lavater, philosopher (d. 1801)
- 1784 - Jerome Bonaparte, French King of Westphalia (d. 1860)
- 1859 - Christopher Hornsrud, Norweigen Prime Minister (d.1960)
- 1862 - Gerhart Hauptmann, narrator and dramaticst; recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in literature (d. 1946)
- 1879 - Lewis Stone, actor (d. 1953)
- 1882 - Felix Frankfurter, United States Supreme Court justice (1939-1962) (d. 1965)
- 1887 - Marianne Moore, poet (d. 1972)
- 1887 - Georgia O'Keeffe, painter (d. 1986)
- 1889 - King Manuel II of Portugal (d. 1932)
- 1890 - Richal Crompton, author
- 1891 - Averell Harriman, American businessman and politician (d. 1986)
- 1891 - Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (d. 1944)
- 1895 - Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and writer (d. 1976)
- 1899 - Iskander Mirza, first President of Pakistan (d. 1969)
- 1905 - Mantovani, composer, musician, music arranger (d. 1980)
- 1906 - Curtis LeMay, United States Air Force general, candidate for Vice President of the United States (d. 1990)
- 1925 - Howard Baker, former Senator from Tennessee, former White House Chief of Staff
- 1925 - Heinz Piontek, writer
- 1929 - Ed Asner, actor
- 1930 - J. G. Ballard, science fiction author
- 1931 - Pascal Lissouba, Republic of the Congo politician
- 1932 - Petula Clark, singer
- 1933 - Clyde McPhatter, singer (d. 1972)
- 1936 - Wolf Biermann, writer
- 1937 - Yaphet Kotto, actor (Homicide: Life on the Street)
- 1940 - Sam Waterston, actor (Law & Order)
- 1942 - Daniel Barenboim, pianist, conductor
- 1945 - Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian singer
- 1947 - Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico
- 1953 - Dave Ethans, Irish businessman
- 1954 - Beverly D'Angelo, actress
- 1954 - Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland
- 1956 - Michael Hampton, guitarist (P Funk)
- 1957 - Kevin Eubanks, musician
- 1965 - Nigel Bond, English snooker player
- 1988 - Zena Grey, actress
Deaths
- 655 - Penda, king of Mercia.
- 1280 - Albertus Magnus, German philosopher
- 1630 - Johannes Kepler, astrologer, astronomer and mathematician
- 1787 - Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer
- 1954 - Lionel Barrymore, actor
- 1958 - Tyrone Power, actor
- 1965 - Allen Du Mont, television pioneer
- 1969 - Iskander Mirza, first President of Pakistan
- 1971 - Edie Sedgwick actor, model
- 1978 - Margaret Mead, anthropologist, writer, lecturer
- 1983 - John Le Mesurier, British actor (b. 1912)
- 1996 - Alger Hiss, United States State Department official, spy
- 1998 - Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), U.S. civil rights activist
- 2002 - Myra Hindley, Moors murderer
Holidays and observances
November 14 - November 16 - October 15 - December 15 -- listing of all days
