November 20 in History

Historical Events on November 20

1776 American Revolutionary War: British forces land at the Palisades and then attack Fort Lee. The Continental Army starts to retreat across New Jersey.

1789 New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1917 World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins: British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.

1940 World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.

1969 Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.

1977 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

1991 An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend District of Azerbaijan.

1998 A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

1998 The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.

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Famous Birthdays on November 20

1917 Robert Byrd

1925 Robert F. Kennedy

1942 Joe Biden

1948 John R. Bolton

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Famous Deaths on November 20

1910 Leo Tolstoy

1999 Amintore Fanfani

2006 Robert Altman

2007 Ian Smith

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