On This Day — 7 November

2023

António Costa resigns as Prime Minister of Portugal following news of an investigation in a corruption scandal implicating members of his cabinet.

António Costa

2020

Joe Biden is confirmed elected as the 46th president of the United States, defeating incumbent Donald Trump.

Joe Biden

2017

Shamshad TV is attacked by gunmen and suicide bombers, with a security guard killed and 20 people wounded; ISIS claims responsibility for the attack.

Shamshad TV

2012

An earthquake off the Pacific coast of Guatemala kills at least 52 people.

2012 Guatemala earthquake

2007

The Jokela school shooting in Jokela, Tuusula, Finland, takes place, resulting in the death of nine people.

Jokela school shooting

2004

Iraq War: The interim government of Iraq calls for a 60-day state of emergency as U.S. forces storm the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Iraq War

2000

The controversial US presidential election is later resolved in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, electing George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the United States.

2000 United States presidential election

2000

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country's largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.

Drug Enforcement Administration

1996

NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.

NASA

1996

ADC Airlines Flight 086 crashes into the Lagos Lagoon in Epe, Lagos State, Nigeria, killing all 144 people on board.

ADC Airlines Flight 086

1994

WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, launches the world's first internet radio broadcast.

WXYC

1991

Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive and retires from the NBA.

Magic Johnson

1990

Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland.

Mary Robinson

1989

Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.

Douglas Wilder

1989

David Dinkins becomes the first African American to be elected Mayor of New York City.

David Dinkins

1989

East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph, along with his entire cabinet, is forced to resign after huge anti-government protests.

East Germany

1987

In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Tunisia

1987

The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in Singapore opens for passenger service.

Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)

1983

United States Senate bombing: A bomb explodes inside the United States Capitol. No one is injured, but an estimated $250,000 in damage is caused.

1983 United States Senate bombing

1983

Cold War: The command post exercise Able Archer 83 begins, eventually leading to the Soviet Union to place air units in East Germany and Poland on alert, for fear that NATO was preparing for war

Cold War

1982

Colonel Saye Zerbo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Colonel Gabriel Yoryan Somé.

Saye Zerbo

1975

In Bangladesh, a joint force of people and soldiers takes part in an uprising led by Colonel Abu Taher that ousts and kills Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf, freeing the then house-arrested army chief and future president Major General Ziaur Rahman.

Bangladesh

1973

The United States Congress overrides President Richard Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.

United States Congress

1972

United States presidential election: U.S. President Richard Nixon is re-elected in the largest landslide victory at the time.

1972 United States presidential election

1967

Carl B. Stokes is elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city.

Carl Stokes

1967

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Lyndon B. Johnson

1957

Cold War: The Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.

Cold War

1956

Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.

Suez Crisis

1956

Hungarian Revolution: János Kádár returns to Budapest in a Soviet armored convoy, officially taking office as the next Hungarian leader. By this point, most armed resistance has been defeated.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

1949

The first oil was taken in Oil Rocks (Neft Daşları), the world's oldest offshore oil platform.

Neft Daşları

1944

Soviet spy Richard Sorge, a half-Russian, half-German World War I veteran, is hanged by his Japanese captors along with 34 of his ring.

Richard Sorge

1944

Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected for a record fourth term as President of the United States.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1941

World War II: Soviet hospital ship Armenia is sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees and wounded military and staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people died in the sinking.

World War II

1940

In Tacoma, Washington, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion.

Tacoma, Washington

1936

Spanish Civil War: The Madrid Defense Council is formed to coordinate the Defense of Madrid against nationalist forces.

Spanish Civil War

1933

Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City.

Fiorello La Guardia

1931

The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed on the anniversary of the October Revolution.

Chinese Soviet Republic

1929

In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.

Museum of Modern Art

1920

Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow issues a decree that leads to the formation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow

1919

The first Palmer Raid is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in 23 U.S. cities.

Palmer raids

1918

The 1918 influenza epidemic spreads to Western Samoa, killing 7,542 (about 20% of the population) by the end of the year.

Spanish flu

1918

Kurt Eisner overthrows the Wittelsbach dynasty in the Kingdom of Bavaria.

Kurt Eisner

1917

The October Revolution, which gets its name from the Julian calendar date of 25 October, occurs, according to the Gregorian calendar; on this date, the Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace.

October Revolution

1917

World War I: The Third Battle of Gaza ends, with British forces capturing Gaza from the Ottoman Empire.

World War I

1916

Jeannette Rankin is the first woman elected to the United States Congress.

Jeannette Rankin

1916

Woodrow Wilson is reelected as President of the United States.

Woodrow Wilson

1916

Boston Elevated Railway Company's streetcar No. 393 smashes through the warning gates of the open Summer Street drawbridge in Boston, Massachusetts, plunging into the frigid waters of Fort Point Channel, killing 46 people.

Boston Elevated Railway

1914

The German colony of Kiaochow Bay and its centre at Tsingtao are captured by Japanese forces. This leaves Germany without a far east base.

German Empire

1913

The first day of the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, a massive blizzard that ultimately killed 250 and caused over $5 million (about $159,243,000 in 2024 dollars) damage. Winds reach hurricane force on this date.

Great Lakes Storm of 1913

1912

The Deutsche Opernhaus (now Deutsche Oper Berlin) opens in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg, with a production of Beethoven's Fidelio.

Deutsche Oper Berlin

1910

The first air freight shipment (from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio) is undertaken by the Wright brothers and department store owner Max Morehouse.

Air cargo

1907

Jesús García saves the entire town of Nacozari de García by driving a burning train full of dynamite six kilometres (3.7 miles) away before it can explode.

Jesús García

1900

Second Boer War: The Battle of Leliefontein takes place, during which the Royal Canadian Dragoons win three Victoria Crosses.

Second Boer War

1893

Women's suffrage: Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, the second state to do so.

Women's suffrage in the United States

1893

An anarchist throws two bombs in Barcelona's Liceu opera house, killing 20.

Liceu bombing

1885

The completion of Canada's first transcontinental railway is symbolized by the Last Spike ceremony at Craigellachie, British Columbia.

Last spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)

1881

Mapuche uprising of 1881: Mapuche rebels destroy the Chilean settlement of Nueva Imperial after defenders fled to the hills.

Mapuche uprising of 1881

1874

A cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, is considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the United States Republican Party.

Cartoon

1861

American Civil War: Battle of Belmont: In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive.

American Civil War

1861

The first Melbourne Cup horse race is held in Melbourne, Australia.

Melbourne Cup

1837

In Alton, Illinois, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy is shot dead by a mob while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time.

Alton, Illinois

1811

Tecumseh's War: The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana, United States.

Tecumseh's War

1786

The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.

Stoughton Musical Society

1775

John Murray (also known as Lord Dunmore), the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British.

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore

1723

O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60, a dialogue cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach for Leipzig, was first performed.

O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60

1665

The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.

The London Gazette

1619

Elizabeth Stuart is crowned Queen of Bohemia.

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia

1504

Christopher Columbus returns from his fourth and last voyage.

Christopher Columbus

1492

The Ensisheim meteorite, the oldest meteorite with a known date of impact, strikes the Earth in a wheat field outside the village of Ensisheim, Alsace, France.

Ensisheim meteorite

1426

Lam Sơn uprising: Lam Sơn rebels emerge victorious against the Ming army in the Battle of Tốt Động – Chúc Động taking place in Đông Quan, in now Hanoi.

Lam Sơn uprising

921

Treaty of Bonn: The Frankish kings Charles the Simple and Henry the Fowler sign a peace treaty or 'pact of friendship' (amicitia) to recognize their borders along the Rhine.

Treaty of Bonn

680

The Sixth Ecumenical Council commences in Constantinople.

Third Council of Constantinople

335

Athanasius, 20th pope of Alexandria, is banished to Trier on the charge that he prevented a grain fleet from sailing to Constantinople.

Athanasius of Alexandria