Dewey Defeats Truman…..
November 3, 1948……
The Chicago Daily Tribune mistakenly publishes “Dewey’s victory” before the results of the U.S. Presidential race were in. Early voting and polls predicted that Thomas Dewey would win in a landslide; however, Harry S. Truman won in an upset.
Iranian Hostage Crisis…..
November 4, 1979…..
The U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran is seized and 63 American hostages are taken and held for 444 days. The embassy was taken over by Iranian students who believed the U.S. was attempting to undermine the Iranian Revolution. They also opposed U.S. support of the Shah of Iran who, after being overthrown, went to the U.S. for cancer treatment. They wanted him returned to stand trial for crimes against the Iranian people.
Flux Capacitor Invented…..
November 5, 1955……
According to the Back to the Future movie franchise, Dr. Emmett L. Brown (Doc) conceives of the idea for his flux capacitor when he slipped on the edge of his toilet while hanging a clock in his bathroom and hit his head on the sink. The flux capacitor requires 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power and as the DeLorean time machine nears 88 mph, light coming from the flux capacitor begins pulsing more rapidly until it becomes a steady stream. This coupled with the DeLorean’s stainless steel body is what makes time travel possible. Ironically, while the Back to the Future DeLorean had to achieve 88 mph, a factory DeLorean’s speedometer only went to 85 mph as it was the law in the U.S. at the time that automobile speedometers could only go up to 85 mph. The car used in the Back to the Future movies had a sticker placed over the speedometer that went up to 95 mph. This law was in effect from 1979 to 1982.