Today is Wednesday, Nov. 25, the 330th day of 2020. There are 36 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 25, 2002, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, and appointed Tom Ridge to be its head.
On this date:
In 1783, the British evacuated New York during the Revolutionary War.
In 1961, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, was commissioned.
In 1963, the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery; his widow, Jacqueline, lighted an “eternal flame” at the gravesite.
In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.
In 1999, Elian Gonzalez, a 5-year-old Cuban boy, was rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida, setting off an international custody battle.
In 2009, Toyota said it would replace the gas pedals on 4 million vehicles in the United States because the pedals could get stuck in the floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.
In 2016, Fidel Castro, who led his rebels to victorious revolution in 1959, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half-century of rule in Cuba, died at age 90.
In 2018, U.S. border agents fired tear gas on hundreds of migrants protesting near the border with Mexico after some of them tried to get through the fencing and wire separating the two countries; U.S. authorities temporarily shut down the border crossing from Tijuana, Mexico, where thousands were waiting to apply for asylum.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Kathryn Crosby is 87. Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs is 80. Author, actor and economist Ben Stein is 76. Actor John Larroquette is 73. Actor Retired MLB All-Star Bucky Dent is 69. Dance judge Bruno Tonioli (TV: “Dancing with the Stars”) is 65. Singer Amy Grant is 60. Former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar is 57. Actor Jill Hennessy is 51. Actor Christina Applegate is 49. Former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb is 44. Former first daughters Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Bush Hager are 39.
