TODAY IN HISTORY - NOVEMBER 18TH

1626 – The new St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.

1830 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (b. 1748) dies.

1865 – Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the New York Saturday Press.

1886 – Chester A. Arthur, American general, lawyer, and politician, 21st President of the United States (b. 1829) dies.

1878 – Soprano Marie Selika Williams became the first Black artist to perform at the White House, Washington D.C.

1883 – American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

1903 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.

1909 – Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter and producer, co-founded Capitol Records (d. 1976) is born.

1923 – Alan Shepard, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1998) is born.

1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.

1938 – Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

1961 – United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

1963 – The first push-button telephone goes into service.

1968 – Owen Wilson, American actor, producer, comedian and screenwriter is born.

1969 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American businessman and diplomat, 44th United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1888) dies.

1970 – Megyn Kelly, American lawyer and journalist is born.

1975 – David Ortiz, Dominican-American baseball player is born.

1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.

1982 – Duk Koo Kim dies from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing.

1988 – War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers.

1993 – In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.

1994 – Cab Calloway, American singer-songwriter and bandleader (The Cab Calloway Orchestra) (b. 1907) dies.

2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.