Today in History - Nov. 5

Today is Thursday, Nov. 5, the 309th day of 2009. There are 56 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 5, 1605, the "Gunpowder Plot" failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament.

On this date:

In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony defied the law by attempting to vote for President Ulysses S. Grant. (Anthony was convicted by a judge and fined $100, but never paid the fine.)

In 1895, George B. Selden of Rochester, N.Y., received the first U.S. patent for an "improved Road Engine."

In 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.

In 1946, Republicans captured control of both the Senate and the House in midterm elections.

In 1968, Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and American Independent candidate George C. Wallace.

In 1974, Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.

In 1985, Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, died at age 90; he was succeeded by Ezra Taft Benson.

In 1989, death claimed pianist Vladimir Horowitz in New York at age 86 and singer-songwriter Barry Sadler in Murfreesboro, Tenn., at age 49.

In 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born Israeli extremist, was shot to death at a New York hotel. (Egyptian native El Sayyed Nosair was convicted of the slaying in federal court.)

Ten years ago: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers. (Jackson later ordered Microsoft broken up into two companies, but the Justice Department subsequently said it was no longer seeking a breakup.) Pope John Paul II began his first visit to India in 13 years.