This day in history

[November 03, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Nov. 3, the 307th day of 2009. There are 58 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Nov. 3, 1900, the first major U.S. automobile show opened at New York's Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Automobile Club of America.

On this date:

In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.

In 1852, Japan's Emperor Meiji was born in Kyoto.

In 1909, American journalist James Reston was born in Clydebank, Scotland.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide election victory over Republican challenger Alfred M. "Alf" Landon.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, into orbit; on board was a dog named "Laika" who was sacrificed in the experiment.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson soundly defeated Republican Barry Goldwater to win a White House term in his own right.

In 1970, Salvador Allende was inaugurated as president of Chile.

In 1979, five Communist Workers Party members were killed in a clash with heavily armed Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis during an anti-Klan protest in Greensboro, N.C.

In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair began to come to light as Ash-Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran.

In 1994, Susan Smith of Union, S.C., was arrested for drowning her two young sons, Michael and Alex, nine days after claiming the children had been abducted by a black carjacker.

Ten years ago: Aaron McKinney was convicted of murder in the fatal beating of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming. (McKinney and Russell Henderson, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder, are serving life prison sentences.)

Five years ago: President George W. Bush claimed a re-election mandate a day after a record 59 million Americans chose him over Democrat John Kerry; Kerry conceded defeat in make-or-break Ohio rather than launch a legal fight reminiscent of the contentious Florida recount of four years earlier. Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's first-ever presidential election after a three-week probe into vote fraud found no grounds to invalidate his triumph. Sgt. Charles Jenkins, who'd spent nearly 40 years in North Korea, pleaded guilty to deserting the U.S. Army in 1965. (He served 25 days in jail and was discharged.)

One year ago: On the eve of Election Day 2008, Democrat Barack Obama radiated confidence and Republican John McCain displayed the grit of an underdog as the rivals reached for the finish line of a two-year marathon. Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, a video maker for Osama bin Laden, was sentenced at Guantanamo to life in prison for encouraging terrorist attacks. Authorities announced they had positively identified some of Steve Fossett's remains found a half-mile from where the adventurer's plane had crashed in California's Sierra Nevada. Former White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, who took the iconic image of Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, died on Merritt Island, Fla., at age 88.

Today's birthdays: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller is 91. Actress Lois Smith is 79. Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is 76. Actor-dancer Ken Berry is 76. Movie composer John Barry is 76. Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally is 70. Actor Shadoe Stevens is 63. Singer Lulu is 61. Comedian-actress Roseanne Barr is 57. Actress Kate Capshaw is 56. Comedian Dennis Miller is 56. Actress Kathy Kinney is 56. Singer Adam Ant is 55. Actor Dolph Lundgren is 52. Rock musician C.J. Pierce (Drowning Pool) is 37. Olympic gold medal figure skater Evgeni Plushenko is 27. Actress Julie Berman ("General Hospital") is 26.

Thought for today: "In any war, the first casualty is common sense, and the second is free and open discussion." -- James Reston, American journalist (1909-1995)

[Associated Press]

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