On This Day: Major World Events of November 3
1493, Caribbean: On his second voyage, Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Dominica, the first recorded European sighting of the Caribbean island.
1838, India: The Bombay Times, the forerunner of The Times of India, was founded; it grew into one of India's largest English-language newspapers.
1903, Panama: Panama declared independence from Colombia, paving the way for the Canal Zone and the construction of the Panama Canal.
1918, Europe: The Kiel mutiny by German sailors spread across the country, igniting the German revolution; the same day, Austria-Hungary signed an armistice with the Allies, effectively leaving the First World War.
1936, United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected in a landslide, carrying 46 of 48 states and losing only Maine and Vermont.
1946, Japan: The Constitution of Japan was promulgated; it took effect the following May and set the framework for postwar Japanese politics.
1954, Japan: The film Godzilla opened in Japan, introducing a monster that became one of the most influential screen figures in global popular culture.
1957, Soviet Union: The USSR launched Sputnik 2 with the dog Laika aboard, the first living creature to orbit Earth; Laika died from overheating during the flight, which gathered key data for human spaceflight.
1964, United States: Residents of Washington, D.C., voted in a presidential election for the first time since the capital was founded in 1800; Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater the same day to win a full term.
1969, United States: President Richard Nixon delivered his 'silent majority' television address, appealing for public support for his Vietnam War policy.
1973, United States: NASA launched Mariner 10, which later became the first spacecraft to visit Mercury.
1992, United States: Bill Clinton defeated incumbent George H.W. Bush to become the 42nd president; the same day, Carol Moseley Braun was elected to the U.S. Senate, the first African American woman elected to that body.
2014, United States: One World Trade Center officially opened in New York; the 1,776-foot tower rose beside the site of the Twin Towers destroyed on 9/11, its height deliberately echoing the year of American independence.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 世界贸易中心一号楼，Kidfly182摄，维基共享资源CC BY-SA 4.0 / One World Trade Center, photo by Kidfly182, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
