Today is Tuesday, Nov. 25, the 329th day of 2014. There are 36 days left in the year.
Today’s highlights:
On Nov. 25, 1984, William Schroeder of Jasper, Indiana, became the second man to receive a Jarvik-7 artificial heart, at Humana Hospital Audubon in Kentucky. (Schroeder lived 620 days on the device.) The Ethiopian famine relief song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was recorded in London by the charity supergroup Band Aid.
On this date:
In 1783, the British evacuated New York, their last military position in the United States during the Revolutionary War.
In 1864, during the Civil War, Confederate agents set a series of arson fires in New York; the blazes were quickly extinguished.
In 1908, the first issue of The Christian Science Monitor was published.
In 1914, baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California.
In 1920, radio station WTAW of College Station, Texas, broadcast the first play-by-play description of a football game, between Texas University and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. (Texas won, 7-3.)
In 1944, baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis died at age 78.
In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a slight stroke.
In 1963, the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery; his widow, Jacqueline, lighted an “eternal flame” at the gravesite.
In 1974, former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant died in New York at age 65.
In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.
In 1999, 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez was rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida, setting off an international custody battle.
In 2002, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, and appointed Tom Ridge to be its head.
Ten years ago: Leading Sunni Muslim politicians in Iraq urged postponement of the January 30, 2005 national elections (however, the elections ended up taking place as scheduled). A man with a knife broke into a high school dormitory in Ruzhou, China, killing nine boys as they slept. (Chinese authorities later executed a 21-year-old man who confessed to the attack.)
Five years ago: Toyota said it would replace the gas pedals on 4 million vehicles in the United States because the pedals could get stuck in the floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.
One year ago: Pushing back against critics, President Barack Obama forcefully defended the temporary agreement to freeze Iran’s disputed nuclear program, declaring that the United States “cannot close the door on diplomacy.” Prosecutors closed their yearlong investigation into the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that claimed the lives of 26 victims; their report said the motive of gunman Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother and himself, might never be known.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Noel Neill is 94. Playwright Murray Schisgal is 88. Actress Kathryn Crosby is 81. Actor Matt Clark is 78. Actor Christopher Riordan is 77. Singer Percy Sledge is 74. Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs is 74. Singer Bob Lind is 72. Author, actor and economist Ben Stein is 70. Actor John Larroquette is 67. Actor Tracey Walter is 67. Movie director Jonathan Kaplan is 67. Author Charlaine Harris is 63. Retired MLB All-Star Bucky Dent is 63. Dance judge Bruno Tonioli (TV: “Dancing with the Stars”) is 59. Singer Amy Grant is 54. Former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar is 51. Rock musician Eric Grossman (K’s Choice) is 50. Rock singer Mark Lanegan is 50. Rock singer-musician Tim Armstrong is 49. Actor Steve Harris is 49. Actor Billy Burke is 48. Singer Stacy Lattisaw is 48. Rock musician Rodney Sheppard (Sugar Ray) is 48. Rapper-producer Erick Sermon is 46. Actress Jill Hennessy is 45. Actress Christina Applegate is 43. Actor Eddie Steeples is 41. Actress Kristian Nairn is 39. Former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb is 38. Actor Jerry Ferrara is 35. Actor Joel Kinnaman is 35. Actress Valerie Azlynn is 34. Former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager is 33. Former first daughter Barbara Pierce Bush is 33. Actress Katie Cassidy is 28. Contemporary Christian singer Jamie Grace is 23.
Thought for today: “The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” — Mencius, Chinese philosopher (371 B.C.-289 B.C.).
Associated Press
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