Source: HistoryNet.com
1493: Christopher Columbus arrives at the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition.
1507: Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini ("Mona Lisa").
1868: Ulysses S. Grant elected the 18th president of the United States.
1883: The U.S. Supreme Court declares American Indians to be "dependent aliens."
1892: First automatic telephone exchange goes into operation in La Porte, Indiana.
1896: William McKinley is elected 25th president of the United States.
1912: The first all-metal plane flies near Issy, France, piloted by Ponche and Prinard.
1918: The German fleet at Kiel mutinies. This is the first act leading to Germany's capitulation in World War I.
1921: Milk drivers on strike dump thousands of gallons of milk onto New York City's streets to protest the drink's varying prices on the market.
1935: Left-wing groups in France form the Socialist and Republican Union.
1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik II with the dog Laika, the first animal in space, aboard.
1964: Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the slain president John F. Kennedy, is elected as a senator from New York.
1964: For the first time, residents of Washington, D.C., are allowed to vote in the U.S. presidential election.
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson is elected the 36th president of the United States.
1967: The Battle of Dak To begins in Vietnam's Central Highlands; actually a series of engagements, the battle would continue through November 22.
1969: U.S. President Richard Nixon, speaking on TV and radio, asks the "silent majority" of the American people to support his policies and the continuing war effort in Vietnam.
1973: NASA launches Mariner 10, the first probe to reach Mercury.
1992: Arkansas Governor Bill (William Jefferson) Clinton is elected 42nd president of the United States.