- On Nov. 15, 1966, the flight of Gemini 12, the final mission of the Gemini program, ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic after spending four days in orbit.
- In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation.
- In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman began their “March to the Sea” from Atlanta; the campaign ended with the capture of Savannah on Dec. 21.
- In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
- Ten years ago: O.J. Simpson caused an uproar with plans for a TV interview and book titled “If I Did It,” in which Simpson described how he would have committed the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. (The project was scrapped after an outcry condemning it as revolting and exploitive.) One of four U.S. soldiers accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family pleaded guilty at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Spc. James P. Barker, who agreed to testify against the others, was later sentenced to 90 years in prison.) Emmitt Smith was named winner of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” with his professional dance partner, Cheryl Burke.
