Moments in Time: Richard Nixon defeats Humphrey
On Nov. 2, 1986, Norwegian distance runner Grete Waitz won her eighth New York City marathon, finishing the 26-mile, 385-yard course more than a mile ahead of the second- and third-place women in the race. In 1988, she won it for the ninth time, something no other marathon runner had accomplished.
On Nov. 3, 1900, the first U.S. auto show opened at Madison Square Garden in New York, with automakers displaying 160 vehicles. Since early internal combustion engines were noisy, noxious and quite jarring, potential buyers of the period, not surprisingly, tended to favor steam- and battery-powered models.
On Nov. 4, 1842, Abraham Lincoln, then a struggling lawyer, married Mary Todd at her sister's home in Springfield, Illinois, after a two-year courtship and previously broken engagement that some historians believe was linked to Lincoln's history of depression.
On Nov. 5, 1968, Republican Richard Nixon defeated Vice President Hubert Humphrey in one of the closest presidential elections in American history, by less than 500,000 votes. Due to third-party candidate George Wallace's strong showing, neither Nixon nor Humphrey received more than 50% of the popular vote.
On Nov. 6, 1988, Soviet scientist and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov embarked on a two-week visit to the United States, during which he petitioned the American government and citizens to support Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost (political openness) and perestroika (economic reforms).
On Nov. 7, 1996, former NFL running back and Heisman trophy winner Mike Rozier narrowly survived being shot three times in his hometown of Camden, New Jersey, by Louis Pierce. Pierce was originally convicted and sentenced to life in prison, while maintaining his innocence and claiming he'd been incorrectly identified, but was released on $50,000 bail after serving 20 years of his sentence.
On Nov. 8, 2011, asteroid 2005 YU55, which was at least 1,300 feet wide according to radar measurements, passed about 201,700 miles from Earth, the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 1976.
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