November 4th

Democratic senator Barack Obama wins the presidential election against Sen. John McCain, taking 338 electoral votes to McCain's 161. Obama becomes the first African American to be elected president of the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister, and Nobel Laureate, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli.

The American embassy in Tehran, Iran, was seized by militants and 90 Americans were taken hostage.

Russian troops attacked Budapest and crushed the Hungarian revolt under Premier Imre Nagy.

US National Security Agency formed. The NSA as it is popularly known is an intelligence organization that is responsible for monitoring and collecting signal intelligence around the world. The agency was preceded by the Armed Forces Security Agency.

First woman governor of a state in the US. Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first and only female governor of the state of Wyoming in the United States. In addition to being the first woman to be ever elected as a state governor in the US, she was also the first female director of the United States Mint.

Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming was elected the nation's first woman governor, to serve out the term of her husband who died in office.

Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt.

James and John Ritty of Dayton, Ohio, patented the first cash register.

African American inventor Thomas Elkins patents refrigerating apparatus.

Dr Richard Gatling patents Gatling machine gun in Indianapolis.

Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill.

First wagon train arrives in California.

Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spanish defeat Walloon and capture Antwerp.