Friday, November 2, 2007 — You see what we have to live with around here: weird alien serpent creatures, zombies, &c., &c. Is it any wonder we like to revisit the past, and see what happened on this day in history?
2004—Warren Co. (OH) officials count votes behind locked doors because of an alleged “terrorist threat.”
2002—“We know he [Saddam Hussein] has chemical weapons,” says George W. Bush.
1983—Soviet intelligence services, already convinced that the U.S. is planning a pre-emptive nuclear strike under cover of a training exercise, detect NATO’s Able Archer 83—just such an exercise—and conclude that a nuclear strike is imminent.
1972—The Seafarer’s International Union makes a $100,000 “contribution” to the Nixon reelection in exchange for the Justice Department dropping an indictment—for making illegal campaign “contributions.”
1963—With an OK from the White House, South Vietnamese generals overthrow President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu.
1950—The first color television broadcasts begin.
1947—Howard Hughes takes the “Spruce Goose”—the world’s largest airplane—out for a test flight. It never flies again.
1944—Thomas Midgley, Jr., discoverer of chlorofluorocarbons and developer of lead additives for gasoline, dies of accidental strangulation.