@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Monday, November 19, the 323rd day of 2007. There are 42 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1794, the United States and Britain signed Jay's Treaty, which resolved issues left over from the Revolutionary War.

In 1863, US president Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.

In 1941, the Australian warship Sydney engaged the German raider Kormoran in a fierce battle in the Indian Ocean some 300 miles off Australia's west coast. The Sydney sailed off and was never seen again, with all 645 aboard presumed dead.

In 1942, Soviet forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front ¿ which included retaking Stalingrad.

In 1969, Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made the second manned landing on the moon.

In 1985, US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.

In 1990, NATO and Warsaw Pact leaders signed the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, slashing their Cold War arsenals.

In 1994, the UN Security Council authorised NATO warplanes to strike targets in Croatia used by Serbs to launch air attacks against UN-designated safe areas in neighbouring Bosnia.

In 1995, a suicide bomber blasted his way into the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, setting off a powerful explosion that killed 16 people and wounded more than 60.

In 1997, Iowa seamstress Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to septuplets four boys and three girls.

Thought for Today

"It is always brave to say what everyone thinks." — George Duhamel, French author (1884-1966).