Today in History....November 29

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

1929, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd radioed that he and co-pilot Bernt Balchen had made the first airplane flight over the South Pole
1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the partitioning of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. The Jews agreed, the Arabs -- there was no such thing then as a "Palestinian" -- adamantly refused, saying "everything or nothing". Instead, the Arabs would go on to wage war against the eventual Jewish state and fail miserably

1948, children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie premieres on prime time network TV. The show featured beloved puppets Kukla, Ollie (a dragon), and others, with live actress Fran Allison as host. The show began as a local Chicago program before debuting on NBC

1952, making good on his most dramatic presidential campaign promise, newly elected Dwight D. Eisenhower goes to Korea to see whether he can find the key to ending the bitter and frustrating Korean War

1961, Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited earth twice before returning

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

1967, Robert S. McNamara announces that he will resign as Secretary of Defense and will become president of the World Bank

1991, a dust storm causes massive car and truck collision in Coalinga, California, kills 17 people. More than 100 vehicles were involved in the accident on Interstate 5