On Nov. 9, 1870, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge from the state of Massachusetts on the constitutionality of the Vietnam War. In a 6-3 vote, justices rejected the state's effort to bring a suit in federal court defending Massachusetts residents who claimed protection under a state law allowing them to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
On Nov. 10, 1928, the first installment of Erich Maria Remarque's novel of World War I, "All Quiet on the Western Front," debuted in the German magazine Vossische Zeitung. Released in book form in 1929, it sold a million and a half copies that year and was also adapted into an acclaimed American film in 1930.
On Nov. 11, 1988, authorities in Sacramento, California, excavated a corpse in the lawn of 59-year-old Dorothea Puente, who had operated a residential home for elderly people. An investigation led to the discovery of six more bodies buried on her property. Puente -- who was mentally ill, already had a criminal record and was suspected of additional deaths -- died in prison in 2011.
On Nov. 12, 1969, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, in a cable picked up by more than 30 newspapers, revealed the extent of the U.S. Army's charges against 1st Lt. William L. Calley at My Lai, writing, "The Army says he [Calley] deliberately murdered at least 109 Vietnamese civilians during a search-and-destroy mission in March 1968, in a Viet Cong stronghold known as 'Pinkville.'"
On Nov. 13, 2020, Kim Ng was named general manager of the Miami Marlins, becoming not only the first woman and first person of East Asian descent to lead a Major League Baseball front office, but also the first female general manager in North American professional men's sports history.
On Nov. 14, 1910, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Eugene Ely became the first person to successfully take off in an airplane from the deck of a ship, lifting off the cruiser Birmingham in Virginia.
On Nov. 15, 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike discovered the Colorado Peak that now bears his name, despite the fact he didn't climb it himself.
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