Today in History, November 5th
On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was caught under Parliament as the Gunpowder Plot failed. Plus Susan B. Anthony's vote and FDR's third term.
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November 5 is best known for the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes was caught under the Houses of Parliament with barrels of gunpowder, the origin of Britain’s Bonfire Night. The date also saw Susan B. Anthony cast an illegal ballot in 1872 and Franklin D. Roosevelt win a third term in 1940.
The big story: The Gunpowder Plot Is Foiled (1605)
A group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby had a drastic answer to King James I’s refusal to ease restrictions on their faith: blow him up. Their plan was to set off gunpowder under Parliament at its opening session on November 5, 1605 (Old Style), killing the king, his ministers and the assembled lawmakers in one stroke. One conspirator, Guy Fawkes, was put in charge of the explosives. Around midnight, as November 4 turned into November 5, a search party found him in a cellar beneath the building, guarding a stockpile hidden under coal and firewood. Accounts put the haul at somewhere between about 20 and 36 barrels. Fawkes was questioned under torture and named his fellow plotters. He was condemned in January 1606 and died on the scaffold at the end of that month. Parliament quickly made November 5 a day of thanksgiving, and Britons mark it each year with bonfires, fireworks and effigies of Fawkes.
More events on November 5
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1556 | At Panipat, north of Delhi, a Mughal army defeated the general Hemu, securing the throne for the teenage emperor Akbar, who went on to rule most of the subcontinent. |
| 1862 | Abraham Lincoln removed General George McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac, fed up with his failure to chase Robert E. Lee after Antietam. |
| 1872 | Susan B. Anthony voted in the presidential election in Rochester, New York. She was arrested, convicted in 1873 and fined $100, which she never paid. |
| 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term as president. No other president has won more than two consecutive elections. |
| 1994 | Former President Ronald Reagan released a handwritten letter revealing that he had Alzheimer’s disease, one of the first times a major public figure spoke openly about it. |
| 1994 | George Foreman, 45, knocked out Michael Moorer in Las Vegas to become the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. |
| 2007 | Hollywood’s writers went on strike over pay for DVDs and online content, halting more than 60 TV shows. They voted to return in February 2008. |
| 2009 | An Army psychiatrist opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 people and wounding more than 30. A military jury later convicted him and sentenced him to death. |
| 2013 | India launched its Mars Orbiter Mission, the country’s first interplanetary spacecraft, aboard a PSLV rocket. |
| 2024 | Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, becoming the second president, after Grover Cleveland, elected to nonconsecutive terms. |
Born on November 5
- 1855: Eugene V. Debs, labor leader and five-time Socialist Party candidate for president.
- 1911: Roy Rogers, “King of the Cowboys,” singing star of some 90 films and a long-running TV show.
- 1913: Vivien Leigh, British actress who won Oscars as Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche DuBois.
- 1943: Sam Shepard, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor.
Keep reading
Sources
- King James learns of Gunpowder Plot, History.com
- Gunpowder Plot, Britannica
- Guy Fawkes, Britannica
- This Day in History: November 5 (and its linked event articles), History.com
- On This Day: November 5, Britannica
- Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft, Indian Space Research Organisation
- Eugene V. Debs, Britannica
- Roy Rogers, Britannica
- Vivien Leigh, Britannica
- Sam Shepard, Britannica
