Today in history, Nov. 11 (2024)

Rebel soldiers stay close to the street curb pointing their loaded rifles toward President Ngo Dinh Diem’s palace in Saigon, Vietnam, Friday, Nov. 11, 1960. A group of spectators are seen in background. Officers of some 500 paratroopers and marines attempted a coup d’etat expecting support from the large segments of the rest of the 150,000 army and civilian populace. By Sunday, government troops had stopped the rebel fighting. (AP Photo)

President Woodrow Wilson and wife, Edith Bolling Wilson ride in a carriage on Armistice Day, 1918. (AP Photo)

This Chinese family converts the cow catcher of a locomotive into a traveling compartment as they join refugees fleeing by train before the advancing Japanese from Liuchow, on the Eastern Front of China, Nov. 11, 1944. Draped blankets protect them from the steam of the locomotive. (AP Photo)

An overflow crowd in the flag decked circular marble amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetary, Washington, D.C. on Nov. 11, 1941 heard President Franklin Roosevelt declare that the American people believe liberty is worth fighting for, and added, ?and if they are obliged to fight they will fight eternally to hold it.? Vice President Wallace is seated at the extreme right. (AP Photo)

W.C. Handey, father of “the St. Louis Blues,” sits in front of a piano in his New York publishing office on Nov. 11, 1949. (AP Photo)

Amid laser beams and searchlights, the new “Hollywood” sign near the top of Mt. Lee in Los Angeles, is unveiled after its dedication, Nov. 11, 1978. The old landmark sign it replaces was built in 1923, but deteriorated and began to fall apart recently. The 50-foot high and 400-foot long sign was replaced by donations from nine public donors totaling $250,000. (AP Photo/George Brich)

President Franklin Roosevelt told an Armistice Day audience on Nov. 11, 1940 at Arlington National Cemetery that he did not believe ?The era of democracy in human affairs can or will be snuffed out in our lifetime.? On the other hand the president predicted that the people under the ?Iron heels ?of dictators would? rebel.? (AP Photo)

Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., pounds the podium as he addresses a group of 3,000 admirers at Constitution Hall in Washington, Nov. 11, 1954. McCarthy backers from many cities came to Washington to stage the rally, which was held to protest the censure move against the senator. (AP Photo/Bob Schutz)

A truckful of jubilant celebrants cheer along Broadway near Times Square in New York City as news of the Armistice spreads on Nov. 11, 1918. (AP Photo)

Henry Bursztynowicz paints a parade balloon at the Jean Gros, Inc. plant in Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 11, 1952. The company specializes in making and decorating the balloons. (AP Photo/William P. Straeter)

Cambodian soldier at center cringes from wounds as his buddies fire at nearby North Vietnamese positions, Nov. 11, 1972 during action to reopen vital route 5, North of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Road has been closed for past two months, forcing the government to ship rice and other food by air or down river. (AP Photo)

People celebrate Armistice Day on the Grand Boulevard in Paris on Nov. 11, 1918. Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of World War I, celebrates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at CompiËgne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front. (AP Photo)

Country western stars Johnny Cash and wife June Carter Cash arrive at U.S. District Court in Washington to watch the Watergate cover-up trial, Nov. 11, 1974. The two were invited by prosecutor James Neal. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty)

Sheet metal man Robert Calloway stands in the center of 16 mechanical robots in Peoria, Ill., which he made for a promotion firm in Florida, Nov. 11, 1961. The robots stand 6 feet tall and weigh fifty pounds. They have a built in tape recorder and move their heads and arms when delivering a message. The cost of the sheet metal robot is around two hundred dollars. (AP Photo)

Every citizen of Paris appears to be on the Place De L’Opera following the news of signing of the Armistice Treaty, Nov. 11, 1918. (AP Photo)

President Warren G. Harding places a wreath on the casket of an unknown soldier from World War I in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 11, 1921 in Washington. (AP Photo)

Josef Stalin, the Russian dictator, with pipe, smiling.New official picture from Moscow on Nov. 11, 1937. (AP Photo/Nowitzky )

Somewhere up in the forward areas a desert Bir (well) has been converted into a first class company office, splinter proof and as safe as anything is likely to be from a direct hit. Army staff is t working in the office in Egypt on Nov. 11, 1942. Desks and benches are made from empty petrol tins. (AP Photo)

G.I.ís are being admitted to the University of Oxford in England. They apply to the American army authorities, who after grading them according to their qualifications, arrange for the G.I. students to be admitted to the colleges within the University. They undergo an eight weeks course during which they live and work under similar conditions to the British students. All their expenses are met by the American Government. GIís and other students at work during a life class at the Ruskin Art Museum, Oxford, England, on Nov. 11, 1945. (AP Photo)

G.I.ís are being admitted to the University of Oxford in England. They apply to the American Army authorities, who after grading them according to their qualifications, arrange for the G.I. students to be admitted to the colleges within the University. They undergo an eight weeks course during which they live and work under similar conditions to the British students. All their expenses are met by the American Government. Some of the GI students cycling from Balliol College, Oxford, England, after lectures, on Nov. 11, 1945. (AP Photo)

This is a view of Chicago’s downtown skyline taken on Nov. 11, 1949. The buildings are from left: the Sheraton Hotel, the Wrigley Building, Lincoln Tower, Pure Oil Building and the London Guarantee Building. Wacker Drive is seen to the right of the Chicago River. (AP Photo/stf)

Edward Moore Kennedy, and Joan Bennett, kneel on altar and receive communion from Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York on Nov. 11, 1958 at the nuptial mass at St. Joesph’s Roman Catholic Church in Bronxville, New York. The groom’s parents are Mrs. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy of Boston. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Bennett of New York City. (AP Photo)

An asbestos-clad sailor makes a dash for flaming navy fighter-bomber on flight deck of the carrier Essex somewhere in Korean waters on Nov. 11, 1952. The plane, just back from a raid over North Korea, caught fire when gasoline vapors where ignited by the hot exhaust. The pilot was unhurt and fast work by firefighters saved the plane. (AP Photo)

Camouflaged so that he blends into the jungle background, Tony DiCristopo of Pennsylvania, is a crack U.S. Marine sniper giving the Japanese a headache on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons, shown Nov. 11, 1942. (AP Photo)

Head erect, wearing his favorite uniform with its high Russian-type collar, 82-year-old General John J. Pershing listened intently as President Roosevelt promised final defeat of the Axis in an address at the memorial amphitheater in Arlington National cemetery, Arlington, Virginia on Nov. 11, 1942. (AP Photo)

Two land army girls rake out husks in England, Nov. 11, 1943 which will be fed to rabbits, an important food in Britain. The girls stack and bale hay, milk cows, care for livestock, clean out barns and stables, help with plowing and cultivating, and even do heavy drainage work. (AP Photo)

United States customs inspectors check the automobiles of American tourists returning from Tijuana, Mexico on Nov. 11, 1958. Some church leaders and public officials in San Diego refer to the border crossing as the ìgateway to hellî because Tijuana has a reputation of being a city of sin. (AP Photo)

German prisoners captured by the Highlanders waiting in the desert be taken to a P.O.W. cage Nov. 11, 1942. (AP Photo)

George Harrison, left, Paul McCartney, center and John Lennon, right, three members of the Beatles group during a concert, in London, on Nov. 11, 1963. (AP Photo)

Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. during Gemini 12 Space walk, Nov. 11, 1966. (AP Photo)

The Atlas booster lifting off with the Gemini 12 Space Capsule atop, Nov. 11, 1966. (AP Photo)

President-elect Richard M. Nixon, right, and President Lyndon B. Johnson stand in front of a battery of microphones after meeting in the White House, Washington, Nov. 11, 1968. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)

A South Vietnamese officer followed by his radioman moves through a rice paddy during a search operation south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov. 11, 1970 and keeps in touch with other units of the search team. (AP Photo/Godfy)

The latest portrait of King George V of Great Britain, painted by Gerald Hudson, British artist, which is to be unveiled in the British Commonwealth Club, shown in New York City on Nov. 11, 1930. Hudson is standing beside the portrait. The British ambassador and the British consul-general in New York are scheduled to officiate at the unveiling ceremonies. It is the first picture of the British king to be painted since his illness. The artist was commissioned by the British Commonwealth Club to do the portrait. (AP Photo)

Sgt. Benjamin Anderson while on patrol in Grenada on Friday, Nov. 11, 1983. Sgt. Anderson, attached to the 82nd Airborne, is from Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

Diana, Princess of listens to Mike Kirsch, a member of Straight Inc. explain the procedure a 45-minute rap session as first lady Nancy Reagan, right, looks on at the drug center in Springfield, Va., on Monday, Nov. 11, 1985. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

An East German border guard peers through a hole of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Nov. 11, 1989. The wall was demolished by West Berliners who want to tear down the wall dividing the city in East and West. (AP Photo/Udo Weitz)

Comedians and co-hosts, from left, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams sing and dance the 1940s-era opening number to “Comic Relief VII” Saturday night, Nov. 11, 1995, in Los Angeles. The event, in its seventh year, is put on to raise awareness and funds for America’s homeless men, women and children. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Kuwaiti volunteer Army trains on Nov. 11, 1990, in Saudi Arabian Desert while Iraq occupies Kuwaiti. (AP Photo)

Coast guard officials said Tuesday, Nov. 11, 1975, that lifejackets and floating debris have been found near the last reported position of the great lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald which disappeared in a storm on lake superior on Monday. The Fitzgerald in a 1959 filephoto, with a crew of 28 to 30 men, was carrying a load of 26,216 tons of taconite pellets. (AP Photo)

President Herbert Hoover lays a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 11, 1931 in observance of Armistice Day. The president delivered his Armistice Day address, calling for re-establishment of confidence among the family of nations. (AP Photo)

Customer Ray Adams, left, drops into the Paulette Gioddard Bike Shop and finds the boss, herself, on deck to take his order, in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 11, 1942. Paulette, who bought the bicycle shop a year ago, says that between the movies and the shop, “a girl can hold her head high, wide and handsome.” (AP Photo)

Members of Boy Scout Troop 579 of the Riverside Drive district conduct a Veterans Day ceremony atop the marquee of the Sheraton Astor Hotel in New York, on Nov. 11, 1954. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano)

D.A. Bryce, head of the Federal Bureau of Investion office in Oklahoma City, Okla., demonstrates through the medium of a fast-action camera how he draws a pistol and fires in two-fifths of a second, Nov. 11, 1945. Left to right, Bryce reaches for the gun, comes up for a bead and then points the pistol upward after firing. Bryce is leading a widespread hunt for Matt Kimes, missing from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where he was serving two life terms after being given two leaves to gather evidence to support a parole request. Kimes, as bandit gang leader, terrorized the southwest a score of years ago. (AP Photo)

Marvin Hagler, right, of Brockton Mass., lands a right to Willis Warren of Corpus Christi, Texas, in their 10-round bout, Nov. 11, 1978 at Boston Garden. Hagler won the fight on a seventh-round technical knockout to stay in contention for a middleweight title fight. (AP Photo/Paul Benoit)

Playwright Tennessee Williams, shown in New York, Nov. 11, 1940, and who is still in his 20s, soon will have his first play on Broadway, “The Battle of the Angels.” (AP Photo/Dan Grossi)

French troops march around the Arc De Triomphe, in Paris, on Nov. 11, 1934, during the Armistice Day parade. (AP Photo)

Yankees’ legend Babe Ruth, his wife Claire, right, and daughter Julia, attend the Stanford-Southern California football game in Los Angeles Stadium, Nov. 11, 1933. (AP Photo)

Unemployed comedian Vic Seyforth, uses his genius for impersonation to entertain and raise plenty of laughs in the all-night shelter in the Elephant and Castle Tube Station, London on Nov. 11, 1940. (AP Photo)

In German air raids on London bombs were dropped on some of the West End?s most famous clubs, including the Reform, the Carlton and the Travellars? about 40 Conservative M.P.?s, who were in the Carlton Club when it was struck by two high explosive bombs, which wrecked the roof and upper stories, had narrow escapes. The damaged Carlton Club in London, Nov. 11, 1940. (AP Photo)