Today in History, November 28th
On November 28, 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin opened the Tehran Conference. Plus Magellan, the Grand Ole Opry, and more.
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November 28 is best known as the opening day of the Tehran Conference in 1943, the first meeting of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. It is also the day Ferdinand Magellan’s ships reached the Pacific in 1520 and the day the Grand Ole Opry first went on the air in Nashville in 1925.
The big story: The Tehran Conference opens (1943)
By late 1943, the three main Allied leaders had never sat at the same table. That changed in Tehran, Iran, where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met from November 28 to December 1. Stalin’s top demand was one he had pressed for years: a second front in Western Europe to take pressure off the Soviet Union. He got it. The British and Americans committed to invading northern France by May 1944, the plan that became D-Day, and Stalin promised a major offensive in the east at the same time. He also agreed in principle to join the war against Japan once Germany was beaten. The leaders talked about Poland’s future borders, dividing postwar Germany, and Roosevelt’s idea for great powers to act as “four policemen,” an early sketch of the United Nations. Roosevelt left believing he had won Stalin’s trust. Some of the concessions on Eastern Europe would look very different by the time of Yalta and the Cold War that followed.
More events on November 28
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1520 | Ferdinand Magellan’s three remaining ships came through the strait at the tip of South America and entered an ocean so calm he named it the Pacific. |
| 1582 | William Shakespeare, 18, and Anne Hathaway, 26, posted a bond for their marriage license in Stratford-upon-Avon. |
| 1720 | The pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny were tried and sentenced to death. Both had their executions postponed because they were pregnant. |
| 1895 | A Duryea Motor Wagon won the first car race held in the United States. |
| 1912 | Albanian delegates led by Ismail Qemal declared Albania’s independence at Vlorë. |
| 1919 | Virginia-born Nancy Astor, Lady Astor, won a Plymouth by-election; days later she became the first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons. |
| 1925 | The radio show that became the Grand Ole Opry first went on the air from Nashville, Tennessee. |
| 1960 | Mauritania declared independence and left the French Community. |
| 1961 | Syracuse running back Ernie Davis became the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. |
| 2012 | Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey held its world premiere in New Zealand. |
Born on November 28
- 1757: William Blake, English poet, painter, and engraver.
- 1820: Friedrich Engels, German philosopher and coauthor of The Communist Manifesto.
- 1908: Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist and leading structuralist.
- 1929: Berry Gordy Jr., founder of Motown Records in Detroit.
- 1962: Jon Stewart, comedian and longtime host of The Daily Show.
Sources
- The Tehran Conference, 1943, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
- On This Day: November 28, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- This Day in History: November 28, History.com
- Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific, History.com
- William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway, History.com
- Lady Astor becomes MP, History.com
Re: “1895 The first automobile race took place, between Chicago and Waukegan, Ill”
Who won Chicago or Waukegan?
Re: “2011 Egyptians voted in the first parliamentary elections…”
One year later I bet they wish they had a do-over. Next year so will the
dhimmisdemmos.Har Har! The winner was Charles Duryea. If you want to see the vehicle he won with, here is a link to a picture.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Duryeaauto.gif