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Herman Melville publishes “Moby-Dick” in the U.S.

Born on This Day

Aaron Copland

1900 - 1990

American composer who took a populist approach to classical forms in "Appalachian Spring" and "Fanfare for the Common Man."

Jawaharlal Nehru

1889 - 1964

Influential first prime minister of India after the country achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947.

Condoleezza Rice

1954 -

First Black woman to serve as national security advisor and then secretary of state, both under President George W. Bush.

Aaron CoplandBettmann Archive

Jawaharlal NehruCorbis via Getty Images

Condoleezza RiceGetty Images

1889

NOV14

Famed journalist Nellie Bly begins her bid to circle the globe faster than the fictional Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days." Bly, who rode on ships, trains, horses, rickshaws and burros, returned in 72 days and 6 hours.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on November 14th

English newspaper announces Benjamin Franklin has joined rebellion in America

On November 14, 1776, the St. James Chronicle of London carries an item announcing “The very identical Dr. Franklyn [Benjamin Franklin], whom Lord Chatham [former leading parliamentarian and colonial supporter William Pitt] so much caressed, and used to say he was proud in calling his friend, is now at the head of the rebellion in […]

NYC’s first mass transit debuts: a horse-drawn streetcar

On November 14, 1832, New York City’s New York and Harlem company premiered the nation’s first horse-drawn street car. Making its debut on Bowery and Fourth Avenue in Manhattan, between Prince and 14th Street, it marked New York’s first-ever mass transit offering. Within two weeks, passengers were charged 12.5 cents a ride. The streetcar, named the “John […]

Frank Leslie kills Billy “The Kid” Claiborne

The gunslinger Frank “Buckskin” Leslie shoots the Billy “The Kid” Claiborne dead in the streets of Tombstone, Arizona. The town of Tombstone is best known today as the site of the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral. In the 1880s, however, Tombstone was home to many gunmen who never achieved the enduring fame of Wyatt […]

Ottoman Empire declares a holy war

On November 14, 1914, in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, the religious leader Sheikh-ul-Islam declares an Islamic holy war on behalf of the Ottoman government, urging his Muslim followers to take up arms against Britain, France, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro in World War I. By the time the Great War broke out in the […]

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” premieres

On November 14, 1941, Suspicion, a romantic thriller starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, makes its debut. The film, which earned a Best Picture Academy Award nomination and a Best Actress Oscar for Fontaine, marked the first time that Grant, one of Hollywood’s quintessential leading men, and Hitchcock, one of […]

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United States gives military and economic aid to communist Yugoslavia

In a surprising turn of events, President Harry Truman asks Congress for U.S. military and economic aid for the communist nation of Yugoslavia. The action was part of the U.S. policy to drive a deeper wedge between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia ended World War II with the communist forces of Josip Broz Tito […]

Ruby Bridges desegregates her school

On November 14, 1960, a court order mandating the desegregation of schools comes into effect in New Orleans, Louisiana. Six-year-old Ruby Bridges walks into William Frantz Elementary School, accompanied by federal marshals and taunted by angry crowds, instantly becoming a symbol of the civil rights movement, an icon for the cause of racial equality and […]

Major battle erupts in the Ia Drang Valley

In the first major engagement of the war between regular U.S. and North Vietnamese forces, elements of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) fight a pitched battle with Communist main-force units in the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands. On this morning, Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry conducted a […]

Apollo 12 lifts off

Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of the moon, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr.; Richard F. Gordon, Jr.; and Alan L. Bean aboard. President Richard Nixon viewed the liftoff from Pad A at Cape Canaveral. He was the first president to attend the liftoff of a […]

Plane crash devastates Marshall University football team

On November 14, 1970, a chartered jet carrying most of the Marshall University football team clips a stand of trees and crashes into a hillside just two miles from the Tri-State Airport in Kenova, West Virginia, killing everyone onboard.The team was returning from that day’s game, a 17-14 loss to East Carolina University. Thirty-seven Marshall […]

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