On November 9, 1989, Communist East Germany opened its borders, enabling citizens to freely cross into the West for the first time in decades. This monumental decision marked the beginning of the Berlin Wall’s fall, a symbol of division and Cold War tensions that had split Germany—and much of Europe—since 1961. The Wall’s dismantling was not only a physical act but a profound turning point toward German reunification and the end of the Iron Curtain, transforming Europe and strengthening the ideals of democracy.
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In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting U.S. president to travel abroad, visiting Panama to inspect the construction of the Panama Canal. This journey underscored Roosevelt’s commitment to expanding American influence and modernizing the global trade landscape. The canal, completed in 1914, shortened maritime travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, revolutionizing international trade and establishing the United States as a dominant force in Western Hemisphere commerce.
In 1938, the Nazi regime initiated a coordinated attack across Germany and Austria, destroying synagogues, looting Jewish-owned stores, and burning homes in a violent anti-Semitic campaign known as *Kristallnacht*, or the “Night of Broken Glass.” This event marked an escalation in Nazi persecution and foreshadowed the horrors of the Holocaust. *Kristallnacht* shattered any remaining illusions of safety for Jewish communities in Nazi territories and exposed the world to the brutal lengths the regime would pursue to enforce its racist ideology.
In 1976, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa, labeling the nation’s white-minority government as “illegitimate.” This global denouncement added significant pressure on South Africa to dismantle its institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination. It marked a pivotal moment in the international struggle against apartheid, bolstering the morale of anti-apartheid activists and symbolizing the UN’s dedication to human rights.
In 2007, Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf placed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest, detaining thousands of her supporters to block a planned mass rally protesting his imposition of emergency rule. This controversial decision amplified tensions within Pakistan, drawing international condemnation and highlighting the country’s precarious struggle for democracy. Bhutto’s resistance symbolized hope for democratic reform, inspiring Pakistan’s citizens and underscoring the resilience of democratic movements amidst authoritarian control.
Today in History: November 13
Today in History: November 13:On Nov. 13, 2015, Islamic State militants carried out a set of coordinated attacks in Paris at the national stadium, in a crowded concert hall, in restaurants and on streets, killing 130 people in the worst attack on French soil since World War II. In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling which found Alabama bus segregation laws were illegal. In 1971, the U.S. space probe Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, DC. In 1985, some 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died when a volcanic mudslide buried the city. In 2001, U.S.-backed Northern Alliance fighters in Afghanistan entered Kabul as Taliban forces retreated from the capital city.
Today in History: November 12
Today in History: On November 12: 1954, Ellis Island officially closed as an immigration station and detention center. More than 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States via Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. In 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., and gave the green light to traffic. In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal. In 1970, the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The deadliest tropical cyclone on record claimed the lives of an estimated 300,000-500,000 people.
Today in History: November 11
Today in History: November 11: On Nov. 11, 1918, fighting in World War I ended as the Allies and Germany signed an armistice aboard a railroad car in the Forest of Compiègne in northern France. In 1620, 41 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed the Mayflower Compact, calling for a “civil body politick, for our better ordering and preservation.” In 1921, the remains of an unidentified American service member were interred in a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in a ceremony presided over by President Warren G. Harding. In 1966, Gemini 12 blasted off on a four-day mission with astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. aboard; it was the tenth and final crewed flight of NASA’s Gemini program.
Today in History: November 10
Today in History: November 10: On Nov. 10, 1898, in Wilmington, North Carolina, a mob of as many as 2,000 white supremacists killed dozens of African Americans, burned Black-owned businesses and forced the mayor, police chief and aldermen to resign at gunpoint, before installing their own mayor and city council in what became known as the “Wilmington Coup.” Other events of November 10. In 1775, the United States Marine Corps was established when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution to raise two battalions of Marines to support naval forces in the Revolutionary War. In 1954, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, depicting the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington, Virginia. In 1969, the children’s educational program “Sesame Street” made its debut on National Educational Television. In 1975, the Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank after being caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior; all 29 crew members were lost. In 2019, Bolivian President Evo Morales resigned after weeks of public protests in response to alleged election fraud in Bolivia’s general election the previous month.
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