Today in history, November 4, includes the discovery of the entrance to King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, and Barack Obama’s election as the first Black U.S. president in 2008. Other events include the U.S. NSA being established in 1952, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and Ronald Reagan’s election as president in 1980.
Politics and world events
- 1979: The Iran hostage crisis began when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 90 people hostage.
- 1980: Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
- 1995: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing extremist after a peace rally.
- 2008: Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the office.
- 1939: The U.S. modified its neutrality stance with the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing belligerents to purchase arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis.
- 1956: Soviet forces entered Hungary to suppress the Hungarian Uprising, which had begun weeks earlier.
- 1991: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was opened, marking the first time five past and present U.S. Presidents attended an event together.
Science and discovery
- 1922: Howard Carter discovered the entrance to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
- 1952: The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was established.
- 1965: Harvard professor Elso Barghoorn announced the discovery of fossilized evidence of the earliest known life on Earth, dating back three billion years.
Other notable events
- 1842: Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois.
- 1862: Richard Gatling received a patent for his rapid-fire machine gun.
- 1890: London’s first electrified underground railway system officially opened.
- 1939: The first air-conditioned car was put on display at the National Automobile Show.
- 1965: Lee Ann Roberts Breedlove became the first woman to exceed 300 mph in a land speed record.
