799 - Pope Leo III, aided by Charles the Great, returns to Rome
1349 - Jews of Augsburg Germany massacred
1516 - Treaty of Freiburg] French/Swiss "eternal" peace treaty
1561 - Lofland subjects himself on Sigismund August II of Poland
1573 - Don Luis de Requesensy Zuniga succeeds duke of Alva as land guardian of Netherlands
1581 - Doornik surrenders to duke of Parma
1596 - King Philip II devalues Spanish currency
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army moves into Manchester & occupy Carlisle
1760 - French commandant Beletre surrenders Detroit to Maj R Rogers
1775 - Sir James Jay invents invisible ink
1781 - The crew of the slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea in order to claim insurance.
1803 - Dessalines & Christophe declare St Domingue (Haiti) independent
1812 - Napoleon's Grand Army crosses Berezina River in retreat from Russia
1813 - Elias Canneman (Lib) becomes minister of Finance
1825 - 1st Italian opera in US, "Barber of Seville" premieres (NYC)
1830 - November Uprising: An armed rebellion against Russia's rule in Poland begins.
1845 - The Sonderbund is defeated by the joint forces of other Swiss cantons under General Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
1847 - Indians kill Marcus & Narcissa Whitman, 11 settle in Walla Walla Ore
1850 - The treaty, Punctation of Olmütz, signed in Olomouc means diplomatic capitulation of Prussia to Austrian Empire, which took over the leadership of German Confederation.
1863 - Battle of Ft Sanders, TN (Ft Loudon), 8-900 casualities
1864 - 4th & last day of skirmishes at Waynesboro, Georgia
1864 - Battle of Spring Hill, TN (Thomason's Station)
1864 - Colorado militia kills 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians
1870 - Compulsory education proclaimed in England
1872 - Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.
1877 - Thomas Edison demonstrates hand-cranked phonograph
1887 - US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii
1890 - 1st Army-Navy football game, Score: Navy 24, Army 0 at West Point
1893 - Ziqiang Institute, today known as Wuhan University, is founded by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Hubei and Hunan Provinces in late Qing Dynasty of China after his memorial to the throne is approved by the Qing Government.
1897 - 1st motorcycle race (Surrey England)
1900 - Lord Kitchener succeeds lord Roberts up as supreme commander in S Afr
1901 - East 182nd Street in Bronx is paved & opened
1902 - Gerhart Hauptmanns "Der arnë Heinrich," premieres in Vienna
1910 - The first US patent for inventing the traffic lights system is issued to Ernest Sirrine.
1913 - 5th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Toronto Parkdale, 44-2
1915 - Fire destroys most of the buildings on Santa Catalina Island, California.
1916 - Erwin Rommel marries Lucie "Lu" Mollin
1916 - US declares martial law in Dominican Republic
1918 - Serbia annexes Montenegro
1921 - Coldest day in Nov in Netherlands -14.0°C
1921 - Z Parenteau & Schuyler Green's musical "Kiki," premieres in NYC
1924 - 12th CFL Grey Cup: Queen's University defeat Toronto Balmy Beach, 11-3
1924 - NHL's Montreal Forum opens
1926 - Tris Speaker resigns as Indians manager
1926 - W Somerset Maughams "Constant Wife," premieres in NYC
1929 - Lt Cmdr Richard E Byrd sends "My calculations indicate that we have reached vicinity of South Pole" (He was wrong)
1932 - Cole Porters musical "Gay Divorcee," premieres in NYC
1932 - France signs non-agression pact with Soviet Union
1932 - USSR & France sign no attack treaty
1933 - 1st state liquor stores authorized (Pennsylvania)
1933 - Japan begins persecution of communists
1934 - Chic Bears beat Detroit (19-16) in 1st NFL game broadcast nationally
1934 - English King George V weds princess Marina of Greece/Denmark
1935 - Michael Savage becomes 1st Labour premier of NZ
1937 - Prince Bernhard injured in auto accident in Netherlands
1938 - Mayor Oud of Rotterdam forbids soccer match between Neth-Germany
1939 - Cor Klint swims world record 200 m backstroke (2:38.8)
1939 - USSR drops diplomatic relations with Finland
1941 - 29th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeat Ottawa Rough Riders, 18-16
1941 - Passenger ship Lurline sends radio signal of sighting Jap war fleet
1942 - US rations coffee
1943 - Partisan Tito forms temporary government in Jajce Bosnia
1943 - U-86 sinks in Atlantic Ocean
1943 - US aircraft carrier Hornet launched
1944 - Albania liberated from Nazi control (Natl Day)
1944 - John Hopkins hospital performs 1st open heart surgery
1944 - The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
1945 - Yugoslavian Socialist Republic proclaimed
1946 - Minister Drees begins emergency rule of old age facilities
1947 - 35th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Calgary Stampeders, 10-9
1947 - UN Gen Assembly partitions Palestine between Arabs & Jews
1948 - "Kukla, Fran, & Ollie" debuted on NBC
1948 - 1st opera to be televised, "Othello," broadcast from the Met (NYC)
1948 - KOB TV channel 4 in Albuquerque, NM (NBC) begins broadcasting
1949 - Nationalist regime of China leaves for Taiwan/Formosa
1949 - Uranium mine explosions in East Germany kills 3,700
1950 - National Council of Church of Christ in US forms
1951 - 1st underground atomic explosion, Frenchman Flat Nevada
1951 - Winston Churchill re-elected British premier
1952 - 40th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Edmonton Eskimos, 21-11
1952 - Pres-elect Eisenhower visits Korea to assess war
1953 - American Airlines begins 1st regular coml NY-LA air service
1953 - WSIX TV channel 8 in Nashville, TN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Turkish government of Menderes resigns
1956 - "Bells Are Ringing" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 925 performances
1957 - NY Mayor Robert Wagner forms a committee to replace Dodgers & Giants
1958 - 46th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeat Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 35-28
1960 - 26th Heisman Trophy Award: Joe Bellino, Navy (HB)
1961 - Freedom Riders attacked by white mob at bus station in Miss
1961 - John A McCone replaces Allen W Dulles as 6th director of CIA
1961 - Mercury-Atlas 5 carries a chimp (Enos) to orbit
1962 - Baseball decides to revert back to 1 all star game per year
1962 - Great-Britain & France decide to jointly build Concorde
1963 - Beatles release "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
1963 - LBJ sets up Warren Comm to investigate assassination of JFK
1963 - Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831: A Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes after taking-off from Dorval Airport near Montreal.
1964 - Roman Catholic Church in US replaces Latin with English
1965 - "Anya" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 16 performances
1965 - Dale Cummings does 14,118 consecutive sit-ups
1966 - 1st NBA game at Oakland Coliseum Arena - Warriors beat Bulls 108-101
1967 - British troops withdraw from Aden and South Yemen
1967 - Robert McNamara elected president of World bank
1968 - John & Yoko release their 1st album "Two Virgins" in UK
1969 - Beatles' "Come Together/Something" reaches #1
1970 - Charles Ives' "Yale-Princeton," premieres
1970 - Colin Cowdrey becomes Test Crickets' leading run scorer (7,250)
1971 - 1st pro golf championship at Walt Disney World
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1972 - Nolan Bushnell (co-founder of Atari) releases Pong (the first commercially successful video game) in Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.
1975 - Kilauea Volcano erupts in Hawaii
1975 - Pres Ford requires states to provide free education for handicapped
1976 - Free agent Reggie Jackson signs 5 year pact with NY Yankees
1976 - NY Yankees sign free agent Reggie Jackson to 5-year contract
1978 - UN observes "international day of solidarity with Palestinian people," boycotted by US & about 20 other countries
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 - "My Fair Lady" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 119 performances
1981 - Greg Chappell scores 201 v Pakistan at Gabba
1982 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1984 - Javed Miandad completes twin Test Cricket tons, v NZ, Hyderabad
1987 - "Dreamgirls" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 177 performances
1987 - 75th CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Toronto Argonauts, 38-36
1987 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1987 - Joe Montana of 49ers completes NFL record 22 consecutive passes
1987 - Korean Air jetliner disappears off Burma, all 115 lost
1987 - New Orleans Saints win, assuring their 1st winning NFL season
1987 - Ranger's Bob Frosse becomes 2nd goalie to score a goal (vs Isles) It is later ruled that he should not be credited with goal
1987 - A Korean Air Boeing 707 explodes over the Thai-Burmese border, killing 155.
1989 - 8th Largest wrestling crowd (60,000-Tokyo Dome)
1989 - India president Rajiv Gandhi, resigns
1990 - "Shogun - The Musical" opens at Marquis Theater NYC for 72 perfs
1990 - Expos pres Claude Brochu agrees to buy club from Charles Bronfman
1990 - UN Security Council sets Jan 15th military deadline against Iraq
1991 - TV show "Roc" has a gay wedding episode - Can't Help Loving that Man
1991 - Test Cricket debut of Javagal Srinath, v Australia at the Gabba
1992 - "Sea Gull" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 48 performances
1992 - "Solitary Confinement" closes at Nederlander NYC after 25 perfs
1992 - 80th CFL Grey Cup: Calgary Stampeders defeats Winn Blue Bombers, 24-10
1993 - "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 40 perfs
1994 - Seoul, Korea, celebrated the 600th anniversary of its founding
1995 - "Garden District" closes at Circle in the Sq Theater NYC
1995 - CNN/fn, the financial network by Turner Enterprises, launched
1997 - USAir Arena closes, hosting Wash Wizards
2005 - The new Croatian Communist Party (KPH) is founded in Vukovar.
2007 - The Armed Forces of the Philippines lay siege to The Peninsula Manila after soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes stage a mutiny.
2007 - A 7.4 magnitude earthquake occurs off the northern coast of Martinique. This affected the Eastern Caribbean as far north as Puerto Rico and as south as Trinidad.

Congress creates Committee of Secret Correspondence
November 29, 1775

On this day in 1775, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, establishes a Committee of Secret Correspondence. The committee’s goal was to provide European nations with a Patriot interpretation of events in Britain’s North American colonies, in the hope of soliciting aid for the American war effort.

The committee, consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, John Dickinson, John Hay and Robert Morris, instructed Silas Deane to meet with French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, Count de Vergennes, to stress America's need for military stores and assure the French that the colonies were moving toward "total separation" from Great Britain. Covert French aid began filtering into the colonies soon after the outbreak of hostilities in 1775. Deane, a Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress, left for France on the secret mission on March 3, 1776.

Deane managed to negotiate for unofficial assistance from France, in the form of ships containing military supplies, and recruited the Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette to share his military expertise with the Continental Army’s officer corps. However, it was not until after the arrival of the charming Benjamin Franklin in France in December 1776 and the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 that the French became convinced that it was worth backing the Americans in a formal treaty.

On February 6, 1778, the Treaties of Amity and Commerce and Alliance were signed, and in May 1778 the Continental Congress ratified them. One month later, war between Britain and France formally began when a British squadron fired on two French ships. During the American Revolution, French naval fleets proved critical in the defeat of the British, which was assured after the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781.
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Sand Creek massacre
November 29, 1864

Peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are massacred by a band of Colonel John Chivington's Colorado volunteers at Sand Creek, Colorado.

The causes of Sand Creek massacre were rooted in the decades-long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed ownership of the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. By the end of the decade, however, waves of Euro-American miners flooded across the region in search of gold in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. That placed extreme pressure on the resources of the arid plains, and by 1861 tensions between new settlers and Native Americans were rising. On February 8 that year, a Cheyenne delegation, led by Black Kettle, along with some Arapahoe leaders accepted a new settlement with the Federal government; it ceded most of their land but secured a 600-square mile reservation and annuity payments. The delegation reasoned that continued hostilities would jeopardize their bargaining power. In the decentralized political world of the tribes, Black Kettle and his fellow delegates represented only part of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes. Many did not accept this new agreement, called the Treaty of Fort Wise.

The new reservation and federal payments proved unable to sustain the tribes. During the Civil War, tensions again rose and sporadic violence broke out between Anglos and Indians. In June 1864, Territorial Governor John Evans attempted to isolate recalcitrant Native Americans by inviting "friendly Indians" to camp near military forts and receive provisions and protection. He also called for volunteers to fill the military void left when most of the regular army troops in Colorado were sent to other areas during the Civil War. In August 1864, Evans met with Black Kettle and several other chiefs to forge a new peace, and all parties left satisfied. Black Kettle moved his band to Fort Lyon, Colorado, where the commanding officer encouraged him to hunt near Sand Creek. In what can only be considered a wicked act of treachery, Chivington moved his troops to the plains, and on November 29, they attacked the unsuspecting tribe, scattering men, women, and children and hunting them down. The casualties reflect the one-sided nature of the fight. Nine of Chivington's men were killed; 148 of Black Kettle's followers were slaughtered, more than half of them women and children. The Colorado volunteers returned and killed the wounded, mutilated the bodies, and set fire to the village.

The atrocities committed by the soldiers were initially praised, but then condemned as the circumstances of the massacre emerged. Chivington resigned from the military and aborted his budding political career. Black Kettle survived and continued his peace efforts. In 1865, his tribe accepted a new reservation in Indian Territory.
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American nurse Maude Fisher writes to mother of war casualty
November 29, 1918

On November 29, 1918, Maude Fisher, a nurse in the American Red Cross during World War I, writes a heartfelt letter to the mother of a young soldier named Richard Hogan to inform her of her son’s death in an army hospital.

"My dear Mrs. Hogan," Fisher began, "If I could talk to you I could tell you so much better about your son’s last sickness, and all the little things that mean so much to a mother far away from her boy." Richard Hogan, who survived his front-line service in the war unscathed, had been brought to the hospital with influenza on November 13, 1918--just two days after the armistice was declared. The influenza soon developed into pneumonia. Hogan was "brave and cheerful," Fisher assured Mrs. Hogan, "and made a good fight with the disease….He did not want you to worry about his being sick, but I told him I thought we ought to let you know, and he said all right."

Before two weeks had passed, however, Hogan was dead. Knowing the woman would only receive an official governmental notification of her son’s death, Fisher gave a more personal account of his last days, including his joking with the hospital orderly and the other nurses’ affection for him. According to Fisher, Hogan was buried in the cemetery at Commercy, in northeastern France, alongside other fallen American soldiers of the Great War.

"A big hill overshadows the place and the sun was setting behind it just as the Chaplain said the last prayer over your boy," Fisher wrote. "He prayed that the people at home might have great strength now for the battle that is before them, and we do ask that for you now. The country will always honor your boy, because he gave his life for it, and it will also love and honor you for the gift of your boy, but be assured, that the sacrifice is not in vain, and the world is better today for it."

Byrd flies over South Pole
November 29, 1929

American explorer Richard Byrd and three companions make the first flight over the South Pole, flying from their base on the Ross Ice Shelf to the pole and back in 18 hours and 41 minutes.

Richard Evelyn Byrd learned how to fly in the U.S. Navy and served as a pilot in World War I. An excellent navigator, he was deployed by the navy to Greenland in 1924 to help explore the Arctic region by air. Enamored with the experience of flying over glaciers and sea ice, he decided to attempt the first flight over the North Pole.

On May 9, 1926, the Josephine Ford left Spitsbergen, Norway, with Byrd as navigator and Floyd Bennet as pilot. Fifteen hours and 30 minutes later, the pair returned and announced they had accomplished their mission. For the achievement, both men were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, some doubt lingered about whether they had actually flown over the North Pole, and in 1996 a diary Byrd had kept on the flight was found that seemed to suggest that the Josephine Ford had turned back 150 miles short of its goal because of an oil leak. In the late 1920s, however, few suspected Byrd had failed in his mission.

In 1927, Byrd's prestige grew when he made a harrowing nonstop flight across the Atlantic with three companions. Famous as he was, he had little trouble finding financial backers for an expedition to Antarctica. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition was the largest and best-equipped expedition that had ever set out for the southern continent. The explorers set out in the fall of 1928, building a large base camp called "Little America" on the Ross Ice Shelf near the Bay of Whales. From there, they conducted flights across the Antarctic continent and discovered much unknown territory.

At 3:29 p.m. on November 28, 1929, Byrd, the pilot Bernt Balchen, and two others took off from Little America in the Floyd Bennett, headed for the South Pole. Magnetic compasses were useless so near the pole, so the explorers were forced to rely on sun compasses and Byrd's skill as a navigator. At 8:15 p.m., they dropped supplies for a geological party near the Queen Maud Mountains and then continued on. The most challenging phase of the journey came an hour later, when the Floyd Bennett struggled to gain enough altitude to fly safely above the Polar Plateau. They cleared the 11,000-foot pass between Mount Fridtjof Nansen and Mount Fisher by a few hundred yards and then flew on to the South Pole, reaching it at around 1 a.m. on November 29. They flew a few miles beyond the pole and then to the right and the left to compensate for any navigational errors. Byrd dropped a small American flag on the pole, and the explorers headed for home, safely landing at Little America at 10:11 a.m.

In 1933, Byrd, now a rear admiral in the navy, led a second expedition to Antarctica. During the winter of 1934, he spent five months trapped at a weather station 123 miles from Little America. He was finally rescued in a desperately sick condition in August 1934. In 1939, Byrd took command of the U.S. Antarctic Service at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and led a third expedition to the continent. During World War II, he served on the staff of the chief of naval operations. After the war, he led his fourth expedition to Antarctica, the largest ever attempted to this date, and more than 500,000 miles of the continent were mapped by his planes. In 1955, he led his fifth and final expedition to Antarctica. He died in 1957.
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Coffee rationing begins
November 29, 1942

On this day in 1942, coffee joins the list of items rationed in the United States. Despite record coffee production in Latin American countries, the growing demand for the bean from both military and civilian sources, and the demands placed on shipping, which was needed for other purposes, required the limiting of its availability.

Scarcity or shortages were rarely the reason for rationing during the war. Rationing was generally employed for two reasons: (1) to guarantee a fair distribution of resources and foodstuffs to all citizens; and (2) to give priority to military use for certain raw materials, given the present emergency.

At first, limiting the use of certain products was voluntary. For example, President Roosevelt launched "scrap drives" to scare up throwaway rubber-old garden hoses, tires, bathing caps, etc.--in light of the Japanese capture of the Dutch East Indies, a source of rubber for the United States. Collections were then redeemed at gas stations for a penny a pound. Patriotism and the desire to aid the war effort were enough in the early days of the war.

But as U.S. shipping, including oil tankers, became increasingly vulnerable to German U-boat attacks, gas became the first resource to be rationed. Starting in May 1942, in 17 eastern states, car owners were restricted to three gallons of gas a week. By the end of the year, gas rationing extended to the rest of the country, requiring drivers to paste ration stamps onto the windshields of their cars. Butter was another item rationed, as supplies were reserved for military breakfasts. Along with coffee, the sugar and milk that went with it were also limited. All together, about one-third of all food commonly consumed by civilians was rationed at one time or another during the war. The black market, an underground source of rationed goods at prices higher than the ceilings set by the Office of Price Administration, was a supply source for those Americans with the disposable incomes needed to pay the inflated prices.

Some items came off the rationing list early; coffee was released as early as July 1943, but sugar was rationed until June 1947.
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Chinese overwhelm Allies in North Korea
November 29, 1950

Three weeks after U.S. General Douglas MacArthur first reported Chinese communist troops in action in North Korea, U.S.-led U.N. troops begin a desperate retreat out of North Korea under heavy fire from the Chinese.

Near the end of World War II, the "Big Three" Allied powers--the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain--agreed to divide Korea into two separate occupation zones and temporarily govern the nation. The country was split along the 38th parallel, with Soviet forces occupying the northern zone and Americans stationed in the south. By 1949, separate Korean governments had been established, and both the United States and the USSR withdrew the majority of their troops from the Korean Peninsula. The 38th parallel was heavily fortified on both sides, but the South Koreans were unprepared for the hordes of North Korean troops and Soviet-made tanks that suddenly rolled across the border on June 25, 1950.

Two days later, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would intervene in the Korean conflict to stem the spread of communism, and on June 28 the United Nations approved the use of force against communist North Korea. In the opening months of the war, the U.S.-led U.N. forces rapidly advanced against the North Koreans, but in October, Chinese communist troops entered the fray, throwing the Allies into retreat. By May 1951, the communists were pushed back to the 38th parallel, where the battle line remained for the rest of the war.

In 1953, an armistice was signed, ending the war and reestablishing the 1945 division of Korea that still exists today. Approximately 150,000 troops from South Korea, the United States, and participating U.N. nations were killed in the Korean War, and as many as one million South Korean civilians perished. An estimated 800,000 communist soldiers were killed, and more than 200,000 North Korean civilians died.

The original figure of American troops lost--54,246 killed--became controversial when the Pentagon acknowledged in 2000 that all U.S. troops killed around the world during the period of the Korean War were incorporated into that number. For example, any American soldier killed in a car accident anywhere in the world from June 1950 to July 1953 was considered a casualty of the Korean War. If these deaths are subtracted from the 54,246 total, leaving just the Americans who died (from whatever cause) in the Korean theater of operations, the total U.S. dead in the Korean War numbers 36,516.
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Johnson establishes Warren Commission
November 29, 1963

One week after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, President Lyndon Johnson establishes a special commission, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination.

After 10 months of gathering evidence and questioning witnesses in public hearings, the Warren Commission report was released, concluding that there was no conspiracy, either domestic or international, in the assassination and that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, acted alone. The presidential commission also found that Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who murdered Oswald on live national television, had no prior contact with Oswald.

According to the report, the bullets that killed President Kennedy and injured Texas Governor John Connally were fired by Oswald in three shots from a rifle pointed out of a sixth-floor window in the Texas School Book Depository. Oswald's life, including his visit to the Soviet Union, was described in detail, but the report made no attempt to analyze his motives.

Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may have involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's findings, as with the findings of the Warren Commission, continue to be widely disputed.

McNamara resigns as Secretary of Defense
November 29, 1967

Robert S. McNamara announces that he will resign as Secretary of Defense and will become president of the World Bank.

Formerly the president of Ford Motor Company, McNamara had served as Secretary of Defense under two presidents, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, from 1961 until 1968. He initially supported U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and encouraged President Johnson to escalate in 1964, but he later began privately to question U.S. policy and eventually advocated a negotiated settlement to the war. In the summer of 1967, he helped draft the San Antonio formula, a peace proposal offering to end the U.S. bombing of the north and asking North Vietnam to join in productive discussions. The North Vietnamese rejected the proposal in October.

Early in November, McNamara submitted a memorandum to Johnson recommending that the United States freeze its troop levels, cease the bombing of the north, and turn over responsibility for fighting the ground war to the South Vietnamese. Johnson rejected these recommendations outright. McNamara subsequently resigned; Johnson adviser Clark Clifford succeeded him.
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Communists vow to smash Phoenix program
November 29, 1968

The Viet Cong High Command orders an all-out attempt to smash the Phoenix program. Hanoi Radio broadcasted a National Liberation Front directive calling for a new offensive to "utterly destroy" Allied forces. The broadcast added that the new operation was particularly concerned with eliminating the "Phoenix Organization." The Phoenix program (or "Phuong Hoang" as it was called in Vietnamese) was a hamlet security initiative run by the Central Intelligence Agency that relied on centralized, computerized intelligence gathering aimed at identifying and eliminating the Viet Cong infrastructure--the upper echelon of the National Liberation Front political cadres and party members.

The program became one of the most controversial operations undertaken by U.S. personnel in South Vietnam. Critics charged that American-led South Vietnamese "hit teams" indiscriminately arrested and murdered many communist suspects on flimsy pretexts. Despite the criticism and media attention, the program was acknowledged by top-level U.S. government officials, as well as Viet Cong and North Vietnamese leaders after the war, to have been very effective in reducing the power of the local communist cadres in the South Vietnamese countryside.
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Americal Division stands down and departs
November 29, 1971

The U.S. 23rd Division (Americal) ceases combat operations and begins its withdrawal from South Vietnam. The division had been activated in Vietnam on September 25, 1967, after which it assumed control of the 11th, 198th, and 199th Infantry Brigades (and associated support troops). Its headquarters was at Chu Lai in I Corps Tactical Zone and division troops conducted operations in Quang Nam, Quang Tri, and Quang Ngai Provinces.

In 1970, the division continued to fight in the Duc Pho, Chu Lai, and Tam Ky areas along the coast. When the division headquarters departed South Vietnam, the division colors were returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, where the Americal Division was officially inactivated. The only unit that remained in South Vietnam was the 199th Infantry Brigade, which continued to conduct operations as a separate brigade.
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Dust storm causes massive pileup in California
November 29, 1991

A massive car and truck collision in Coalinga, California, kills 17 people on this day in 1991. More than 100 vehicles were involved in the accident on Interstate 5, which was caused by a dust storm.

Interstate 5 runs north and south between Southern California and Northern California. On Saturday, November 29, there was considerable traffic on the highway as people were returning home after Thanksgiving. The area of the highway near Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley is usually prime farmland. However, in 1991 many farmers had decided not to plant their fields because of severe drought conditions, leaving long stretches of dusty soil near the highway.

As the winds strengthened to nearly 40 miles per hour on November 29, dust swept over the highway, severely hampering visibility. Suddenly, a chain reaction of collisions developed over a mile-long stretch of the highway. One hundred and four vehicles, including 11 large trucks, were involved in the massive collision. It took hours for the rescuers to find all the victims in the continuing dust storm. Seventeen people lost their lives and 150 more suffered serious injuries. Meanwhile, thousands of people were trapped in their cars for the nearly an entire day until the highway could be cleared enough for traffic to pass.

The same stretch of highway was the scene of a similar, but smaller, incident in December 1978 when seven people died and 47 were injured in a large chain collision. Another storm in December 1977 caused residents to develop a flu-like respiratory infection, known as Valley Fever, from breathing in large quantities of dust.