November 21 in History

Historical Events on November 21

1789 North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.

1861 American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin Secretary of War.

1877 Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.

1905 Albert Einstein's paper that leads to the mass-energy equivalence formula, E = mc², is published in the journal Annalen der Physik.

1920 Irish War of Independence: In Dublin, 31 people are killed in what became known as "Bloody Sunday".

1964 Second Vatican Council: The third session of the Roman Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.

1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."

1969 U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Satō agree on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. The U.S. retains rights to bases on the island, but these are to be nuclear-free.

2013 The first of to become massive protests start in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych suspended signing the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement.

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Famous Birthdays on November 21

1694 Voltaire

1944 Dick Durbin

1965 Björk

1986 Colleen Ballinger

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Famous Deaths on November 21

1916 Franz Joseph I of Austria

1959 Max Baer (boxer)

1970 C. V. Raman

1996 Abdus Salam

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