NOVEMBER 7th

On this date in:
1874	The Republican Party was symbolized as an elephant for the first time, in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly magazine.
1893	Passage of a referendum made Colorado the first state to grant women the right to vote .
1916	Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.
1929	The Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened.
1944	President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.
1956	Eugene O'Neill's play "Long Day's Journey Into Night" opened on Broadway.
1962	Richard M. Nixon, who failed in a bid to become governor of California, held what he called his last press conference, telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."
1962	Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt died at age 78.
1967	Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African-American mayor of a major American city.
1967	President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
1972	President Richard M. Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.
1973	Congress over-rode President Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a president's power to wage war without congressional approval.
1989	L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the nation's first elected African-American governor.
1989	David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first African-American mayor.
1991	Basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the AIDS virus and was retiring.
1998	House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned following an election in which the Republican House majority shrunk from 22 to 12.
2000	Repblican George W. Bush was elected president over incumbent Democratic Vice President Al Gore, though Gore won the popular vote by a narrow margin. The winner was not known for more than a month because of a dispute over the results in Florida.
2000	Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York, becoming the first first lady to win public office.
2006	Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, became the first Muslim elected to Congress.

Article of the day

Magic Johnson announces he is HIV positive

On this day in 1991, basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson stuns the world by announcing his sudden retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers, after testing positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. At the time, many Americans viewed AIDS as a gay white man's disease. Johnson (1959- ), who is African American and heterosexual, was one of the first sports stars to go public about his HIV-positive status.

Revered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Johnson spent his entire 13-season NBA career with the Lakers, helping them to win five championships in the 1980s. The 6'9" point guard, a native of Lansing, Michigan, was famous for his extraordinary passing skills, contagious smile and love of the game. In 1981, he signed a 25-year deal with the Lakers for $25 million, one of the NBA's first over-the-top contracts.

Johnson, a three-time NBA "Most Valuable Player" and 12-time All-Star team member, didn't completely hang up his basketball shoes after announcing his retirement in 1991. He was voted most valuable player of the 1992 NBA All-Star Game and played on the Olympic "Dream Team" (alongside Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing) that won gold for the U.S. in Barcelona that summer. He briefly returned to the Lakers for the 1993-94 season as head coach and made a short-lived comeback as a Lakers player in the 1995-96 season.

Today, Johnson is a prominent spokesman for AIDS awareness and a successful businessman, earning millions from a range of ventures, including movie theaters and restaurants. He serves as an example of how a variety of drug treatments have transformed AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition for many people in the U.S. Still, some 25 years after the first AIDS cases were reported, 25 million people worldwide have died of AIDS and another 40 million have been infected with the virus.

Today Birthdays

Joni Mitchell turns 65 years old today.

AP Photo/Mark Mainz Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell turns 65 years old today.

90 Billy Graham Evangelist 82 Joan Sutherland Opera singer 70 Barry Newman Actor 66 Johnny Rivers Rock singer 57 Nick Gilder Singer 51 Christopher Knight Actor ("The Brady Bunch") 41 Julie Pinson Actress ("As the World Turns") 40 Greg Tribbett Rock musician (Mudvayne) 36 Christoper Daniel Barnes Actor 36 Jason London Actor 36 Jeremy London Actor ("7th Heaven") 35 Yunjin Kim Actress ("Lost") 25 Zach Myers Rock musician (Shinedown)