Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

November 15

1995
Pres. Clinton - First sexual encounter with Monica Lewinsky: Lewinsky lifts her jacket and show Pres. Clinton the straps of her thong underwear and they kiss. Later that evening they have another sexual encounter, during which Clinton takes a call from a member of Congress.

1993
Amy Fisher: Joey Buttafuoco is sentenced to six months in jail and fined $5,000 for the statutory rape of Fisher. Fisher had shot Buttafuoco's wife the previous May.

1991
Dan Quayle: "My friends, no matter how rough the road my be, we can and we will never, never surrender to what is right."

1988
Oprah Winfrey: The TV host displays a wheelbarrow containing 65 pounds of fat to demonstrate how much weight she lost.

1959
In Cold Blood: Richard Hickock and Perry Smith murder the Clutter family in Kansas, providing the basis for Truman Capote's book. The previous evening Mr. Clutter had taken out a $40,000 life insurance policy which paid double for accidental death.

1950
First black to play pro hockey: Arthur Dorrington signs with Atlantic City.

1926
First nation-wide radio network in the U.S. begins broadcasting, National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

1864
Civil War: Gen. Sherman (Union) begins the destruction of Atlanta. (Source: The Civil War Day by Day)

1806
Pikes Peak is first sighted by Zebulon M. Pike.

1777
"Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" are adopted by the Continental Congress and sent to the states for ratification.

1954
Beverly D'Angelo, American actress. Film: Hair (1979, Sheila), Coal Miner's Daughter (1980, Patsy Cline), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) and The Miracle (1991).

1946
Janet Lennon, American singer, one of the Lennon Sisters.

1940
Sam Waterson, American actor. Film: The Great Gatsby (1974, Nick Carraway) and The Killing Fields (1984, journalist Sidney Schanberg).

1933
Jack Burns, American actor. TV: The Andy Griffith Show (deputy Warren Ferguson).

1929
Edward Asner, American actor. TV: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Lou Grant) and Lou Grant (title role).

1919
Carol Bruce, actress, Mamma Carlson of WKRP in Cincinnati.

1891     d. 1944
Erwin Rommel, German general, "The Desert Fox," commander of the Afrika Korps during World War II.

1889     d. 1932
Manuel II, King of Portugal (1908-10), Portugal's last monarch. Deposed during a revolt, he lived out his life in exile in England.

1738     d. 1822
Sir William Herschel, English astronomer, discovered Uranus (1781), two of its moons (1787), and the sixth and seventh moons of Saturn (1789).

1316     d. 1316
John I, King of France (1316), posthumous son of King Louis X, he died a week after his birth. It is rumored that his uncle Philip either killed him or substituted him with a dead infant.

1981     b. 1896
Enid Markey, American actress. Film: Tarzan of the Apes (1918, making her the first Jane of Tarzan films).

1978     b. 1901
Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, known for her studies of primitive cultures. She posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1979).

1971     b. 1903
Rudolf Abel (Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher), Soviet spy. He was captured by the FBI (1957) and later exchanged for American U-2 pilot F. Gary Powers (1962). He transported microfilm inside a hollowed-out nickel.

1958     b. 1913
Tyrone Power (Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr.), American actor. Film: The Razor's Edge (1946) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). He was one of the most popular film actors of the 1930s and '40s.

1954     b. 1878
Lionel Barrymore, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: A Free Soul (1931, Oscar) and in the Dr. Kildare movies (as Dr. Gillespie).

1916     b. 1836
Charles Edward Cheney, American religious leader, founder of the Reformed Episcopal Church (1873).

1839     b. 1754
William Murdock, Scottish inventor of the oscillating steam engine (c1784). He also made the first practical use of gas lighting (1802).

1630     b. 1571
Johann Kepler, German mathematician, astronomer, "Father of Modern Astronomy," discovered that planetary orbits are elliptical (1609) and invented the astronomical telescope (1611).

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