2016—Chris Sununu claims Democrats bus voters in from Mass, a lie quickly cribbed by Donald Trump.
1977—Carter’s new CIA boss, Stansfield Turner, fires 200 spooks. They all go meekly, with nary a thought of covert retaliation against Democrats.
1973—Ex-Veep Spiro Agnew pays a $10,000 fine for not paying taxes on the bribes he took while in office.
1963—“I can safely say,” says Gen. Paul D. Harkin, U.S. commander in South Vietnam, “that the end of the war is in sight.” He’s in Tokyo, so….
1939—FDR moves up the date of Thanksgiving by one week to stretch out the Christmas shopping season.
1938—Convicted murderer John Deering’s heart rate is monitored by an EKG as he’s executed by a Utah firing squad: 180 beats per minute.
1918—In a single week, Spanish Flu kills 21,000 Americans.
1893—The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago closes; Daniel Fowle’s printing press, which had been on display, has not been seen since.
1891—Coal miners in Tennessee burn a stockade, freeing hundreds of prisoners brought in to take their jobs.
1885—A new Capitol guard in Statuary Hall fires his revolver at ghostly moans. He misses a prank-playing colleague, but leaves scars on the walls.
1765—The New Hampshire Gazette is printed “in mourning” for lost liberty, in protest of the Stamp Act, scheduled to take effect the following day.