Today in History - November 5th

1492 - On this day in history, Columbus was among the first Europeans to encounter corn (maize) from the Indians of Cuba.
1872 - Women's right activist, Susan B Anthony, was arrested because she and a group of other women casted their ballots in Rochester, New York.
1872 - Today in history, Ulysses S. Grant was re-elected US president.
1940 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office.
1946 - John F. Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives at the age of 29.
1968 - On this day in history, the first black woman representative to serve in Congress, Shirley Chisholm, was elected.
1974 - Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of CT. She was the first woman in the US to win a governorship without succeeding her husband.

1992 - Bobby Fisher defeated Boris Spassky to with Chess title in Belgrade.
1994 - Former U.S. President Reagan announced that he had Alzheimer's disease.
1999 - District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft Corp. enjoyed "monopoly power."
2006 - Today in history, Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar were sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for the role in the massacre of the 148 Shi'as in 1982.

SCIENCE, INVENTIONS, PATENTS - Today in History, November 5th

1895 - George B. Selden received the first United States patent for an automobile driven by gasoline. He sold the rights for $200,000 four years later.
1998 - On this day in history, scientists published a genetic study that showed strong evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one child (Eston Hemings) of his slave, Sally Hemings.

1959 - Today in history, The American Football League was formed.
1994 - George Foreman, 45, became boxing's oldest heavyweight champion when he knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas.
2011 - Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arrested on charges of sexual abuse of his players over a 15-year period.

1911 - Roy Rogers, Cincinnati Ohio, cowboy (Happy Trails, Roy Rogers Show)
1941 - Art Garfunkel, New York, American singer/actor (Sounds of Silence, Carnal Knowledge)
1943 - Sam Shepard, Ill, actor/playwright (Frances, Crimes of the Heart)
1960 - Tilda Swinton, London England, actress (Orlando)