November 20th, 2008

Today in History

1983:
An estimated 100 million people watch the controversial made-for-television movie The Day After, depicting the start of a nuclear war.

1968:
Vietnam War: Eleven men comprising a Long Range Patrol team from F Company, 58th Infantry, 101st_Airborne are surrounded and nearly wiped out by North_Vietnamese_Army regulars from the 4th and 5th Regiment. The seven wounded survivors and their fallen brothers are rescued after several hours by an impromptu force made of other men from their unit.

1966:
Cabaret opens at the Imperial Theatre, New York

1943:
United States Marines land on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.

1902:
Henri Desgrange and fellow journalist Géo Lefèvre dream up the idea of the Tour de France over lunch at the Café de Madrid in Paris.