By an act of Congress in 1845, the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November was designated Election Day for future presidential elections. The first such election took place on November 7, 1848. Whig Party candidate Zachary Taylor won out over Democrat Lewis Cass and Free-Soil candidate (and former president) Martin Van Buren. Taylor’s running mate was Millard Fillmore, who became the nation’s 13th president on July 10, 1850, upon Taylor’s untimely death. Learn more about Election Day.
Daily Calendar for Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Question of the Day
What is that wobbly little thing on the turkey’s beak called?
The snood is the flap of skin above a turkey’s beak, but don’t confuse it with the dewlap which is also wobbly. It connects the head to the neck, under the beak.
Advice of the Day
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. —Abraham Lincoln
Home Hint of the Day
You create a dust trap when you apply an oil-based polish to a piece of furniture, so use polish sparingly. Buff the piece well to remove as much of the oily residue as possible.
Word of the Day
Shipshape
Arranged in a manner befitting a ship; hence, trim; tidy; orderly.
Puzzle of the Day
What is it that goes when a wagon goes, stops when a wagon stops, is of no use to the wagon, and yet the wagon cannot go without it?
The noise of the wheels.
Born
- Marie Curie (chemist) –
- Dean Jagger (actor) –
- Albert Camus (writer) –
- Billy Graham (evangelist) –
- Al Hirt (musician) –
- Barry Newman (actor) –
- Johnny Rivers (singer) –
- Joni Mitchell (singer) –
- Christopher Knight (actor) –
- Jeremy London (actor) –
- Jason London (actor) –
Died
- Alfred Russel Wallace (naturalist) –
- Eleanor Roosevelt (U.S. First Lady) –
- Gene Tunney (boxer) –
- Steve McQueen (actor) –
- Howard Keel (actor) –
- Joe Frazier (boxer) –
- Roy Halladay (baseball player) –
Events
- Alexander Mackenzie became the second prime minister of Canada–
- In a cartoon by Thomas Nast, the elephant was first used to represent the Republican party–
- Last spike of the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia–
- The state of Colorado granted women residents the right to vote–
- Bette Davis became the first woman elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood–
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected for a fourth term–
- UN approved United Nations Emergency Force–
- Elston Howard won American League’s Most Valuable Player award–
- Magic Johnson announced his retirement from basketball because he tested positive for the HIV virus–
- The first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was elected–
- A magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada–
Weather
- The “Galloping Gertie” bridge in Tacoma collapsed in a windstorm four months after its grand opening–
- 98-mph winds recorded at Block Island, Rhode Island–
- Thermometers in Islip, New York, read a toasty 77.4F.–