November 3: Voting day, new presidents elected around the world

November 2, 11:19 PMPortland History ExaminerNatalie Leavitt

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Maine Fast Fact: William King was Maine’s first elected governor, serving until 1821.

Births:

• 1793: Stephen Austin, American founder of the Republic of Texas
• 1845: Edward Douglass White, 9th Chief of Justice of the United States
• 1903: Walker Evans, American photographer, known for his photography during the Great Depression
• 1921: Charles Bronson, American actor
• 1933: Michael Dukakis, American politician
• 1952: Roseanne Barr, American actress and comedienne
• 1953: Kate Capshaw, American actress, known for her role as Willie Scott in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; Dennis Miller, American stand-up comedian, actor, political commentator and television and radio personality, cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1991
• 1954: Kathy Kinney, American actress, known for her role as Mimi Bobeck on the television series The Drew Carey Show
• 1973: Mick Thompson, American musician, guitarist for the band Slipknot
• 1987: Elizabeth Smart, American nine-month kidnapping survivor

Deaths:

• 1926: Annie Oakley, American sharp-shooter
• 1954: Henri Matisse, French artist

History:

• 1493: Christopher Columbus sights the island of the Dominica in the Caribbean Sea for the first time.
• 1783: The American Continental Army is disbanded.
• 1868: Republican Ulysses S. Grant wins the presidential election over Democrat Horatio Seymour.
• 1896: Republican William McKinley wins the presidential election over Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
• 1903: Panama declares itself independent from Colombia with encouragement from the United States because President Theodore Roosevelt wants to build the Panama Canal but is not willing to pay what Colombia is asking.
• 1908: Republican William Howard Taft is elected president over Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
• 1911: Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market.
• 1913: The United States introduces an income tax.
• 1918: Poland gains independence from Russia.
• 1936: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected to President in a landslide over Republican Alfred M. Landon.
• 1943: Aircrafts from the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven Harbor in Germany during World War II.
• 1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with the first animal to enter space on board, a dog named Laika.
• 1964: Washington, D.C. residents vote in the presidential election for the first time; President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Republican Barry Goldwater for re-election.
• 1969: President Richard Nixon addresses the U.S. on television and radio, asking the “silent majority” to support him and his policies in the Vietnam War effort.
• 1973: NASA launches the Mariner 10, the first space probe toward Mercury which it reaches in March 1974.
• 1978: Dominica declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1986: Ash-Shiraa, a Lebanese magazine, reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran to secure the release to seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon, now known as the Iran-Contra Affair; The Federated States of Micronesia gain independence from the United States.
• 1992: Democrat Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President in the United States when he defeats incumbent President George H.W. Bush; Illinois Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun becomes the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
• 1997: The United States imposes economic sanctions against Sudan for its political assistance to Islamic extremist groups in the Middle East and the human rights abuses of its own citizens.
• 1998: Former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota.
• 2004: Hamid Karzai is declared the winner of Afghanistan’s first presidential election.

November 3 is Independence Day in Panama, from Colombia in 1903, Dominica, from Britain in 1978 and the Federated States of Micronesia, from the United States in 1986. It is also Culture Day in Japan, a national holiday to promote culture and the arts. It was first held in 1948 to commemorate the announcement of the post-World War II Japanese constitution made on November 3, 1946. Many art exhibits, culture festivals and parades are held on this day each year.

Don’t forget to go vote today!