Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

November 25

1986
Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that $10 million of the $30 million from the sale of weapons to Iran had been illegally diverted to Nicaraguan contras.

1984
Do They Know It's Christmas?: Under the direction of Irish singer Bob Geldof, numerous artists - including Sting, Phil Collins, Boy George, George Michael, and Bono - record the song to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief. It became Britain's biggest-ever selling record.

1973
Arab Oil Embargo: Pres. Nixon calls for a ban on the sale of gasoline on Sundays in response to the embargo.

1973
55 mph: The presidential order to reduce the 70-mph speed limit is signed. It resulted in the 55-mph limit.

1971
D.B. Cooper: The hijacker parachutes out of a 727 jet with $200,000 ransom money and is never heard from again.

1961
First nuclear powered aircraft carrier: The USS Enterprise is commissioned.

1960
Last broadcasts of network radio soap operas: The final episodes of Ma Perkins, Right to Happiness, The Second Mrs. Burton and Young Doctor Malone are broadcast.

1956
Civil Rights: Segregation on interstate buses is ruled illegal by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

1952
George Meany becomes president of the American Federation of Labor.

1876
The Greenback political party is formed, their platform was based on inflating U.S. currency.

1851
First Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Canada is established.

1847
A letter is mailed using a 5¢ U.S. 1847 Blue Alexandria postage stamp. In May 1981 this stamp was sold for $1,000,000.

1971
Christina Applegate, American actress. TV: Married with Children (Kelly Bundy).

1960     d. 1999
John F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, son of Pres. John F. Kennedy. He, his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette were killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The plane was piloted by Kennedy.

1947
John Larroquette, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Night Court (Emmy, Dan Fielding) and The John Larroquette Show. Film: Stripes (1981) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).

1941
Percy Sledge, American singer. Music: When a Man Loves a Woman (1966 ) which became the first gold record released by Atlantic Records.

1925     d. 1969
Jeffrey Hunter (Henry H. McKinnies), American actor. Film: King of Kings (1961, Christ). TV: Star Trek (Capt. Pike, the first commander of the Enterprise).

1920
Ricardo Montalbán (Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino), Mexican-born Emmy-winning actor. Film: Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). TV: Fantasy Island (Mr. Roarke), How the West Was Won (1978, Emmy), and pitchman for the Chrysler Cordoba with its "rich Corinthian leather."

1914
Joe DiMaggio, American Baseball Hall-of-Famer.

1913     d. 1993
Lewis Thomas, American physician, "Poet Laureate of 20th Century Medical Science." Writings: The Lives of the Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974, National Book Award) and The Medusa and the Snail (1979, American Book Award).

1883
Harvey Spencer Lewis, American spiritualist, founder of the Rosicrucian order Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (1915).

1881     d. 1963
John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli), 261st Pope (1958-63). He was the first pope named Time magazine's Man of the Year.

1880     d. 1941
Frank J. "Fiddler" Corridon, American baseball pitcher. He is credited with inventing the spitball (1904).

1846     d. 1911
Carry Nation, American prohibitionist, known for attacking saloons with a hatchet.

1835     d. 1919
Andrew Carnegie, American steel-magnate, philanthropist.

1787     d. 1863
Franz Gruber, Austrian church organist, wrote the melody to Silent Night, Holy Night (1818). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1993     b. 1917
Anthony Burgess (John Anthony Burgess Wilson), British author. Writings: A Clockwork Orange (1962).

1991     b. 1946
Freddie Mercury (Frederick Bulsara), musician, lead singer of Queen, died of AIDS.

1987     b. 1922
Harold Washington, American politician, first black mayor of Chicago (1983).

1981     b. 1907
Jack Albertson, American Oscar-Tony-Emmy-winning actor. TV: Chico and the Man (Ed Brown - the Man).

1973     b. 1928
Laurence Harvey (L. Mischa Skikne), Lithuanian-born American actor. Film: Room at the Top (1958, Joe Lampton), The Manchurian Candidate (1962, the assassin).

1968     b. 1878
Upton Sinclair, American author. Writings: The Jungle (1906).

1949     b. 1878
Bojangles (Luther Bill Robinson), American tap dancer, known as the Mayor of Harlem.

1944     b. 1866
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American federal judge. He served as the first baseball commissioner (1921-44), during which he barred eight Chicago players from baseball in the famous "Black Sox Scandal."

1885     b. 1819
Thomas Andrews Hendricks, 21st U.S. Vice-President (1885).

1748     b. 1674
Isaac Watts, English clergyman, founder of modern English hymnody, and author of the hymn Joy To the World (1719). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

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