Negotiated and signed in Paris, it fixed the destinies of America. It was received by our countrymen with thanksgivings and rejoicings, of which we were strikingly reminded yesterday, when the vast population of this metropolis, swelled by thousands of citizens and citizen- soldiers, by the President and the Cabinet from Washington, and by the Governors and representatives of the old thirteen States, joined in commemorating the final departure of the British flag ; on the day when, as the silver-toned orator (The Honorable George William Curtis) at the unveiling of the statue of Washington on the spot where he was inaugurated so picturesquely described, Colonial and Provincial America had ended and National America had begun.”
From: The peace negotiations of 1782 and 1783. An address delivered before the New York Historical Society on its seventy-ninth anniversary
https://archive.org/details/peacenegotiation00jayj/page/12/mode/2up
Source says not in copyright
Image: Signing the Preliminary Treaty of Peace at Paris, November 30, 1782.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On November 30, 2018, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit Anchorage,
Alaska.
Over 80 aftershocks occurred that day and the aftershocks were expected to continue for about the next 300 days.
Image of a portion of Vine Road near Wasilla, Alaska that collapsed during the 2018 Anchorage earthquake.
Alaska DOT&PF quickly rebuilt the damaged road.
Photo from Alaska DOT&PF via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Reading Citations for 1139th troops to be decorated Thionville, France
Image from November 30, 1944
That month the 1139th Engineer Combat Group constructed eight bridges over the Moselle River.
They did this while being fired upon by German heavy artillery and machine guns.
In many cases the 1139th needed to ferry infantry in assault boats from one side of the river to the other while the bridges were being constructed.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Born November 30, 1835 Samuel Clemens didn’t begin using the pen name Mark Twain until he was almost 30. He’s shown here as a printer’s apprentice at age 15 spelling his name in metal type on a composing stick. Image via Wikimedia Commons, copyright expired, public domain in the US.
The Battle of Franklin of the American Civil War occurred on November 30, 1864 in Franklin, Tennessee. Called the “Pickett’s Charge of The West,” the one-day battle resulted in heavy Confederate (more than 6,000) casualties. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
52nd Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Oliver Fisher Winchester, was born on November 30, 1810 in Boston, Massachusetts. It’s believed that his daughter-in-law Sarah Winchester authorized the unending construction of the mysterious Winchester mansion in San Jose, California in order to evade the ghosts of Winchester rifle victims. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On November 30, 1907 Santa rolled into Seattle’s Pioneer Square, driving a team of reindeer. The spectacle was courtesy of Garvey-Buchanan department store. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US.
Following service in the Army during WW2 Richard Crenna, born November 30, 1926, won a role in the early days of television on Our Miss Brooks, followed by six years on The Real McCoys. He’s shown with costar Kathleen Nolan. Although he continued acting on television and in films Crenna was also a director. Image via Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright, public domain in the US.
USS Midway in the Pacific Ocean November 30, 1974 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Over two years after he received a U.S. patent in 1908 for a very different innovation, Thomas Edison told a newspaper reporter on November 30, 1910 that he invented a flying machine. The aircraft was more like a helicopter than an airplane. During the interview Edison also told the reporter that he had too many things going on than to be concerned with air travel. Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Richard Wagstaff Clark was born on November 30, 1929 in Bronxville, New York. He made the decision to pursue a career in radio when he was only 10 years old. Image of Dick Clark in 1947 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
“…whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.” – Winston Churchill in 1940 Winston Churchill, the first honorary American Citizen, was born on November 30, 1874 in Blenheim, Oxfordshire, England. His mother was from Brooklyn, New York. Image: Churchill during WWII by the British Government, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Thanksgiving 1933: In his first year as President, Franklin D. Roosevelt carves the holiday turkey on Thursday, November 30—the last Thursday of the month, as established by Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation.
At the time, Thanksgiving was not a fixed federal holiday but declared annually by presidential proclamation, and states were not legally obligated to follow suit. In 1933, Roosevelt upheld tradition by keeping the holiday on the last Thursday of November, calling for national unity in the midst of the Great Depression. The issue of different states observing Thanksgiving on different dates only arose in 1939, when Roosevelt moved the holiday a week earlier to extend the Christmas shopping season. This sparked the ‘Franksgiving’ controversy, as some states adopted the new date while others refused, reflecting the patchwork nature of civic tradition before Congress standardized the holiday in 1941.
Historical records from the FDR Presidential Library and Museum confirm that Roosevelt spent Thanksgiving in Warm Springs, Georgia, arriving there on November 18 after a speech in Savannah. On November 30, he and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt presided over the annual turkey dinner for residents and staff of the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, where he received treatment for polio. That same day, Roosevelt delivered a Thanksgiving address via radio from Warm Springs. The photograph of him carving the turkey was taken at this event, capturing a moment of warmth, resilience, and civic ritual in the depths of the Depression.
After spending twelve days in Georgia, Roosevelt departed Warm Springs on December 1st and returned to Washington following a nearly 24‑hour train journey covering roughly 700 miles
After winning 74 times and over $2.5 million, Ken Jennings’ win streak on the popular TV trivia game show Jeopardy! came to an end on November 30, 2004.
Jennings became the permanent host of Jeopardy! in December 2023.
Image from Phil Konstantin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 3.0
Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to U.S. Congress, was born on November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York.
During a speech in 1972 she said “when I first announced that I was running for Congress, both male and females advised me, as they had when I ran for New York State Assembly, go back to teaching, a woman’s vocation, and leave the politics to men.”
Shirley served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 12th District between 1969-1983.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
712 East Broad Street, near Colonial Theatre, Richmond, Virginia. G.I. Blues starring Elvis on the marquee. Photo taken on November 30, 1960.
Formal portrait of LBJ taken on November 30, 1963, about a week after he became President.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
