Today in History: November 5, Fort Hood shooting kills 13

Today in History Today is Saturday, Nov. 5, the 309th day of 2022. There are 56 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Nov. 5, 2009, a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 people dead; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. (No execution date has been set.) On this date: In 1605, the ‘œGunpowder Plot’� failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament. In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony defied the law by attempting to cast a vote for President Ulysses S. Grant. (Anthony was convicted by a judge and fined $100, but she never paid the penalty.) In 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and Socialist Eugene V. Debs. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie. In 1964, NASA launched Mariner 3, which was supposed to fly by Mars, but the spacecraft failed to reach its destination. In 1968, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and American Independent candidate George C. Wallace. In 1974, Democrat Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband. In 1992, Malice Green, a Black motorist, died after he was struck in the head 14 times with a flashlight by a Detroit police officer, Larry Nevers, outside a suspected crack house. (Nevers and his partner, Walter Budzyn, were found guilty of second-degree murder, but the convictions were overturned; they were later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.) In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer’s disease. In 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced by the Iraqi High Tribunal to hang for crimes against humanity. In 2007, Hollywood writers began a three-month strike, forcing late-night talk shows to immediately start airing reruns. In 2011, former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, accused of molesting eight boys, was arrested and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts. (Sandusky was later convicted and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for the sexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period.) Ten years ago: On the eve of the presidential election, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney held rallies seven miles apart in Columbus, Ohio. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a South Carolina sheriff’s office could be held liable for attorneys’ fees for stopping abortion protesters who wanted to hold up signs showing aborted fetuses. Five years ago: A gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire in a small South Texas church, killing more than two dozen people; the shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, was later found dead in a vehicle after he was shot and chased by two men who heard the gunfire. (An autopsy revealed that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.) President Donald Trump arrived in Japan for the start of a 12-day, five-country Asian trip. Shalane Flanagan became the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977; Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya was the men’s winner.

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