Today in History

1921 - Italian unknown soldier is buried in the Altare della Patria (Fatherland Altar) in Rome.
1924 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected as the first female governor in the United States.
1952 - The United States government establishes the National Security Agency.
1970 - Genie, a 13 year old feral child was found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.
1973 - The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are deserted and are solely used by cyclists and roller skaters.
1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins: Iranian people, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).
2004 - President Bush declares November "National Hospice Month"

Born today:
1879 - Will Rogers, American humorist (d. 1935)
1916 - Walter Cronkite, American news broadcaster
1918 - Art Carney, American actor (d. 2003)
1930 - Doris Roberts, American actress
1937 - Loretta Swit, American actress
1946 - Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States
1961 - Ralph Macchio, American actor
1969 - Sean "Diddy" Combs, American rapper
1969 - Matthew McConaughey, American actor
1981 - Vince Wilfork, American football player (Patriots)

Deaths:
In the fall of 1981, after completing work on Poltergeist, Dominique Dunne met and later moved in with a popular Los Angeles chef, John Thomas Sweeney, who was working at the restaurant Ma Maison. After a short and abusive relationship, Dunne ended her relationship with Sweeney. A few weeks later, Sweeney strangled Dunne in the driveway of her home after she refused to reconcile with him. She died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California a few days later on November 4, 1982, at the age of 22.

Dominique's father, Dominick, later wrote an article for Vanity Fare titled: Justice: A father’s account of the trial of his daughter’s killer.